Financial Ombudsman Car Insurance Complaints Jumped 46 Percent to 4,100 in One Quarter

• The Financial Ombudsman Service received 4,100 complaints about car and motorcycle insurance between April and June 2026, up from 2,800 in the same three months of 2025.
• A third of the car and motorcycle insurance cases it resolved went the complainant’s way, with a 33% uphold rate against 30% across all products once motor finance commission is excluded.
• The rise came in a quarter when total complaints across every product fell from 68,000 to 53,600, with consumers citing claim values, policy cancellations and claim delays.

The Financial Ombudsman Logged 1,300 More Car Insurance Complaints Than a Year Earlier

The Financial Ombudsman Service, the independent body that settles disputes between consumers and financial firms, published its latest quarterly complaints data on 22 July 2026. Inside the figures for April to June 2026 sits a rise that touches anyone who holds a car or motorbike policy. The service received 4,100 complaints about car and motorcycle insurance in those three months. In the same three months of 2025 it received 2,800.

That is 1,300 more cases, an increase of around 46 percent in a year. The Ombudsman rounds the figures in its written summary to the nearest 100, so the exact number in its data table is worth quoting too: 4,096 new complaints about car or motorcycle insurance in the quarter.

The latest quarter is also the highest of the three periods the Ombudsman lists in its own release. Car and motorcycle insurance complaints stood at 2,800 in April to June 2025, 4,000 in January to March 2026 and 4,100 in April to June 2026. The climb from the previous quarter is small, which points to the higher level holding for at least two quarters in a row rather than appearing as a one off spike.

The Ombudsman says consumers raised concerns about claim values, policy cancellations and claim delays. The published data does not break the 4,100 down by reason, so there is no count of how many people complained about each issue. It names no insurer either, so the figures cannot be used to say which companies drew the most complaints. The category also covers car and motorcycle policies together, so riders and drivers cannot be separated.

Why Total Complaints Fell While Car Insurance Cases Rose

Across every financial product, the Ombudsman received 53,600 new complaints between April and June 2026. That is 600 more than in the previous quarter, but well below the 68,000 it received in April to June 2025. The release says that earlier quarter included many cases about motor finance commission.

The overall fall tells a driver nothing about motor insurance, which moved against the trend. The release carries a table of the most complained about products. Car or motorcycle insurance appears there at 2,800, then 4,000, then 4,100 across the three periods. Hire purchase appears at 24,300, then 5,000, then 5,600. The release does not say whether that hire purchase line covers motor deals only.

Two uphold rates are worth keeping apart. Across all products the Ombudsman upheld 26% of the cases it resolved in the quarter, and it says the closure of motor finance commission cases that were not upheld pulls that figure down. Leaving those out, the uphold rate across all products was 30%.

What a 33 Percent Uphold Rate Means for a Policyholder

For car and motorcycle insurance, the uphold rate in the quarter was 33%. The Ombudsman defines an upheld case as one closed as a change in outcome in favour of the complainant. Roughly one in three of the car and motorcycle insurance disputes it resolved ended that way.

That 33% sits above the 30% all-product rate that excludes motor finance commission, and above the 26% overall figure. It also means about two thirds of the car and motorcycle insurance cases did not end in the complainant’s favour. Both halves of that statistic deserve attention: a complaint is not a guarantee of a better result, and it is not a lost cause either.

Two limits apply to the number. The uphold rate covers cases the Ombudsman resolved in the quarter, while the 4,100 counts new complaints received, so the two figures describe overlapping but different groups of cases. And the cases that reach the Ombudsman are a small subset of all claims, so the rate says nothing about how often insurers handle claims correctly across the market. The pages reviewed give no prior-year uphold rate for this product, so it is not possible to say whether 33% is higher or lower than a year ago.

How Other Motor Products Compare in the Same Table

The quarterly table lists several motor products with exact counts and uphold rates. Alongside car and motorcycle insurance at 4,096 cases, it shows commercial vehicle insurance at 283 complaints with a 45% uphold rate, roadside assistance insurance at 224 complaints, also upheld at 45%, motor warranties at 139 with 30%, caravan insurance at 48 and guaranteed asset protection insurance, known as GAP, at 32. The Ombudsman shows the uphold rate for caravan and GAP only as below 30%. A further 25 motor insurance cases were still being categorised. Adding the rows together gives 4,847 motor insurance complaints in the quarter.

Roadside assistance and commercial vehicle cases are small in number, so a handful of decisions moves their percentages a long way. The 33% figure for car and motorcycle policies rests on a far larger base and is the sturdier guide for most drivers.

Motor finance sits in a separate product group. Hire purchase (motor) drew 5,647 new complaints with a 16% uphold rate. Hiring, leasing or renting (motor) drew 1,145 at 29%, conditional sale (motor) drew 708 at 20% and point of sale loans (motor) drew 97 at 35%. Those four rows come to 7,597 complaints, more than the whole motor insurance group. The 16% uphold rate on hire purchase is about half the car insurance rate. Our earlier coverage of Every Driver Owed Up to £830 in Car Finance Now Faces a 2027 Delay explains why many motor finance commission cases are on hold, and GAP Insurance Paid Back Just 6 Percent of What Drivers Paid, FCA Figures Show covers the add-on product that sits in the 32 GAP complaints above.

What to Do If Your Insurer Rejects or Delays a Claim

The three themes the Ombudsman names, claim values, cancellations and delays, point to the stages where paperwork counts most. If an insurer offers less than you expect for a damaged or stolen vehicle, ask for the valuation basis in writing and gather your own evidence of the car’s condition, mileage and extras, such as recent invoices and photographs.

If a policy is cancelled, ask for the reason and the effective date in writing and keep every letter and email. If a claim stalls, note each call with the date, time and the name of the person you spoke to. A dated record of who said what is the part of a dispute you control.

Complain to the insurer first. Financial firms must handle complaints under set rules and give a written final response. As a general rule you can take a case to the Financial Ombudsman Service once you hold that response, or if the firm has not resolved the complaint after eight weeks. Keep that final response letter safe, as it is the document that opens the door to the Ombudsman. Time limits apply, so read the Ombudsman’s own guidance for the current rules before you rely on any date.

The figures are a reminder that disputes over car and motorcycle cover are rising, not a forecast of what happens in your own case. With one in three resolved cases ending in a change of outcome for the complainant, the route is worth knowing before a claim goes wrong rather than after.

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Sources:

• Financial Ombudsman Service: Quarterly complaints data: Q1 2026/27
• Financial Ombudsman Service: Financial Ombudsman received 53,600 cases in the first quarter of 2026/27