With the cost of car insurance soaring motorists in the UK must be left wondering if honesty is the best policy.

Figures from the latest car insurance price index (CIPI) survey suggest that the average price of a policy is £650, a rise of over one third compared to last October. So where should motorists start looking when they hunt around for a motor insurance quote. There doesn’t appear to be an easy answer to that question. The CIPI is made up of three major players in the market, EMB, The Consultancy and Confused.com. Between them they should have a finger on the pulse of the market and so should not be too far out with their figures.

Young male drivers seem to be faring worse with an average 11% increase in the last three months, enough to push the average policy for a 17-20 year old male up by £280+. Young female drivers fare slightly better but no-one is getting off lightly.

Many motorists often consider insuring a second family car, third party fire and theft (TPFT) to save money but that avenue now seems more like a one way street now. TPFT premiums have risen over 11% in the last quarter and over 50% in the last year making it barely worth taking the risk. And that is the crux of the matter.

More and more drivers don’t bother getting insurance and prefer to take a chance on not being caught, which in turn means higher costs for Honest John. Further to this the National Fraud Authority suggests that false motor insurance claims amount to over £2 billion. The claims for bodily injury claims have metaphorically almost gone through the roof and are literally a pain the neck for many of the big insurance companies.

With the cost of car insurance seemingly on a never ending upward curve, perhaps one way to save cash is to ditch the second car and opt for an any driver car insurance policy, but beware. Insurers are already hiking the premiums on insured plus one policy faster than any others. According to the report these policies have risen 65% for men and 60% for women. Possibly because insurers believe families are using this method to cover young adults in the family home.

Unfortunately the story doesn’t end there. New tough EU solvency rules mean that financial institutions must abide with the new Capital Adequacy Ratios, which basically means they will have to keep more money in the bank. And where do we anticipate that cash will come from?