Zurich announces premium hike plan

International motor insurance provider Zurich will put up its premiums this year, it has announced.

The firm said the rise of third-party insurance claims and a greater frequency of injury claims meant it had no choice but to push prices up.

Claiming the current market is unsustainable, Zurich said premiums were likely to increase by as much as a fifth.

Steve Lewis, chief executive officer of Zurich UK's general insurance arm, noted that the greater volume in claims, along with inflation, meant the cost of covering losses had risen by 50 per cent in the past few years.

"As a result we will move rates on our broker business by as much as 20 per cent in March to address this," he stated.

Earlier this week, Paul Davies told the Financial Times that a lack of profitability in the car insurance market meant price rises were inevitable.

With premiums set to rise, the value of searching online for the cheapest car insurance deals may never have been greater.

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2010-01-15 16:47:55 © Moneyextra.com