VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 25 APRIL 2014:

As if we didn’t need even more evidence that the nation’s car insurance and van insurance companies think little of us, this week saw even more evidence emerge.

Nobody likes knowing that they’re thought of as a bit thick. Even if you’re a few fluid ounces short of a pint, you know when you’re being insulted – and that’s just what British car and commercial van insurance companies have been caught doing this week.

First off is a bizarre news story that broke concerning the length of the terms and conditions that accompany any and all insurance policies. You and I know them as ‘the fine print,’ and that’s because it’s usually only at the bottom of policy offer in a minuscule font that requires a microscope to read properly. Well it turns out that several insurers have so much small print that it actually exceeds famous literary works in length.

Who are the worst offenders? Well a consumer campaigner found that insurers like Sheila’s Wheels, M&S Bank, Endsleigh and Esure – and many others – had terms and conditions longer than George Orwell’s animal farm. How long is Orwell’s satirical take on government? Well it’s about 30,000 words – and that’s a drop in the bucket to each and every one of these insurers, believe it or not. Now you tell me – do insurers just think us so stupid as we won’t even bother reading these ridiculous walls of text – or if we do, rest assured that we won’t even understand them?

Meanwhile there’s an even more egregious little detail that was revealed this week as well, this time from the AA. The motoring organisation found evidence that a large number of insurers will hike your quotes up by anywhere from 30 per cent to 50 per cent if you have one or two no-fault claims under your belt.

Can you bloody believe that? I think this makes me the most livid and angry. The whole idea of a no-fault claim is that the accident you were involved in wasn’t your fault. Why in the world are insurers penalising drivers for not being at fault? It’s absolutely infuriating and it makes me want to not wait until Bonfire Night to start lighting things on fire.

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 4 April 2014:

While it sounds like something Captain Obvious would say, it’s true: bad drivers ruin things for the rest of us, especially when it comes to our car insurance.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a fleet of vehicles you’d like to insure with commercial van insurance or you’ve just got your one and only work vehicle that needs van insurance so you can motor about in safety – whatever you do and wherever you go, your insurance rates are likely to be through the roof. Why, you ask? Well it’s because the rest of the drivers on British motorways are absolute pillocks. Not only that but they’re genuinely surprised when their own rates go up, if you can believe that!

No, it’s not just me whinging about poor drivers on the roads – in fact there’s been more than one report that came out over the last week or so reinforcing the fact that all too many motorists are complete rubbish. One research study found a mind-boggling 10 per cent of British drivers don’t even get insurance at all before getting behind the wheel – an that this figure increased over last year by around 6 per cent!

Now I know I’m not the smartest bloke in the room but I’m pretty sure that driving without proper cover is just about the most thick thing you could do, considering that you’re running the risk of getting six points and as much as £300 in fixed penalties if you’re caught. Not only that but your insurance costs will rocket upwards if the authorities find you’re being stupid – and that says nothing to the massive costs the insurance industry has to absorb if you’re in any sort of road traffic accident. Can anyone guess what happens to everyone’s rates in that case? That’s right, they go up – and with some £400 million in costs created by uninsured motorists annually in the UK it’s no wonder driving is an expensive hobby.

Then there are the drivers that might bother to take out proper cover but then don’t pay the slightest attention whilst actually motoring about. Some more recently revealed research found an additional 10 per cent of British drivers are heavily distracted while running errands, doing things like missing turnings and other minor annoyances such as getting into horrific accidents.

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 21 March 2014:

It seems like there’s no end to the way car and van insurance companies will mistreat their customers – but this week’s news stories absolutely take the cake.

This time, it looks like that the insurance market has specifically excluded whole swathes of the car and van driving community all in an effort to provide ‘relief’ to very specific classes of drivers. There are new rules going into effect through an amendment to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act that’s designed to help Brits that have done time for their offences and are trying to rebuild their lives that would strip the requirement to disclose their criminal records whilst applying for things like insurance and bank lending, but insurance lobbyists have made sure to have the amendment worded to purposefully exclude drivers with penalty points or licence endorsements.

In other words, you might find it easier to secure commercial van insurance if you’ve been to jail for burglary and paid your debt to society than if you were otherwise responsible but have had more than your fair share of parking or speeding tickets. Does this seem fair to anyone at all? Because it certainly doesn’t seem all that fair to me in the least.

This isn’t just some proposed change, either – it’s going into effect very soon and that means it’s going to impact motorists on the road today. In fact, another story comes to ind that I read this week involving a student that took his mother’s car out to pick up some cigarettes only to end up being involved in an accident on his way home and then fleeing the scene.

The 20 year old, who not only had taken his mum’s car without permission, was also driving without any insurance cover. This is of course why he panicked and left the scene of the road traffic accident. Not that it helped much – he was caught, and now he’s got some 80 hours of community service to fulfill as well as a one-year driving ban. By then the new rules will be in effect and he’ll have a devil of a time getting insurance cover for his own vehicle because these incidents will stay on his criminal record for up to five years. Meanwhile if he had walked to the corner shop for the cigarettes and robbed the place he wouldn’t have nearly the same trouble. Again, this isn’t fair in the least.

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 13 March 2014:

If you’re tired of shelling out an arm and a leg on your commercial van insurance, worry not – it looks like telematics-based insurance is poised to take over.

If you’re unaware of the technology behind telematics-based car insurance, it’s not really all that complex. It’s based on the same tech that powers your satnav, only instead of providing you turn-by-turn directions it instead spies on you whilst you’re behind the wheel. Oh yes, insurers will try to spin it to a more positive light but let’s be completely honest: a telematics device, once fitted, keeps close tabs on your motoring habits. Step out of line – drive too fast, brake too hard, take corners too recklessly – and your insurance rates will go up. Stay within the law and behave yourself and your car insurance costs will decline.

It’s good business, as long as you don’t mind giving up your privacy rights in exchange for cheaper van insurance, but with the typical insurance provider more interested in making as much money as they can off you telematics is bound to become incredibly popular. In fact, a new research study released this week discovered that telematics-based insurers are in a prime position to take the world by storm – and British drivers are ready to switch over in order to save some serious cash.

It isn’t just British drivers either, according to another news story that broke this week. US mobile giant Sprint is announcing that they will be providing connectivity for telematics devices in the US. That’s not all, though – AT&T, one of Sprint’s main rivals in the US telecoms market, is also rapidly approaching the unveiling of a similar service that it will market in direct competition to Sprint.

Now I know I’m a bit critical of telematics insurance, but I do have to admit that it could be an excellent way for commercial van fleets to save cash in the long run, especially since it encourages employees to drive more carefully (and that there’s direct evidence of whether or not they’ve been behaving according to the telematics data).

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 7 March 2014:

I’ve been saying for years how car insurance and van insurance companies don’t respect their customers, but now there’s even more evidence proving me right.

In fact, not even celebrities are free from the all-encompassing grasp of vehicle insurers, as a new interview with James Purefoy just revealed this week. Purefoy, star of film and television that’s best known for his riveting performance as Mark Anthony on ‘Rome,’ said his insurer actually rang him up to inform him his rates were being hiked – and all because he was in a relationship with another celebrity at the time.

Some time ago, Purefoy was romantically involved with fellow star Gwyneth Paltrow, and while the relationship has since ended – on good terms – the aftermath of if lingers on in his insurance premiums. Purefoy ruefully recounted a tale how a particularly diligent insurance employee rang him up after seeing a picture of him and Paltrow in his car, and informed him that his rates were going up by £500. I didn’t know that dating a celebrity made you a worse driver, but apparently it does! Either way the insurer made an additional 500 quid out of the deal.

Of course if insurers treat celebrities this way, imagine how they treat the white van man that lives down the street from you. That’s right: insurers see us as little more than vast pinatas they can just keep hitting until we split open and rain money down on them, and insurers are making a mint. To prove my point massive insurance group Admiral just announced its 2013 pre-tax profits have gone up by 7 per cent from the previous year’s to a jaw-dropping £370 million. That’s not revenue – that’s profits.

So where’s that money coming from? Well where do you think? It’s people like us that get raked over the coals, simply because we have no choice if we want to keep our vehicles on the road legally. Personal and commercial van insurance providers have us all over a barrel, and even as insurers pat themselves on the back for ‘reducing insurance costs’ – evidenced by market surveys that are ever skewed in their favour. It’s enough to make you sell your car and just walk everywhere. Good luck doing that if you don’t have public transport links in your region!