Still driving up the price

Motorists face another 3% to 4% rise in the cost of car insurance from January, Admiral has warned.

The industry giant, which has hiked average premiums more than 10% in the past 12 months, blamed changes to how personal injury payouts are calculated. Admiral boss David Stevens said: “We think they will cost the average motorist £50 to £60 a year and we’ve only seen £30 of that come through.”

Shares in Admiral slumped 6% yesterday as it reported half-year profits of £193million, a slight gain on last year. It included £22.4m from customers who pay for car insurance monthly – and are charged 11% for doing so – up 46% in the past year.

The number of used cars sold dived 13.5% to 1.8million from April to June compared to the same quarter last year, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.