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UAE: Consumers lose out in unregulated price-comparison websites

Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Sep 2017

Drivers in the UAE are currently paying an average of 13.6% more for their fully comprehensive car insurance policies than they were last year, according to an analysis from the comparison website, yallacompare.
 
   The price increase took effect with new tariffs introduced by the UAE Insurance Authority at the beginning of 2017. 
 
   For comprehensive motor policies, the tariffs set new minimum premiums of AED1,300 (US$354) for saloon cars, and AED2,000 for SUVs, raising prices up for the majority of UAE drivers.
 
   As was the case in March 2017, when yallacompare (then operating under the brand name compareit4me.com) conducted its last study on the average cost of fully comprehensive insurance policies in the UAE, drivers of low-value SUVs are the worst affected group.
 
   Insurance prices for SUVs worth less than AED50,000 are now an average of 37.4% higher than they were last year, compared to the 6.36% increase seen by drivers of saloon cars worth less than AED50,000.
 
   “Insurers have adjusted their pricing methodologies over the course of 2017 to deal with the realities of the new tariffs, and it would appear that many drivers have been able to carry on without paying too much more than they were last year. However, drivers of inexpensive SUVs have seen fully comprehensive insurance prices skyrocket over the past 12 months, with the new minimum premium rates being the main driver of that,” said Mr Jonathan Rawling, CFO of yallacompare.
 
   “Elsewhere, most drivers are only paying around 10% more for their fully comprehensive car cover than they were last year. The only other group to see a price increase much larger than that was drivers of saloons worth between AED100,000 and AED150,000, who are now paying just over 14% more than they were in 2016.”  M 
 
AED1 = US$0.27
 
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