Tag: commercial van insurance

Best of luck holding on to your van insurance in the future

Posted on by News Desk

VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 23 MAY 2014:

Nowadays it seems like there’s always an easy way to lose your van insurance or car insurance, but don’t worry – it will only get easier to do so in the future.

Right now car insurance companies have been looking for new and interesting ways to invalidate your cover, and they’ve found a new whipping boy: the practice known as fronting. It involves taking out an insurance policy on a vehicle, claiming to be the primary driver, and then actually letting someone else drive it the majority of the time whilst they are listed as a secondary driver in order to save them from taking out cover themselves. It’s quite common amongst families where children of driving age would have to pay through the nose for a policy of their own, but it can be used in almost any similar situation such as a contractor letting an employee motor about in the company van without having to pay an increased rate.

Well insurers are having none of that and have announced that they’re on the lookout for such behaviour. Being found out about your fronting is grounds for invalidating your car or commercial van insurance, so don’t get caught; the cost of trying to get cover after having that on your record is going to be much higher than the few quid you save by fronting in the first place. Never mind the fact that insurers ramp up their premium prices to practically criminal levels – do insurance companies think that they don’t have a bit of responsibility for the practice? Probably not, the arrogant bastards that they are.

Speaking of arrogance, a news report this week revealed how there are plans in the works at most major insurers to eventually transition to a more integrated telematics-based framework instead of the current model that’s in existence now. Now for what it’s worth telematics has its place – those willing to provide an insurer with their detailed real-time driving records in order to prove they’re not pillocks behind the wheel earn a discount for being safe drivers – but it’s an opt-in situation at the moment. Switching things around where telematics becomes the norm and any drivers that don’t want their every move recorded by a little satnav-like device under their dash will be penalised by higher rates hardly seems fair to me!

Then again nobody seems to care about the privacy implications of such a development, least of all insurance providers. All they’re after are ways to cut the cost of providing cover to consumers in order to maximise their profits so of course they’re going to ‘encourage’ motorists to switch over in droves. Meanwhile it’s just another nail in the coffin of your right to privacy. I hope those extra quid help you sleep better at night knowing that Big Brother’s watching you like a bloody hawk!

Does your insurer want nothing but your money?

Posted on by News Desk

VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 16 MAY 2014:

New evidence is emerging by the moment that every single car insurance and van insurance company out there wants nothing but your money – big surprise.

All right so let’s get right down to it: insurance companies are run for a profit. They provide insurance services to consumers, who then pay for the privilege. Car and van owners gain the security of knowing their vehicle and its contents are insured against damage or theft, and insurers make money off the premiums their customers pay.

But are insurers charging us fairly? It seems not – especially when you take into account that if you live in a particular geographical area such as, oh I don’t know, perhaps an open prison, your rates skyrocket. Think I’m making it up? Well I’m not – it’s exactly what’s happening to the residents of Sudbury, despite the fact that the accident rate in the town isn’t any higher than anywhere else nearby.

Insurers swear up and down that they’re not taking the open prison into account, but I don’t believe them. You’re telling me these poor Brits just naturally pay more than those in the town over, even though accident and crime statistics are virtually identical? Bollocks, I say.

If you need more proof though, I’ve got what you’re looking for. Did you know that loyalty means nothing to the average car or commercial van insurance provider? How can I say that? Well, it’s obvious – every time you renew your insurance for another year, I’ll wager your premium goes up slightly.

New statistics back me up on this one too – an insurance comparison site found that motorists that don’t shop around every year end up overpaying on their insurance by nearly £2 billion altogether! Don’t let these insurers get away with that; make sure you shop around every year and find the best deal for you. I mean there’s operating your business to make a profit and then there’s over-charging your customers on purpose in order to maximise your own gains, and the latter is just plain wrong no matter how you slice it.

 

However will insurers survive this minuscule revenue drop?

Posted on by News Desk

VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 9 MAY 2014:

Oh those poor van insurance providers – they’re suffering under a truly horrid dip in revenue right now. Luckily it will be over quite soon for them!

Yes I know I’m sounding a bit facetious, and that’s because I can be after hearing this doozy of a news story earlier this week. Van and car insurance providers have finally revealed their first quarter figures, sighing theatrically and making a big show of having to somehow deal with a paltry 10 per cent decrease in income. You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t immediately go all misty-eyed, especially since most insurance outfits make money hand over fist.

Competition was said to have been a factor at play for the first three months out of the year according to most analysts, but lest we forget that insurers have been doing their best part in bringing this on themselves. Residential and commercial van insurance providers have cracked down on fraud seriously, bringing down their operating costs by a sizable margin. The knock-on effect of this (or at least should be this) is the fact that with fewer spurious accident claims being made there’s a real drop in compensation payments that insurers have had to pay out – and that means there should now be less opportunity to raise honest motorists’ rates in order to make up for any fraud shortfalls. In other words the roads are safer and motorists in general are benefiting from the drop.

At the same time, this little dip is going to have a negligible affect on the industry in general, and the nation’s insurance brokers feel the same way.In fact, more than 50 per cent of brokers surveyed in an independent survey felt that by the end of 2020 that revenues for the insurance industry will go up anywhere from 10 per cent to 15 per cent. When we’re talking millions and millions of our hard-earned cash to begin with, even a 10 to 15 per cent hike is going to add up to quite a bit of cash in the end isn’t it?

Insurers try anything and everything to save a few quid

Posted on by News Desk

VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 2 MAY 2014:

Car insurance and van insurance providers are so obsessed with cutting costs that they’re willing to try anything – including the aid of their own customers.

You know that insurance companies have been turning over every last rock in an attempt to reduce their operating costs when they actually come up with a plan that will help both them and consumers. Well, that’s what’s happened this week, when one insurance provider has decided to move forward with a new programme that will offer a 10 per cent discount on a policyholder’s premium if they’re willing to fit a dashboard camera to their vehicle.

The idea is to provide better evidence in the event of car crashes, which cost insurers an arm and a leg. The 10 per cent rate drop isn’t too shabby either, and will be especially helpful to commercial van insurance policyholders that have a number of vehicles they have to keep on the road. On top of that, a dash cam is good for employers to keep tabs on their employees and how they comport themselves behind the wheel; whilst a telematics device can tell you quite a bit about a driver, having a video feed is even better.

So who cares about how this could be a terrible idea when it comes to the invasion of privacy, right? Sure you might say that the programme is voluntary, but that won’t stop the camera from capturing the action from people and vehicles outside the car or van that pass by. Not everyone actually enjoys having camera footage taken of them, despite the massive number of CCTV cameras spread across the UK like George Orwell’s worst nightmare.

Why are insurers so up in arms right now? Well that’s easy – new data from another major insurance provider found that fraud went up by nearly 20 per cent last year when it came to car accident claims, which means projections are it will be higher this year still. High fraud activity equals vast sums of cash being spent on spurious claims, so insurers are trying to head it off at the pass this year instead of just raising our rates like they usually do instead. Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll still raise our rates this year too.

Newsflash: insurers think we’re all pillocks

Posted on by News Desk

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.

Relief over low van insurance rates to be very short lived

Posted on by News Desk

VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 18 APRIL 2014:

If you’re feeling relieved that your car insurance or van insurance rates have dropped recently, better enjoy it while you can – they’re on their way back up.

Isn’t it always the way that someone comes by and completely ruins your good mood by pointing out how the best news you’ve got right now is going to be here and gone? It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it – and that someone is me. Sure, insurance costs have dipped down to a four year low according to one insurance comparison website, but there’s much more sinister news looming on the horizon – especially for commercial van insurance policyholders.

So what’s going to bring about the death of good insurance rates? Believe it or not but it’s the Competition Commission! It’s painfully ironic that an organisation investigating unfair pricing practices could end up making things worse for consumers, but here’s what’s going on: the Commission is only investigating private insurance. If its investigation warrants regulatory changes that insurers have to abide by in order to keep prices low, it will only be private insurance that is affected by this – and guess where insurers will look to regain their lost revenue afterwards?

Did you guess that the commercial insurance market is going to get the short end of the stick? Well if you did congratulations: you’re now realising the same thing I did this week. It’s bloody ridiculous, especially considering that the economic recovery effort is bolstered so much by small business owners and particularly those that have their own van or truck to visit clients, yet nothing seems to be happening in order to rectify the issue in any way shape or form. It’s incredibly frustrating to see this begin to unfold and, despite the fact that you’re shouting at the top of your lungs that things need to change before it’s too late, nobody in power is listening.

Then again what else is new? The Government is one of those fantastic organisations that has the most selective hearing loss you can think of. I suppose it could be worse. Don’t ask me how it could though – I’m as flummoxed as you on at this point.

Brits staying home in droves to avoid Meerkat morons

Posted on by News Desk

VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 11 APRIL 2014:

An increasing number of British drivers are staying home instead of commuting to work – though those who don’t risk running into Meerkat-toting pillocks.

Does that not make any sense whatsoever? Don’t worry, all will become clear in time – just keep a few things in mind as I go about explaining the news this week. First up it was revealed recently that Brits have had it with having to fight traffic on the way to work and have been staying home more and more by taking advantage of mobile working. Many families have even decided to get rid of one of their vehicles in order to save on things like car insurance.

What does this mean for those of us who can’t get out of our daily commute, or the white van man that actually has to keep commercial van insurance on his vehicle in order to remain employed? Well first of all there’s fewer people on the roads, and that’s a good thing as this will lead to less congestion and fewer opportunities to get into road traffic accidents. However – and this is where that damned Meerkat comes in – there’s a problem: those left on the road are also have greater chances of coming into the types of thick bastard that Surrey Road Police pulled over recently.

Get a load of this story: at a traffic stop, the man couldn’t provide proof of valid insurance but he insisted to the cops that he did indeed have the proper cover. How could he possibly prove this? Well apparently he simply didn’t have his little Meerkat toy with him, but it was at home. That’s right – he tried to argue with the police that his little toy that he received in the post from a well known insurance comparison site.

Needless to say after a quick investigation it turns out the man did not have proper cover and that he’d been motoring about for heaven knows how long without. With fewer responsible people on the roads, these are the kinds of Brits we’ll have to contend with – so be careful because there’s no knowing what these clearly unstable individuals are capable of. It’s only funny when it happens to someone else!

Bad drivers: this is why we can’t have nice things

Posted on by News Desk

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.

Speed cameras and reckless driving: a poor match

Posted on by News Desk

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 28 March 2014:

Almost half of British drivers find speed cameras useless, whilst police stops for careless driving have been off the charts over the past six months.

If there’s one singular thing that’s the bane of the white van man, it’s most definitely speed cameras. Well that and insane cyclists, really. However, it’s not just van insurance policyholders that are fed up with speed cameras – almost half of the entire motoring public in the UK is ready to bin the whole speed camera system entirely according to a recent research study.

In fact, some 45 per cent of survey respondents said that the speed camera does absolutely nothing to make the roads safer. Some felt that it could even be making things more dangerous, what with motorists keeping a close eye on their speed instead of the rest of the traffic they share the road with – those damned cyclists included.

Other drivers polled said that they could imagine motorists braking suddenly after spying a speed camera, leading to the most notorious road traffic accidents – rear-end collisions – that have a nasty knock-on effect of raising car insurance rates for everyone. At the same time, there’s even more evidence that speed cameras aren’t making a lick of difference either way according to another independent research study that was published this week.

What has been on the increase, according to the research data, is careless driving. Six months ago, new regulations went into effect that carried much more stringent penalties for being an arse behind the wheel of your vehicle, and since then there’s been in excess of 5,000 police stops for that specific reason.

So yes, everyone hates reckless drivers, especially when they’re lane-hogs or tailgating you for miles. At least now you can get fined or earn a few penalty points on your licence for the activity; you would think that with all the ire that motorist have towards speed cameras they wouldn’t have time to be pillocks whilst driving but apparently some old habits die a bit hard, don’t they?

Get ready for more unfair treatment from insurance companies

Posted on by News Desk

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.

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