By Guy Taylor Motor insurance companies paid out a record £1.1m in car insurance claims every hour last year, according to the industry’s UK trade body. A staggering£9.9bn was paid out to motorists across 2023, the highest annual figure since the Association of British Insurers (ABI) began collecting data. The figure was up 18 per cent on the £8.4bn paid the prior year and came alongside a 10 per cent rise in the overall number of settled claims, to 2.3m. Insurers are grappling with soaring vehicle repair costs amid inflation and high energy prices. The average cost of repairing a vehicle in t…