RESEARCH BY FINANCIAL COMPARISON site Mozo.com.au has revealed car insurers have hiked premiums across the country by 2.15 percent in 2020 despite motorists driving less due to COVID restrictions.
Mozo analysed comprehensive car insurance quote data for the same 10,010 unique customer scenarios in 2019 and 2020 to look at average annual prices across each state and age group.
The analysis reveals younger drivers have been the hardest hit with 18-24 year olds experiencing the biggest average price hikes with premiums increasing 3.10 percent from $1287 to $1327. It also found those aged 18 years or younger are paying the highest premiums on average at $1712 up 0.73 percent year-on-year.
“With COVID restrictions impacting car use across Australia and many drivers spending months polishing their cars in their garages, it’s hard to see how insurers can justify hiking car insurance premiums,” says Mozo Director Kirsty Lamont.
Mozo’s latest nationally representative research also found the vast majority (80 percent) of car insurance customers have not seen their premium decrease even though there is less traffic on the roads.
“With car insurers hitting the brakes on proactively providing premium relief to customers, if you are driving less and struggling with the cost of insurance it pays to contact your insurer and request a discount,” Lamont says.
Since COVID began, three quarters (75 percent) of people Mozo surveyed have not contacted their car insurer to ask for a discount and 12 percent of people surveyed have had to cancel their car insurance to save money.
“Something as simple as comparing premiums and switching to the best value insurer you can find can significantly reduce your costs,” says Lamont.
The latest findings come following Mozo’s Pandemic Premiums: Mozo’s Covid Car Insurance Report 2020 released earlier this year which found many Australians choose their insurer simply based on brand recognition or word of mouth even though average annual savings of up to $902 are available for comparable cover.