One in seven have decided against buying insurance

Around one in seven consumer insurance customers surveyed either decided against buying insurance or cancelled certain types of cover in the past year, new research from Premium Credit.

The research found that 15% of consumers in the past year have cancelled or decided against cover, up from 11% in last year’s Insurance Index. Despite cancelling cover, at least 20% said they still needed it.

The index, which monitors how consumers pay for insurance, highlighted the cost of not having cover or having inadequate insurance.

Nearly one in eight (12%) adults say they have not been able to claim for damage to property or belongings in the past five years, either because they were not insured or because they did not have adequate insurance. Around half (45%) of these people missed out on claims of more than £1,000.  For nearly a quarter (23%), the loss was £3,000 or more.

That is up on the 8% recorded in last year’s data, which have not been able to make claims in the past five years either because they had no cover or had inadequate cover.

Jon Howells, Chief Commercial Officer, at Premium Credit said “It can be tempting to cancel policies or decide not to have cover as a way of saving money, but the reality is that it will often be a false economy.

“The number of people unable to make claims because they do not have cover or have inadequate insurance is rising and the sums people are missing out on can be substantial.

“Premium finance can take the sting out of a large lump sum allowing consumers to break it down into instalments in much the same way as they might pay for other large outgoings.”