Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 20 Dec 2013:

Well, it’s finally a matter of the official record: you are literally paying more than you should be for van insurance, even if you somehow got a good quote.

How can I say that with so much certainty? Well I mean everyone knows that van and car insurance companies charge you an arm and a leg, but most of the time this has meant just impotent complaining. However, this time things are different: the Competition Commission itself has finally weighed in, declaring that we’re all being taken to the cleaners by the insurance industry – and the methods insurers use to crank up the prices may come as a bit of a shock.

The Commission discovered that whether it’s a car insurance or commercial van insurance provider, they have probably been ratcheting up their premium prices in order to cover the costs they incur in over-charging their customers when it comes to car hire and repair bills.

It’s more or less a scam if you ask me, and it works brilliantly: insurers have substandard parts and shoddy workmanship to repair damaged cars and then charge full-price to whomever was at fault in the accident. The same goes for car hire costs as well – insurers inflate these costs in order to line their own pockets – and the end result is massive rate hikes for unsuspecting drivers.

The Competition Commission was quick to condemn the practice – as they should have – but the insurance industry responded to the publication of the report as well. Unsurprisingly the industry tried to spin the results to make them appear more favourable or to garner some sympathy; while the Commission recommended regulatory action be taken in order to stamp out this price-gouging behaviour on the part of the industry, repair service and car hire firms have been quick to say that any new regulations may endanger the ability of these companies to make a living!.

This is of course patently ridiculous. Only in the insurance industry can you catch a company with their hand in the cookie jar and have them vehemently deny any wrongdoing. Typical if you ask me!

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 15 Nov 2013:

This week van insurance experts have pointed out how important it is to keep your commercial fleets safe; to do that, you may need to keep your drivers in line.

No one likes the idea of their bosses spying on them all the time, but sometimes it’s for the best. Or at least that’s what commercial van insurance experts are saying this week, as they pointed out that any firm that neglects to keep a close eye on the behaviour of their drivers is going to end up in hot water sometime down the road.

Industry experts predict that telematics-based car insurance technology and dashboard-mounted camera systems are gaining so much traction that it’s going to be a foregone conclusion soon that you’re being deliberately ignorant by not fitting your fleet vehicles with the technology.

Honestly I can see what they’re getting at – the last thing a delivery company needs is to have to fend off lawsuits where there’s physical evidence of negligence on the part of their drivers. It does seem like a bit of an invasion of privacy, but at the same time if you don’t like working for that firm I suppose you can jog on and find a different job elsewhere, eh?

Of course there’s more than just the prevention of legal bills that experts say telematics surveillance systems can accomplish. In fact, one chauffeur company’s 460-vehicle fleet that’s been fitted with dash cams, is set to save as much as £60,000 in just 12 short months following the installation.

The new initiative was started this past May, according to its fleet manager, and the man has already seen some market improvements to things like their liability in the case of fraudulent road traffic accident claims brought against them.

For what it’s worth, £60,000 in savings is no small bit of change. I know that I may not be making any friends within the white van man community for saying this, but it could be worth the inconvenience and violation of privacy to fit as many vehicles as possible with dash cams if it means we can help to stamp out car insurance fraud. It’s a major problem, but it could virtually disappear overnight – and you’ll be singing its praises when it gets you out of a costly accident that could see your insurance rates go up!

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 8 Nov 2013:

Companies with large fleets of commercial vehicles may be in trouble, even as there are new van insurance products on the horizon that could make lives easier.

If you’re a business that has its own fleet of vans or other commercial vehicles, there’s a new car insurance product on the horizon that’s going to be of interest to you. A new telematics-based fleet management system, which would include commercial van insurance cover, is in the works thanks to a joint development project between Masternaut and KPN.

Telematics is all the rage right now when it comes to insurance products – especially car and van insurance – because it offers detailed feedback on driver behaviour and it can lead to deep premium discounts for van drivers that can prove their actions behind the wheel are safe and responsible. This helps to keep costs for business owners down in a major way, and with a more over-arching approach to telematics data gathering, especially in the realm of large fleets, will help employers organise their businesses much more efficiently if you ask me.

So that’s the good news, but there’s some bad as well – especially for these same commercial vehicle fleets that might benefit from this new telematics initiative. It turns out that new vehicle deliveries to many fleets may be delayed, simply because some leasing firms aren’t keeping up with the newly-revamped rules that permit vehicles to be driven for up to a fortnight without having a valid tax disc displayed.

It’s been more than three months since this 14 day window was put into place alongside a raft of changes dealing with licensing and registration of fleet vehicles. It was part of the Government’s plan to modernise and streamline DVLA services – a plan that included the shuttering of nearly 40 DVLA offices.

Meanwhile there are leasing companies out there that aren’t allowing franchised dealers to deliver vehicles to them without having that tax disc affixed, despite the fact that there’s a two-week grace period. Why is this happening? Well, nobody truly knows at the moment – apparently it’s some big mystery. The leasing company industry hasn’t responded to any enquiries as of yet, but it’s only a matter of time before someone just goes up to them and asks them what they’re on about. If you ask me, this better happen sooner rather than later!

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 1 Nov 2013:

With one of the largest van insurance providers in the UK posting record dividends and premium prices dropping, is our long national nightmare finally over?

I wouldn’t believe it unless I’d read it myself, but apparently it’s true. Autonet, one of the largest commercial van insurance providers in the UK, has posted enough profits this year that it will issue a massive dividend of £11 million.

Of course, 78 per cent of that cash will go straight to Glynn Keeling, who owns a massive controlling share of Autonet. That’s largely irrelevant, though – what’s really important is that the insurance provider turned an amazing profit of £8.6 million before tax, up from £7.6 million last year. That’s some increase!

It looks like this performance really gives the lie to the whole complaint put forth by insurers that they’re barely turning a profit. Car insurance companies have been using that little nugget for years to justify their high premiums, but it’s obviously untrue for Autonet at least.

So massive profits are good for the industry, right? You would think that this means insurers don’t need to charge as much. Normally I’d dismiss that as the kind of dewy-eyed optimism that gets you taken advantage of, but lo and behold another news story breaking this week confirmed it – insurance costs are down by an impressive margin.

In fact, average costs for an insurance policy have plummeted to their lowest point in more than twenty years. Not for nothing but that’s incredible, especially in this market where insurers love charging as much as they can get away with.

So what’s behind the drop in costs? Most experts point to new blood flowing into the industry in the form of high levels of competition, which I can only hope will be here to stay. It’s obviously working, especially if insurers like Autonet are performing so amazingly well that they’re issuing huge dividends.

Let’s hope this situation lasts for a long, long time. Motorists have been suffering under high insurance costs for far too long, and this is a pleasant change. For what it’s worth, it seems like a win-win scenario to me: insurers are in the black and drivers aren’t out an arm and a limb when it comes to purchasing cover for their vehicles!

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 25 Oct 2013:

I may not know much, but I’m sure that it can’t be cheap to insure a whole fleet of vans if your drivers keep getting into costly road traffic accidents.

Well guess what? One of the biggest commercial van insurance providers out there agrees with me. In fact, AXA Business Insurance even released new research data that indicate how important it is to keep your van or commercial vehicle fleet in top shape, as failure to do so will make it much more likely that the vehicle will be involved in the kind fo accident that raises your van insurance rates.

AXA said that the vast majority of van owners do indeed service their vehicles at least annually, but for those that don’t bother to do so (around 6 per cent) nearly all of them have been in at least five accidents over the past five years. It’s obvious here that neglecting your vehicle is an absolutely poor choice, as faults and defects will develop and, if remained unchecked, will only make things messier for you in the long run. Sure you may be saving a few quid by not taking your van into the local garage to get tuned up, but when your insurance bill comes round after the inevitable accident you’re going to wish you took the time out to get your van checked out!

It’s more than just keeping your equipment in good nick, though. In fact more news this week detailed how you’ve got to spend time keeping your drivers trained if you want to maximise the potential for a safe and accident-free fleet of commercial vans.

Experts say that the best way to ensure your drivers act accordingly is to fit your vans with dashboard cameras, but it’s not just about spying on your employees or contractors; no, it’s more about providing valuable coaching to an otherwise good driver that makes an unfortunate mistake now and again. Not only that, but making sure your van is fitted with a dashboard camera will also protect your driver and your firm from other motorists – especially anyone trying to pull a fast one on you by staging an accident in order to undertake a car insurance scam! Your drivers might not like the idea of being surveilled, but they’ll change their tune once they realise that the obtrusive dashboard camera just cleared them of any wrongdoing in that next rear-end shunt.

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 7 Aug 2013:

It’s terribly expensive right now when it comes to securing car insurance or van insurance, but despite that drivers are finding ways around these limitations.

Commercial van insurance is a terribly expensive proposition, especially if you’ve a whole fleet of vehicles to deal with. Well, there are new products and services out there that focus specifically on fleets of vans or other commercial vehicles, and they’re using telematics as a way to save customers some cash.

Telematics is, let’s be honest – a fantastic use of satnav technology. If you’re not familiar, it goes a bit like this: you fit a vehicle with a telematics device and it keeps track of your motoring habits – when and where you drive, how aggressive you take corners, whether you brake excessively or in an unsafe manner, and whether you exceed the speed limit – and if your insurer finds you’re a crap driver it raises your rates, but if you’re a good driver you get your premiums reduced.

Sometimes telematics aren’t that cost-effective in that they cost quite a bit of dosh. This problem is minimised if you’re applying them across a fleet of vehicles, though – especially since many insurers may be willing to cut you a break on the initial price since you’re fitting several vans or cars at a time – and this has made telematics quite ideal for smart van companies looking to save some cash.

So van drivers are getting more intelligent at the choices they make, but did you know they’re also keeping more honest as well? Well, that’s what a recent research study discovered anyway.

An insurer tested the honesty of some 30,000 insurance claims over a period of two years and found that, even though there are more idiots perpetrating insurance fraud through ‘cash-for-crash’ accidents, the lion’s share of drivers are actually incredibly honest when it comes to owning up to their own mistakes.

This makes me happy, because I’m tired of always hearing from insurers how dishonest drivers have become. It’s especially tiresome to keep hear insurance companies complain how drivers are always trying to take them for a ride when it comes to making exaggerated or completely fabricated insurance claims, so it’s an absolute breath of fresh air to get some hard evidence that these insurers are probably just complaining for no good reason. Yes, I know fraud is a problem but let’s not lose sight of the fact that so many drivers actually aren’t compete bastards, shall we?