In some respects, it is pleasing to read that providers of motor insurance paid out record sums to meet valid claims in 2023. On the downside, this is one of the reasons why, unless you were very fortunate, your motorhome insurance premiums have probably gone up at renewal.

A report was recently produced by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) showing that the amount paid out by insurers providing cover in the UK for motor vehicles hit what is probably a record amount of £9.9 billion. It is certainly the highest figure since the ABI started to keep records back in 2013. It is a big rise on the previous year when £8.4 billion was paid out. On an hourly basis, some £1.13 million was paid out by motor insurers. When you hear that figure it probably pricks up a number of readers’ ears.

Of that £9.9 billion. some £6.1 billion of it was to meet the cost of repairing motor vehicles that, for instance, had been damaged in road traffic accidents or perhaps recovered having been stolen and then say abandoned. This was a large increase when compared with 2022 figures when £4.7 billion was paid out – an increase of 31%.

£669 million was paid out to meet claims for vehicles being stolen or for one or more things being stolen from inside vehicles. That is a very big increase of 23% in comparison to the previous year of 2022 when £543 million was paid out by motor insurers.

There was also a big rise in the amount paid out for the provision of temporary motor vehicles. In 2023 some £597 million was paid out in comparison to £444 million in the previous year – a rise of 35%.

However, there was a fall in the amount paid out for personal injury claims with £2.4 billion paid out in 2023 compared to £2.6 billion in 2022. This equates to a drop of 8%.