Average Car Insurance Cost UK 2026

The average UK car insurance premium in 2026 sits at around £560–£620 a year for a typical comprehensive policy, according to Association of British Insurers data for policies actually sold. Quote-based indices, which capture more young and high-risk drivers, put the average closer to £700–£950. The figure varies hugely by age (from roughly £431 for drivers 65+ to around £1,099 for 17–24-year-olds) and by region (from about £480 in South West England to £833 in London).

Average cost by region

Where you live changes the price more than almost anything else you can control. South West England is consistently the cheapest UK region at around £480 a year, while London is the most expensive at roughly £833 — a gap of over £350 driven by higher rates of theft, traffic density and claims. Northern Ireland tends to sit close behind London as the second or third most expensive region.

Average cost by age

Age remains the single biggest pricing factor industry-wide. Drivers aged 17–24 pay an average of around £1,099 a year — roughly two and a half times the national average — while drivers 65 and over pay the least, around £431. The gap narrows steadily through the late twenties and thirties as claims history and experience build up.

Average cost by car and why the ABI and Confused.com figures differ

Insurance-group rating (roughly 1–50) drives cost more than almost any other vehicle factor: engine size, repair cost, parts availability and theft risk all feed into it, so two similarly priced cars can carry very different premiums. On the headline average itself, the ABI’s £560 figure reflects policies people actually bought, while Confused.com’s higher £700+ figure reflects all the quotes shown to a wider, younger and higher-risk pool of shoppers — both are ‘correct’, they’re just measuring different things.

Frequently asked questions

Why do different websites quote different ‘average’ UK premiums?

It depends on the data source: the ABI tracks policies actually sold (skewed toward safer, older drivers who tend to buy), while comparison-site indices track every quote shown, including many from higher-risk younger drivers, which pulls their average up.

Is car insurance going up or down in 2026?

Premiums have eased from the late-2023 peak, but rising repair costs — driven partly by ADAS sensor recalibration on modern cars — mean the fall has largely stalled, and many forecasters expect 2026 to mark the floor rather than further falls.

What’s the single biggest factor in my premium?

Age and driving experience typically outweigh every other factor, followed closely by where you keep the car overnight and the car’s insurance group.

How Rooster can help

Every driver on this page can get a personalised, driving-based price rather than an age-and-postcode average — see what Rooster’s telematics scoring would quote you.

Want to know if you’re paying more than you should? Download the Rooster app to see how much you could save on your car insurance.