Author: News Desk

Do anything it takes to get cheaper rates

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Market review for the week of 17 Mar 2013:

It’s not just me that’s been saying ‘take drastic measures,’ either, as this week the Association of British Insurers have urged the Government to take steps to help lower car insurance and van insurance rates by as much as 20 per cent simply by setting new driver safety standards. The ABI says that younger motorists in particular could see as much as £370 shaved off their yearly insurance premiums, and that’s no laughing matter, now is it?

The problem with the current standard right now, the ABI said, is that younger drivers are taught to drive in a way that’s simply ‘not fit for purpose,’ and this applies to whether you’re driving a Vauxhall Astra or a Ford Transit – if you’re not learning how to be safe behind the wheel you’re more likely to get involved in an accident, and that means insurance costs are going to remain astronomically high. Meanwhile, you could reverse this upward creep on premium prices simply by instituting better teaching methods that instill safer driving in the nation’s up and coming motorists, which will result in less expensive cover for everyone.

Meanwhile, MPs are looking for ways to control insurance costs as well, though their approach is to look into how much whiplash injury claims are diving up personal vehicle and commercial van insurance alike. In particular, the Commons Transport Committee wants to delve into why the UK has somehow become the place where you go if you’ve got a weak neck, as we’re currently the ‘whiplash capital of the world; with the number of payouts for whiplash going through the roof.

The committee is keenly examining how much that fraud could be driving up costs for everyone. There’s no doubt that fraud is indeed a problem, especially as the number of claims keep going up every year even as the number of reported accidents actually go down,  but it remains to be seen how much of an impact fabricated or exaggerated injuries actually do drive up premium prices – and what action – if any – can be taken to stamp fraudulent claims out.

For what it’s worth, it’s hard to put your finger on what whiplash injury is just a load of bollocks and which one is legitimate, thanks to the fact that there’s no real definitive test that a doctor can run to prove a patient is suffering from whiplash. It’s a soft tissue injury, and it won’t show up on an x-ray or an MRI, so all you have to go on is what the patient tells you: a good liar can mimic the symptoms of whiplash all too easily I’m afraid!

This is why your premiums keep going up every year

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CAR INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: WEEK ENDED 10 mar 2013:

If you’ve ever wondered why your commercial van insurance premium keeps going up every year, it turns out that we’re all being victimised by criminals.

Whether it’s the van insurance or car insurance industry, the prevalence of insurance fraud has reached epidemic proportions in the UK. In fact, a new report issued by the Association of British Insurers recently revealed that when it comes to claims costs, the money paid out on personal injury claims is by and large the biggest cost to insurance companies – and they turn around and charge you and me in order to make up the ever rising shortfall.

An absolutely huge proportion of these costs could be, in fact, originating from completely spurious claims, and nowhere is this more a possibility than when it comes to whiplash injury claims, as the injuries are notoriously hard to disprove. The ABI estimates that at least £90 of every driver’s insurance cover goes directly towards the costs of paying out all these fraudulent claims, and with some 1,500 claims rolling in to the nation’s insurance companies each and every day, any number of these could be completely fabricated by ‘crash for cash’ scammers looking to pull the wool over our eyes and get away with vast sums of cash.

And if you think it’s a victimless crime, think again: on top of the kinds of woe we all have to put up with in scraping together the cash to keep our van or car on the road every year, scammers that cause road traffic accidents can often cause massive real injuries to innocents. In fact, one poor woman lost her life thanks to one instance of fraud gone terribly wrong.

The incident occurred in Buckinghamshire on the A40 recently, where three men in a Ford Transit van purposefully got themselves into an accident by slamming on the brakes, sending the car behind them, 34 year old Balinder Kaur Gill’s Ford Fiesta, to shunt them from behind. The plan was to then make a claim to Ms Gill’s insurer for the vehicle damage and the ‘whiplash’ the three men suffered, but in a flash that all changed when Ms Gill’s vehicle was struck from behind in turn, this time by a Renault van that was traveling at speed, slamming into the Fiesta with such force that the woman was slain instantly – all because the three in the Ford Transit wanted to make some quick cash.

I simply can’t believe how reckless and selfish some people can be. Leave off with the cost in insurance that people like the men in the Ford Transit cause – the loss of life is absolutely reprehensible and I can only hope and pray that the Government does something about this serious whiplash fraud problem in order to prevent such tragedies in the future.

Costs are high all around – so cut your insurance bill

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Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 3 mar 2013:

Everyone’s hurting in the current economy, but there are ways to save on your car insurance or van insurance even in this day and age, believe it or not!

March is upon us, and you and I both know what that means: nearly everyone will be looking for a new annual insurance quote, whether it be for their family car or their van or commercial vehicle. Costs have been going up like mad over the past few years, but apparently up to one out of three don’t bother to take steps to reduce our bill, according to a research article I read recently.

A car insurance comparison site found that as many as 8.7 million motorists in the UK aren’t taking their annual policy seriously and are just automatically renewing their cover for another year. Taken together, these drivers could be losing out on an eye watering £2.5 billion by not shopping around for a better deal – and that works out to almost £300 a driver on average!

Believe it or not, the research also said that three million Brits have been labouring under the same insurance provider for a decade or more. I haven’t even had the same pair of trousers for more than ten years, let alone the same insurance provider, so it just blows my mind that someone could stick with an insurer for such a long, long time.

The truth is, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you aren’t switching to the best deal you can find every year, as insurers have absolutely no requirement to provide you with any sort of loyalty advantage for sticking it out. In fact, many insurers will raise rates year-on-year to their existing customers in order to provide better, more enticing offers to those willing to switch, so you’re definitely leaving yourself in a poor position.

Of course, you may end up getting a bum deal where there truly are no better options out there when it comes to your insurance premiums. In a situation like this, you may want to consider breaking the mold as it were and look into a telematics-based insurance cover instead, as these satnav-based insurance policies are gaining quite a bit of ground in popularity.

Telematics has been in the news lately as well thanks to its quick growth, and where it used to be that you needed to have a specific ‘black box’ device fitted to your car, there are some insurers that are coming out with smartphone apps that work the exact same way as the traditional telematics device. This makes it much less expensive to start a telematics-based policy as you don’t need to shell out upwards of a few hundred pounds for a device and instead just download a free app for your mobile phone, and with it being so much more easy to access telematics cover, it could grow even more popular in the near future.

Make sure you’ve got adequate cover – or else!

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Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 24 Feb 2013:

It’s rough out there, and you need to protect your vehicles – especially if you do the majority of your work on the road and out from the back of your van.

It’s more and more common to end up using your van as a mobile office if you’re a commercial van driver, according to recently released market research, but if you’re one of those enterprising entrepreneurs doing so, you need to make sure you need to keep an eye on your valuables, said one van insurance specialist. In fact, you need to make sure you’re taking sensible precautions and take steps to ensure you have adequate insurance cover, says AXA Business Insurance, because you could see yourself stranded up the creek if something untoward happens.

AXA says that, according to their research, more than 7 out of 10 commercial van owners keep a smartphone with them, while 60 per cent keep a satnav in the van as well. 45 per cent keep a tablet or laptop in their car, and all together the value of all this technology could easily be over £1,000 – and if your commercial van insurance policy doesn’t cover the theft or destruction of these valuable pieces of technology, kiss your otherwise flourishing business goodbye.

Regular policies won’t cover more than a few hundred pounds worth towards the replacement of these big-ticket items. However, if you can’t be bothered to put your valuables out of sight when you leave your van unattended – or don’t keep your car alarm functioning properly, good luck getting any money out of your insurer at all; if you ask me you would do better trying to squeeze a pint of blood from a stone.

In other words, keep your expensive toys out of sight if you leave your van alone for more than a moment. Of course, this doesn’t help if the whole van is stolen altogether – and another news story this week demonstrates such an occurrence.

This one is actually pretty tragic, considering the circumstances: a drama group’s minibus was stolen right out from under the nose of the group leader one Sunday evening, with criminals absconding with the vehicle right from outside her home. However, the group – Popstars Academy – has vowed to not let this deter their performances, according to group leader Anne Marshall.

The minibus, a 10 year old Mercedes, was used for costume changes, to ferry sound equipment, and to take the young children actors and singers to nearby performances at locales such as charity fundraisers and homes for the elderly. The worst part is that the van had the Academy’s name and logo emblazoned on the side in massive letters, which meant that the thieves are callous, heartless bastards or just more than a bit thick; if you ask me, it’s probably a bit of both.

Still, the community troupe has vowed to continue on somehow. I hope they had an up to date van insurance policy!

Van seized in police check on the A24

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Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 17 Feb 2013:

Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen: this week saw the A24 slow to a crawl thanks to a random police check that saw cars pulled over and one van seized!

The fun and games began this past Thursday in Ashtead, where police flagged down a total of 40 drivers for so-called ‘suspicious’ vehicles. I don’t know what police say when they say suspicious, but it seemed to have worked as nearly half of those pulled over left with traffic offences, while two vehicles were in such bad repair that their drivers were told to not put them back on the road until their faults were taken care of.

The star of the show was the white Ford transit van that was told to pulled over after authorities spied that the passenger wasn’t wearing their seat belt, besides the fact that they were an adult and should know better. Things got even more hilarious once it was discovered that the vehicle’s van insurance didn’t cover the driver.

The driver, a Lithuanian national whose name wasn’t released to the press – perhaps because most Brits can’t quite master the spelling and pronouncing a foreign name – now has a record for driving without proper insurance cover. He most likely got off rather easily, considering the owner of the van now has to cope with his vehicle being seized until the whole situation is sorted, so let that be a warning to anyone who thinks you can get one over on the police: they’re watching, and you’re going to end up walking if you’re not going to get yourself at least a cheap van insurance policy for your vehicle.

In related news – and the whole reason the cops are out in force and able to catch those that are a bit thick and think that ‘compulsory’ car insurance doesn’t apply to them – is that Continuous Enforcement rules have been in effect for quite some time. Not only that, but there are new technological advances that have been brought forward specifically to help local police forces catch those who are flouting the new law.

In fact, new automated licence plate readers can scan thousands of cars in very little time, even while they’re in motion, and then query a new centralised insurance database to cross-check for vehicles that are registered but aren’t legally permitted to be on the nation’s roads. It’s just one more reason to follow the law, as you can’t hide any longer even if you tried to!

Commercial vehicle production down, says one insurer

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Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 11 nov  2012:

One commercial van insurance provider recently announced research findings indicating commercial vehicle production levels have dropped significantly this year.

Van insurance website VanQuoteDirect’s research study found that there was 7.5 per cent reduction in the number of commercial vehicles produced in the first nine months of 2011, which was blamed on a dwindling demand for vehicles such as vans. However, overall demand for commercial vehicles still remains relatively high, according to insurance company spokesman Joe de Vries.

Mr de Vries commented on the research findings, remarking that 2011 figures may have been higher due to the fact that January of 2012 was when the Low Emission Zone went into effect, causing many people to purchase new vehicles in preparation for the new emissions regulations. However, now that this deadline is long gone, new commercial vehicle purchases may have dropped off slightly as a result.

Mr de Vries added that VanQuoteDirect remained optimistic about the commercial vehicle market both in the UK and abroad, especially since demand for new vehicles on the Continent is expected to drive demand for British-built commercial vans. This will support the growth of vehicle manufacturers based in the UK and will have a knock-on effect for the insurance industry as well.

However, there is still much concern about the burgeoning eurozone crisis, both on its effects on the Continent and here at home, as a collapse would wreak havoc on our own sluggishly recovering economy. Hopefully demand for new commercial vehicles will drive economic growth and new manufacturing jobs, perhaps stemming what some are afraid will otherwise be the unending tide of economic ruin.

Increasing vehicle production as we move into 2013 is something to hope for very stridently, said Mr de Vries, who added that increases in production would aid the UK in its attempts to finish climbing out of the deep, deep economic hole it tumbled down into back in 2008 during the credit crisis.

White Van Man, like common sense, an endangered species

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Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 4 nov  2012:

Just when you thought it was safe to get behind the wheel: this week, the news cycle has been filled with some rather silly points made about van drivers.

One initial report, published just a few days ago, has sounded the alarm that we’ve a new endangered species here in the UK: The White Van Man. A new survey found that out of those under the age of 30 that are entering a trade, only four per cent of them are in need of a van.

The commercial van insurance provider that conducted the poll discovered that this simply wasn’t true across all age ranges. In fact, anyone over the age of 40 that was planning on changing careers has an 80 per cent chance to be going into a position that requires a van, the insurer found.

What’s behind the demise of young Brits getting behind the wheel of big white vans?  Well, nearly one out of every three said that if it wasn’t increases to the price of a litre of petrol, it was rampant insurance and road tax hikes as well driving them into the arms of jobs that didn’t require them sitting in traffic for hours and breathing exhaust fumes; meanwhile 25 per cent of younger drivers said they had no desire to be lumped in with the rest of the White Van Men due to their horrid reputations.

Believe it or not, there may be a bit of truth to the whole ‘horrid driver’ stereotype when it comes to those who drive a van for a living. The research conducted by the car insurance provider found that around 15 per cent of van drivers surveyed had driving offences.

While that’s not a terribly high figure, the next one will definitely blow your mind: around one out of every five van drivers reported actually having sex in their vehicle! Hopefully this wasn’t on the clock – and even more hopefully this wasn’t while the van was in motion, though it would explain some of the poor driving people always complain about, wouldn’t it?

 

Ugliest van ever wins BISVA’s Green Van category

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Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 28 Oct  2012:

What is easily the ugliest single vehicle to ever roll was recently the winner of the British Insurance Vehicle Security Awards’ Green Van category.

The dimunitive little van, a Frankenstein’s monster of a Ford Fiesta with its back seats ripped out and its rear side windows blanked out as well called the Fiesta ECOnetic van, has been a three time winner at BISVA in its category, thanks to its almost nonexistent greenhouse gas emissions. While the car insurance award is undoubtedly prestigious, it certainly doesn’t take aesthetics into account in any way, shape, or form, as the small van is remarkably queer-looking.

However, under that bizarre exterior resides an amazingly efficient diesel engine, as the Fiesta ECOnetic not only gets more than 85mpg but also only emits 87g/km in carbon dioxide emissions. Ford Britain was quite pleased after their ugly yet fuel-efficient little van was praised again, with Anthony Ireson, marketing director for the car manufacturer, commenting that the firm had been overjoyed to learn that their Fiesta Van had once more risen to the top of its class for small vans in regards to green technology.

Mr Ireson added that Ford Britain plans to continue offering technological innovations and new safety features with further iterations of the Fiesta Van in order to continue its past record of excellence. However, no word yet as to whether the manufacturer’s designers will actually design the outside of the vehicle with their eyes open this time.

Some of the ECOnetic’s features that earned it the high praise are Smart Regenerative Charging, auto start-stop, and the advanced diesel powertrain, Produced and developed at Ford’s Diesel Centre in Dagenham, the van also has a lower suspension and low rolling resistance tyres that combine with its diesel engine, a recalibrated 1.6-litre motor, all of which contribute to its high mileage.

So if you have around £10,800 and you’re in need of a fuel efficient van, this may be the vehicle for you, though you might not want to let your mates see you motoring about town in one.

‘White Van Man’ not as accurate a title as it used to be

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Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 21 oct 2012:

Move over, lads – new research results this week revealed that there’s more women behind the wheels of vans than you might have thought at first.

According to one car insurance provider’s recent survey, as many as one out of every three van drivers using their vehicles in the course of a business were female. Not only that, but AXA Business Insurance, which provides commercial van insurance to its customers, found that around 14 per cent of these women found it insulting to be referred to as ‘the White Van Man.’

Nearly three out of every four of these women said that the stereotypes associated with the White Van Man appellation were more or less accurate, while almost one out of every three actually found it amusing. Female van drivers seem to have a better sense of humour than their male counterparts, as only 29 per cent of men who drive vans for a living were amused by the nickname.

Most van drivers, whether they be men or women, were found to be overall quite responsible drivers. Almost 70 per cent reported not being convicted of a traffic offence with in the last decade, even though more than half of them spent 10 hours out of every week behind the wheel and 15 per cent spending in excess of 30 hours a week driving.

Women were actually found to be slightly more cautious than men when it came to avoiding traffic citations throughout the past ten years. In fact, men reported being offence-free 67 per cent of the time, while women said that they had not been cited for an offence 73 per cent of the time, a difference of 6 percentage points.

AXA Bisuness Insurance’s managing director,Darrell Sansom, commented on the findings, indicating that the last ten years have left van drivers with a pretty sour reputation. However, Mr Sansom pointed out how far off the mark these stereotypes have become over these intervening years, pointing out that not only has professionalism undergone a steep rise amongst the courier vehicle and delivery van community but that an increasing number of women are driving vans for a living as well.

Gwent Police target rogue traders, nab nearly 50 van drivers

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Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 14 Oct 2012:

Nearly 50 drivers were stopped this week by Gwent Police for many offences, including speeding and driving without valid van insurance.

Operation Liberal, the nationwide programme for stopping rogue traders in their tracks, was put into effect with excellent results this past week, thanks t the efforts of Gwent Police. The A48 coast road was bristling with police just this past Wednesday who systematically stopped vans, directing them to a nearby factory site where documents and identification were checked in order to look for anything out of place.

A total of 49 vehicles were caught in the police action, leaving after only being issued penalty notices for all sorts of offences, including failure to display correct registration plates, bald tyres, using a mobile phone behind the wheel, possession of cannabis, and speeding. Not only that, but five van drivers had their vehicles seized because they were caught driving without any car insurance, which makes nearby roads all that much safer.

The roads were patrolled by four officers who stopped vans and directed them to Quinn’s Radiator factory near Newport, where four community support officers and six police constables waited to hand out penalties and enforce the law. Newport West crime and disorder reduction officer for Newport West, Nicola Henson, said that the A48 was cut off by both South Wales Police and Gwent officers in order to cut down on crime, as the motorway has traditionally been seen as a hotbed of criminal activity.

The police officer said that much headway has been made into cracking down on criminals using the A48, such as the apprehension of one motorist who was found to have his vehicle equipped to siphon diesel fuel from other vans and other diesel-burning vehicles. Hopes are high that the message will soon be spread that tolerance for such illegal activities has reached an all-time low and that local police are taking action to stem the tide of criminal activity.

Make no bones about it: you may think you’re not really harming anyone if you’re driving about without insurance, but you’re breaking the law just as much as if you were speeding, talking on your mobile, or anything else. Skipping out on van insurance because you can’t be bothered has serious consequences, so if you don’t want to end up with your van seized by the authorities, go to a van insurance comparison site now and get yourself some cover or you may be next!

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