RSA Insurance Group increased their car insurance premiums by 9 per cent in the first quarter of this year, helping them to beat their forecast sales.

Sales were 7 per cent up in the UK, compared to the same period last year, helped by premium rises. The firm, previously known as Royal & SunAlliance, is the largest commercial insurer in the UK. It provided £697 million worth of insurance cover to British residents and businesses in the first three months of this year. The UK now accounts for almost a third of the company’s £1.9 billion global sales turnover.

The group includes the well-known “More Than” home and car insurance brand.

According to Andy Haste, RSA’s chief executive, the group remains confident that profits in the UK will continue to grow over the full year. He said that the UK is a competitive market, with firms such as Aviva increasing their sales efforts, especially in the car insurance market.

He commented: “It’s a great start to the year, our strategy is working. The UK story is great.”

He went on to say that the company could not predict whether the cost of car insurance would continue to increase this year — premiums have gone up by over 20 per cent since last September. However, he said that the sale of commercial insurance to small and mid-sized businesses, as well as policies covering fleets of trucks and cars, were increasing at a healthy rate.

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