Car insurance prices have continued to rise steeply, rising by 4.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2010, according to the Confused.com/EMB Car Insurance Price Index.

Although this is a drop from the 6.4 per cent increase seen in the final quarter of 2009, it is still substantially more than the first quarter of 2009 (2.6 per cent) and takes the annual increase seen since March 2009 up to 14.3 per cent.

The average quoted premium has risen to £524 at the end of March 2010, an increase of £66 over the past year and £21 in just the last quarter.

17-20 year olds generally saw the biggest increase in the quarter (6.6 per cent). However over the course of the whole year, it was 26-30 year old women who were the hardest hit, with a 17.3 per cent annual increase.

Whilst the majority of the North West region experienced the biggest price rise in the quarter at 6.2 per cent, Manchester/Merseyside enjoyed the third lowest rise in the country, of 3.1 per cent.

Wales also saw a substantial increase in prices with increases of over 5 per cent. Northern Ireland was the only area to experience a price decrease in the quarter.

Some postcode areas that have experienced relatively mild premium increases in the past, notably Carlisle, saw sizeable increases in the first quarter of 2010. Other areas falling into that category included Bromley, Bath, Dorchester, Exeter, Lancaster and London-West.

"These figures come from over 13 million real quotes on Confused.com, so they give a true barometer of the state of the market,” said Simon Lamble, Product director at Confused.com.

“We expect the price rises taking place across all age groups will cause even more consumers to seek good value alternatives when their policies come up for renewal."

"The absence of Quinn UK will also have a small but noticeable impact, increasing premiums still further, especially for young drivers."

EMB Partner, Peter Lee, said: "In pure monetary terms, younger females still pay less and younger females cost insurers less overall in claims than younger men. But the recent larger increases affecting women suggest that many insurers are narrowing this price differential between the sexes at younger ages."

Peter Lee noted: "With motor insurers' underwriting results due out from the FSA in the coming quarter, it will be interesting to see what impact price increases up to the end of 2009 have had on profitability.

“But with claims costs still on the rise, I suspect there is more pain to come for the consumer before prices level off."

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