Car insurance small print longer than Animal Farm

Aslan Alphan | Getty Images

The small print on car insurance policies from a number of leading firms is longer than George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm, according to a consumer website.

Fairer Finance waded through the small print of “every” car insurance policy, and found that the policy documents produced by Endsleigh, Sheila’s Wheels, Esure and M&S Bank run to more than 30,000 words.

The highest word count found by researchers came from Endsleigh, with a grand total of 37,674 words in the small print. That’s more than five times the length of LV’s policy documents, which were the shortest at fewer than 7,000 words.

Fairer Finance’s founder, James Daley, told the BBC that a survey of 2,000 people found that more than two-thirds of people don’t bother reading terms and conditions:

"Even those who do are struggling to understand them; what exactly is the point of these documents?"

"Of course, it is important that customers know what is covered and what isn't in their insurance policy, but if one company can do the job in less than 7,000 words, there is no excuse for insurers who are producing documents that are five times as long."

We may see a reduction in pages of small print, as the Association of British Insurers (ABI) says it’s looking to work with regulators to improve paperwork for customers.

The head of conduct regulation for the ABI, James King:

"Insurers are continuing to look at ways to improve their communications with customers and are working with the regulator to further improve the quality of disclosure documents."

By Andrew Brady, Motoring Research