Insurance Refunds For Motorists

Are you entitled to a refund on your car insurance during the Lockdown?

As is quite apparent from the Government Corona virus daily briefings and by simply taking a look outside, the amount of traffic on the roads has decreased dramatically. Some drivers have stopped using their vehicles altogether and quite logically, the risk of being involved in an accident, for any driver, is now significantly less.

There has been a lot of pressure on insurers to pass the cost savings from the reduction in claims during the COVID-19 Lockdown, back onto motorists.

At present only two companies have responded to this call. In April, Admiral noted that they would be refunding a flat £25 for each vehicle insured. This is expected in May/June and will be automatically applied.

LV has followed with their own policy announced in May. This is not an automatic refund and applies only to those ‘struggling financially’. This includes those on furlough or the self employed, who have not yet received their 80% grant from the government or via the employer. It also includes those who are unemployed at any point after 1st March. Given that many of the government grants are due to begin payments in May, with the furlough portal already effective and paying out, this may be somewhat of an empty gesture for most of their policy holders.

We await announcements from other insurance providers, but with pressure mounting it is expected that there will be further refund schemes being rolled out shortly.