Car insurance premiums are at their highest-ever recorded levels since Confused.com launched their Car Insurance Price Index in 2006, and now has struck a chord with UK tradespeople. The Essential Site Skills revealed that over the last 12 months, car insurance for tradespeople has increased from £453 to £728.26, a rise of 61%, for the average price of a 12-month premium, which could result in thousands of vital tradespeople being forced off the roads. With financial strains such as ULEZ and the burden of rising insurance persisting, tradespeople raise their concerns about how to mitigate these financial challenges. Fix Radio – the UK’s only national radio station for builders and the trade – discusses the impact these rising costs are set to have on tradespeople.

Car insurance is now becoming one of the most expensive household bills, adding more financial pressures amidst a time of high inflation and rising mortgage rates. Ernst and Young declared that premiums would rise by 16% by the end of 2023, however, recent figures revealed that they have already soared four times higher. Experts are now linking inflation as the primary culprit behind the rise in car insurance premiums, driven by factors like surging energy bills and prices of materials. Now, these expenses have bumped up the price of repairs, with the Association of British Insurers registering a 33% increase.

These increased costs comes on top of the fact that the cost of steep parking fee rises, and ‘green’ motoring charges forces builders, plumbers and electricians in London to spend £70 on average before they have even walked through the door, and a total of £140 a day including operating costs, according to Fix Radio research. With the average day rate of a tradesperson equalling £150 – according to Pier Consulting – the addition of the car insurance and ULEZ charges is now leaving tradespeople in London facing a loss of 21 workdays. For some tradespeople who have reported on Fix Radio that their daily costs have been as expensive as £300 to work in the Capital, the situation is much bleaker.