Van Insurance Premiums Are Rising Four Times Faster Than Car Cover

Van insurance premiums rose 4.3% in the three months to May 2026, more than four times the rise recorded on car insurance over a comparable period. The average quoted van premium now stands at £1,767, up from £1,720 a year ago, according to the Consumer Intelligence Van Insurance Price Index, the industry’s main tracker of quoted prices. In the period going back to when it started measuring in April 2014, van premiums have risen 198%, a figure most tradespeople and small business owners have absorbed one renewal at a time without ever seeing the full scale laid out together.

The Newer Your Van, the Faster Your Premium Is Climbing

The steepest rises are hitting the newest vehicles. Vans under two years old saw premiums jump 8.1% in the last quarter alone, close to double the rate for the fleet as a whole. Vans aged three to four years rose 6.4%. Older vans fared better but still climbed: those five to eight years old rose 2%, and vans nine years and over rose 3%.

That pattern runs against what many owners expect. A newer van typically comes with better safety technology and should, in theory, cost less to insure against a crash. Instead, newer vans are proving more expensive to repair, packed with sensors, cameras and driver assistance electronics that turn a minor bump into a four-figure parts bill, and insurers appear to be pricing that repair risk into premiums faster than they are crediting the added safety.

Who Is Paying the Most

Age plays its own role, separate from the age of the vehicle. Drivers aged 25 to 49, the core working-age bracket most likely to be driving a van for a living, saw premiums rise 4% on average in the latest quarter. Drivers under 25 saw premiums fall 0.8%, and drivers over 50 saw a fall of 2.4%. Over the full run of data back to 2014, drivers aged 25 to 49 have seen premiums rise 224%, against 206% for drivers over 50 and 87% for drivers under 25.

That leaves the group insurers might once have treated as the safest bracket, experienced drivers in the middle of their working years, now carrying the sharpest long-run increase of any age group on the road. For a self-employed electrician, plumber or delivery driver, a van is not a discretionary purchase the way a second car might be. Cover is a legal requirement to keep working, which leaves little room to walk away when a renewal quote lands.

Why Vans Are Outpacing Cars

The wider UK motor insurance market has been comparatively calm this year. Car premiums rose just 1% in the second quarter of 2026 according to the Association of British Insurers, with the average car premium at £566. Vans are moving on a different track for reasons that sit closer to how the vehicles are actually used: higher daily mileage, more time parked on streets and industrial estates overnight where theft risk is greater, and a higher proportion of stop-start urban driving that raises the odds of a low-speed collision.

Repair costs sit at the centre of it. Insurers across the motor market have flagged rising parts prices and increasing vehicle complexity as the biggest driver of claims costs this year, and vans, which tend to carry tools, stock and equipment worth protecting on top of the vehicle itself, generate more complex and more expensive claims than an equivalent car when something goes wrong.

Where the Extra Cost Ends Up

A van insurance bill is a business cost, not a household one, and business costs tend to move straight into what a tradesperson charges a customer. An electrician, plumber or courier paying an extra £47 a year on the average quoted policy has to find that money somewhere, and the simplest route is folding it into a call-out fee or a job quote. Multiply that across the roughly four million vans registered for business use on UK roads, and a quarter increase in the space of a single year turns into a cost that ripples through every household that has ever booked a tradesperson or waited on a parcel delivery.

Small operators running one or two vans feel this more sharply than large fleets. A national delivery firm or a utility company with hundreds of vehicles can negotiate fleet rates and spread risk across a large pool of drivers, softening the effect of any single quarter’s price rise. A sole trader renewing a single van policy has no such bargaining power and simply pays whatever the market asks, renewal after renewal. The 198% rise measured from 2014 to today lands in full on an individual who cannot spread that cost across a fleet the way a larger operator can, and who has no procurement team to push back on price.

What Insurers Say Is Driving It

Insurers point to a mix of factors rather than a single cause. Parts and labour costs across the whole motor repair sector have climbed as garages report a shortage of technicians qualified to work on vehicles loaded with sensors and driver assistance systems, extending repair times and pushing up the average cost of a claim. Vans also spend more hours on the road than the typical car, covering higher annual mileage in the course of a working day, and higher mileage is one of the oldest and most reliable predictors insurers use to price crash risk.

Theft plays its own part. Vans left overnight on residential streets, industrial estates and building sites are a frequent target for organised theft gangs who strip tools and equipment as readily as they take the vehicle itself, and every claim paid out for a stolen tool kit or stripped catalytic converter feeds back into how the wider pool of van policies gets priced the following year.

What a Van Driver Can Actually Do About It

Shop around at every renewal rather than letting cover roll over automatically. Insurers price van policies individually, and the price divergence between providers on an identical risk profile can run into hundreds of pounds a year, so a quote comparison close to renewal, rather than a passive auto-renewal, is one of the few levers a driver fully controls.

Ask specifically about telematics or black box policies if your insurer offers one for commercial vehicles. These monitor driving style, speed and braking, and can bring a meaningful discount for a driver with a demonstrably careful record, though they are worth less to a driver who covers unavoidable stop-start urban routes all day regardless of how carefully they drive.

Overnight parking location affects premiums directly. A van kept in a locked garage or a secured yard overnight is priced differently to one left on a public street, and some insurers will adjust a quote if you can demonstrate access to off-street parking, even part of the week.

Fit visible and Thatcham-approved security, from a steering lock to a tracker, and tell your insurer about it. Vans carrying tools are a specific theft target, and a documented security upgrade can offset some of the premium rise tied to newer, more electronics-heavy models. Some insurers offer a direct discount for a fitted tracker or immobiliser upgrade, so it is worth asking the exact figure before paying for one out of your own pocket.

Check whether your van qualifies for a trade or membership scheme discount. Several insurers offer preferential rates through trade bodies covering electricians, plumbers, builders and couriers, and these are frequently cheaper than a standalone policy bought direct for an identical vehicle and identical driver profile.

Finally, review whether your cover level still matches your actual use. A van bought new two years ago on a fully loaded policy with generous tools and stock cover might now be carrying protection you no longer need if your work pattern has changed, and trimming unnecessary extras is one of the most direct ways to bring a renewal quote down without cutting the cover that protects your ability to keep working.

Sources:

• https://www.consumerintelligence.com/articles/van-insurance-premiums-rise-2.4-over-the-past-year-with-newer-vehicles-seeing-the-sharpest-quarterly-increases
• https://www.bodyshopmag.com/2026/news/van-insurance-premiums-rise-sharply-in-last-quarter/
• https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2026/7/record3.2-billion-paid-out-to-support-motor-insurance-customers-in-q2-2026/