Which Britons intend to switch their fully comprehensive car insurance – and how can insurers reach them?
A third of Britons with insurance policies are looking to switch their fully comprehensive motor cover (34%) in the next year. Indeed, this form of insurance has the dubious honour of being the kind that the public are most likely to want to switch.
So who are these Britons who want to change their car cover – and how do they go about it?
Demographics
Let’s answer the first question. Broadly speaking, Britons looking to switch their motor insurance are more likely to be male than female (56% vs. 44%). Along age lines, they don’t skew particularly old or young compared to most Britons with insurance: 19% are aged 18-34, 42% are 35-54, and 40% are 55+. By comparison, insured Britons – those currently holding a policy of some kind –are 21% aged 18-34, 42% 35-54, and 37% 55+.
Habits and preferences
In terms of their driving habits, auto insurance switchers are more likely to have multiple cars in their household (25%) compared to 19% of insured Britons in general. This slightly higher propensity for ownership might well inform their interest in switching insurance providers – the more cars you insure, the greater the saving to be had. It may also hint at greater experience with the claims process: some 72% say insurers will do anything to avoid paying out, compared to 67% of Britons with insurance.
They’re also more likely to switch some other policies. For example, they’re twice as likely to be looking to change their home/building and contents insurance as insured Britons (46% vs. 22%), as well as their annual travel (10% vs. 6%), pet insurance (9% vs. 4%) and one-off travel (9% vs. 5%) providers. So perhaps this is a group of wantaway policyholders in a more general sense.
And when they’re looking for a new provider, they’re more likely to use certain channels over others. The most common are price comparison sites (which 94% of switchers and 91% of insured Britons) use.
These sites are followed – very distantly – by the websites of insurers/brokers (34% vs. 28%), consumer financial advice sites e.g. MoneySavingExpert (17% vs. 15%), and recommendations from friends and family (17% vs. 19%). The proportion of those who would phone around insurers to get a quote is comparatively low (7% vs. 6%) so this may not be a useful channel for providers.
The preferred insurance brands of motor insurance switchers
Using a combination of YouGov Profiles and BrandIndex data, we can identify the kinds of insurers that motor insurance switchers feel the most positively about. Positive Impression scores, which measure good sentiment towards an insurance brand among consumers, are tracked in BrandIndex every day, and the scores below reflect the average across 52 weeks to November 2024. Brands that do not offer car insurance have been excluded from the list
Admiral are the most popular brand, with three in ten switchers (30% vs. 27% of insured Britons ) saying they like them – followed very closely by Aviva, appreciated by a similar proportion (29% vs. 28%).
In third place we have LV=, which 29% of switchers and 25% of insured Britons like, with Direct Line close behind in fourth (27% vs. 24%). Churchill – famous for its bulldog mascot – comes in fifth (27% vs. 24%).
Hastings comes in at the top of the bottom half of the table (21% vs. 17%), with AXA hot on its heels (19% vs. 18%). NFU Mutual is five percentage points behind (14% vs. 12%), while Saga – which caters to a more niche audience of older Britons – claims ninth place (11%), and Sheila’s Wheels rounds out the top 10 (11% vs. 8%).
The above represents just a small fraction of what YouGov’s data products, including Profiles and BrandIndex, can offer to automotive and insurance brands. To find out more, please get in touch with a member of our team.
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Methodology
YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for Great Britain is nationally representative of the online population and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.