• One in seven insurance customers cancel or decide against cover
• Rising numbers of customers are missing out on claims because of a lack of cover
Around one in seven consumer insurance customers surveyed either decided against buying insurance or cancelled certain types of cover in the past year, new research* from the UK’s leading premium finance company, Premium Credit, shows.
Premium Credit’s Insurance Index*, now in its seventh year, found 15% of consumers, in the past year, have cancelled or decided against cover, up on 11% in last year’s Insurance Index.** Despite cancelling cover at least 20% said they still needed it.
The index, which monitors how consumers pay for insurance, highlighted the cost of not having cover or having inadequate insurance.
Nearly one in eight (12%) adults say they have not been able to claim for damages to property or belongings in the past five years either because they were not insured or did not have adequate insurance. Around half (45%) of these people missed out on claims of more than £1,000. For nearly a quarter (23%) the loss was £3,000 or more.
That is up on the 8% recorded in last year’s index, who have not been able to make claims in the past five years either because they had no cover or had inadequate cover.
Premium Credit is advising customers to consider premium finance which, for a small charge, enables them to pay monthly for cover instead of in a lump sum. Spreading payments in such a way can help ease cash flow challenges and make paying for vital insurance more convenient.
Jon Howells, Chief Commercial Officer, at Premium Credit said: “It can be tempting to cancel policies or decide not to have cover as a way of saving money, but the reality is that it will often be a false economy.
“The number of people unable to make claims because they do not have cover or have inadequate insurance is rising and the sums people are missing out on can be substantial.
“Premium finance can take the sting out of a large lump sum allowing consumers to break it down into instalments in much the same way as they might pay for other large outgoings.”
Dave Taylor, Chief Customer Officer at leading MGA Somerset Bridge added: “Premium finance is now a necessity rather than a choice with many customers unable to pay for their insurance in one lump sum. The instalment option is invaluable and the convenience of using premium finance rather than other sources of credit is a key factor in why customers choose to use it.”
Notes to editors:
(*) Independent consumer research conducted by PureProfile among a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults aged 18-plus between March 13th and March 18th 2026
(**) Independent consumer research conducted by Viewsbank among a nationally representative sample of 827 aged 18-plus between March 7th and March 10th 2025
