Millions of UK Drivers Face a Record £4,900 Car Insurance Claim, ABI Reveals

• Motor insurers paid a record £3.2 billion in claims in the second quarter of 2026, up 5% on the previous quarter and 7% higher than a year earlier, according to the Association of British Insurers.
• The average car insurance claim rose 4% in the quarter to £4,900, while the average windscreen repair bill jumped 7% to £283.
• Average premiums crept up just 1% to £566, but the ABI says rising repair costs from cameras, sensors and driver assistance technology have yet to be fully reflected in renewal quotes.

The bill for putting a modern car right after a crash, a break-in or even a chipped windscreen has never been higher. New data published by the Association of British Insurers shows the average motor insurance claim reached a record £4,900 in the second quarter of 2026, a rise of 4% in just three months. Insurers paid out a record £3.2 billion in total in the quarter, 5% more than the first three months of the year and 7% higher than the same quarter in 2025.

Average premiums, by contrast, barely moved. The typical driver paid £566 for their cover, up just £6, or 1%, on the previous quarter. Once adjusted for inflation, that average premium was actually £14 lower than the equivalent quarter in 2025. For now, drivers are not seeing the scale of the claims increase reflected in what they pay to insure their car. The ABI’s own data suggests that gap will not last indefinitely.

Why Your Windscreen Now Costs More to Fix Than Ever

The single sharpest increase in the ABI’s figures was for windscreen claims, where the average repair bill rose 7% in one quarter to £283. The trade body attributed this, and much of the wider rise in claims costs, to modern vehicles becoming increasingly reliant on cameras, sensors and driver assistance systems that are often built into or mounted near the windscreen itself.

Those systems are not simply more expensive pieces of glass. Many now require a recalibration procedure every time the windscreen is replaced, so the camera or sensor reads the road accurately again. That calibration work, on top of the glass and fitting, is a large part of why a bill that would once have been a simple like-for-like swap now regularly runs into hundreds of pounds.

Chris Bose, director of general insurance and international policy at the ABI, said insurers were working hard to keep premiums competitive and affordable for customers even as claims costs stayed high. He said the trade body wanted government support to address “some of the underlying drivers of claims inflation,” including repair sector skills and the availability of replacement parts, adding: “By increasing repair sector skills and improving parts availability, policymakers can help the sector keep pace with vehicle innovation and support a more resilient market.”

Who Is Paying the Most Right Now

The ABI’s quarterly figures are a national average, but drivers do not all pay the same amount to insure a car. Separate price tracking from MoneySuperMarket, based on policies sold in the three months to July 2026, found drivers in London continue to pay a premium over the rest of the country, while those in the South West pay the least of any region. Annual policies bought through comparison sites averaged £522.50, against £549.53 for those who chose to pay monthly, a gap driven by the interest built into monthly instalment plans. Drivers who can pay annually rather than spreading the cost over twelve months avoid that interest charge entirely, though not every household has the cash flow to do so, which is itself part of why the ABI has flagged affordability as a live concern for policymakers rather than a settled issue.

That regional and payment-method gap sits on top of the national trend the ABI has identified: claims costs rising faster than premiums, for now. Windscreen repairs are simply the clearest example, as the average bill is reported quarterly and the year-on-year direction is unambiguous. Insurers describe the same underlying pressure showing up across repair categories more broadly, from bumper sensors to the cameras built into modern wing mirrors, all of which can turn a minor knock into a claim running into four figures.

Why This Pressure Looks Set to Continue

Windscreen repairs are the clearest single example in the ABI’s data, but they are not the whole story. The trade body’s £4,900 average claim figure covers every type of motor claim, from minor bumps to total write-offs, and insurers say the same advanced driver assistance features that push up windscreen bills are turning up across the vehicle. A rear bumper on a car fitted with parking sensors, a front bumper carrying radar for adaptive cruise control, or a wing mirror housing a blind-spot camera can each turn what used to be a simple panel repair into a job requiring specialist parts, software calibration and, often, a main dealer or an accredited independent garage rather than a general repairer.

That shift helps explain how the ABI’s figures are likely to move next. The trade body’s own explanation for the record payout points squarely at “increasing vehicle repair costs, as modern vehicles become more reliant on advanced technologies such as cameras, sensors and driver assistance systems.” As the UK’s new car market continues to add these features to a growing share of models each year, the share of the parc fitted with them only grows over time, not shrinks. Unless repair costs for that technology come down, or insurers find another way to absorb the cost, the pressure on claims costs recorded each quarter looks structural rather than a one-off blip.

Can You Avoid the Increase?

There is no way to sidestep a claim if you are involved in an accident, but there are ways to reduce how exposed your own premium is to these rising repair costs. The first is to check what your policy actually covers for glass and sensor recalibration specifically. Many fully-comp policies include a separate windscreen cover section with its own, lower excess, but not all do, and some insurers cap the amount they will pay for glass claims. Confirming this before you need it, rather than after, avoids an unwelcome surprise on top of an already inconvenient repair.

Second, always use a repairer who is properly equipped to carry out ADAS calibration when your windscreen is replaced, whether that is your insurer’s approved network or an independent specialist. Skipping calibration to save money is a false economy: it can leave safety systems such as automatic emergency braking or lane-keep assist reading the road incorrectly, and many insurers will not pay a future claim linked to a system that was not recalibrated correctly.

Third, know the difference between a chip repair and a full replacement before you call your insurer. Many policies treat a small chip, repaired rather than replaced, as a minor event that does not affect your no-claims bonus and sometimes carries no excess at all. Once a chip has spread into a crack that requires full replacement, however, the ADAS recalibration cost described above usually applies in full, and the claim is treated the same as any other. Getting a small chip looked at quickly, before it spreads, is one of the cheapest ways to sidestep the bigger bill entirely.

Fourth, shop around properly at renewal rather than accepting an automatic rollover. As premiums have not yet caught up with the rise in claims costs, insurers are still competing hard for new business, and the gap between a loyalty-priced renewal and the best price available elsewhere can be significant. Comparing at least three quotes, and being honest about mileage and driving history rather than guessing, both help keep the price down.

Finally, review your voluntary excess carefully. Raising it can lower your premium now, but with the average claim at £4,900, a driver should be confident they could comfortably find that higher excess amount if they ever needed to claim, rather than choosing a figure that looks attractive on a quote page but would cause genuine financial strain if a claim arose.

Sources

Association of British Insurers, Q2 2026 motor and household insurance claims data, published 30 July 2026. MoneySuperMarket, Car Insurance Facts, Trends, and Statistics, September 2026.