Motor insurance prices up two percent in fourth-quarter, down in 2014 - Towers Watson

LONDON (Reuters) - British motor insurance prices rose by 2 percent in the fourth quarter, providing respite for car insurance providers, though they fell by 7.9 percent in 2014, consultancy Towers Watson said on Monday.

Companies which provide car insurance, such as RSA (RSA.L), Admiral (ADML.L) and Direct Line (DLGD.L), have been finding the market increasingly competitive.

New comprehensive premiums also fell 12.5 percent and 12.7 percent in 2013 and 2012 respectively, according to the Confused.com Car Insurance Price Index compiled in association with Towers Watson.

Prices for young drivers have fallen the fastest, Towers Watson said, as insurers are increasingly using telematics technology, black boxes in cars which reward good driving, to differentiate between policyholders.

But the second successive quarter of price rises was "likely to fuel further speculation that we have passed the bottom of the insurance price cycle", said Steve Sanders, finance director at Confused.com, in a statement.

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn, editing by Louise Heavens)