Van insurance premiums fell 4.5% in the three months to August. That ended a period of flat pricing and resumed the downward trend running since the market peaked in October 2024. Quoted prices are now 11% below last year and around 16% lower than April 2025, according to Defaqto's September 2026 Quarterly Van Insurance Price Index.
What the headline figure does not show is how sharply individual insurers are diverging. Among a sample of ten main van providers, price movements over the latest quarter ranged from an 11.1% reduction to a 4.7% increase. Nine of the ten cut prices, but only three reduced them by more than the 4.5% market average. A client whose existing insurer is holding prices firm, or raising them, is being quoted at a growing disadvantage to the wider market. That gap has direct consequences for renewal outcomes.
Monthly data from the index shows prices declined consistently through the summer, down 1.8% in June, 1.9% in July, and 0.9% in August. The renewed falls follow a flat spring quarter between March and May, when competitive prices moved by less than half a percent in total.
The direction contrasts with private motor, where the Confused.com Car Insurance Price Index, compiled with WTW, recorded a 1% rise in Q2 2026. That was the first quarterly increase in private motor since late 2023.
Van pricing is moving the other way, which Stephen Kennedy, director at Defaqto, said requires its own analytical lens. "The divergence from private motor also underlines the need to assess van pricing on its own terms," he said.
Annual premium reductions are spread across regions and driver age groups, though the scale differs substantially. Northern Ireland recorded the smallest regional fall at 5%, while the North West saw the largest at 12%. By driver age, annual reductions ranged from 8% to 13%. Drivers under 26 recorded the largest falls. Those over 70 the smallest.
Samuel Pompilis, market insights consultant at Defaqto, said the variation between providers was as significant as the headline movement. "In our sample, one insurer increased prices by almost 5%, while another reduced them by more than 11%," he said. "Insurers are taking different approaches, and the market average alone cannot capture those decisions."
Quoted prices are down around 4.5% over the past six months and approximately 16% since April 2025. Kennedy said tracking movements by provider and segment was key to identifying where competitive positions were shifting. The September index is the latest data point in a van pricing cycle that has moved well below its mid-2024 starting point.
