Tag: commercial van insurance

Cut your costs however you can – fraud is driving prices up

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VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 19 june 2013:

If you’re looking for cheap van insurance, good luck to you: with fraud running rampant, your best bet to reduce your motoring costs is to find a cheap vehicle!

In fact, there’s been a movement lately in the news towards alerting consumers to ways in which they can save money by not necessarily finding cheaper insurance cover but by finding instead ways to reduce the cost of keeping a vehicle overall such as keeping your tyres inflated to increase your fuel efficiency. Honestly that will work but if you’re really looking to save cash, I think your best bet is to look instead for vehicles that are otherwise cheap to own and operate.

There are plenty of good choices when it comes to commercial vehicles as well as personal cars. With commercial van insurance being so damned expensive, choosing a vehicle such as a Vauxhall Combo Crew or a Fiat Fiorino will result in much less costs while still providing plenty of cargo space; for example the Fiorino has an ultra-low £20 annual road tax thanks to its minuscule CO2 emissions, and while the Vauxhall’s road tax might be much higher the vehicle boasts an incredibly high 58 mpg fuel efficiency, which means you’ll make fewer trips to the garage and feel less pain at the pump!

You really do need to make smart choices like this when it comes to your van, especially because everyone else in the UK seems to be making absolutely horrid ones. Can you believe that a new survey just revealed as many as 60 per cent of the whiplash claims made against insurance companies are made up or completely fraudulent?

Well, it’s true – the study found that if you’re not exaggerating how injured you were in a road traffic accident – especially one where whiplash is being claimed – you’re likely to be making it up altogether. There’s 1,500 or so whiplash claims made every single day in the UK – an eye-watering figure if you ask me – and if more than half of them are even slightly exaggerated, the nation’s insurers are over-paying on their injury claims; this generates shedloads of extra costs that the honest motorist has to end up eating in the form of higher and higher premium prices every year at renewal.

It makes me so cross to think these selfish bastards are ruining it for the rest of us. Yes I understand that the economy is in a shambles, but trying to extort extra cash from an insurer is the farthest thing from a victimless crime when my own premiums keep going up year on year!

Van owners run into trouble on both sides of law

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

Whether you’re motoring about without valid van insurance or you’re facing heightened premiums after your vehicle’s been broken into, van drivers can’t win.

There’s nothing worse than having your van broken into and your belongings pilfered, and Nottinghamshire Police are issuing warnings about a rash of can break-ins that are plaguing the Selston area. Work vans in particular seem to be targeted by thieves, police say, and items stolen from these vehicles include expensive tools that can be difficult to replace, even if you have third party fire and theft cover on your commercial van insurance policy.

Unfortunately there’s simply no way to secure a vehicle – even a van – as much as you could a building, so you need to take steps yourself to minimise the chances of some opportunistic berks come by looking to nick your valuables. Police recommend keeping anything expensive out of sight if you’re leaving your work van out on the street overnight; even better would be to take particularly popular items such as satnavs and high-end tools and remove them completely from your vehicle before leaving it for the night.

Of course, some van owners do more than just leave their valuables in their vehicles unattended – they apparently check their reason and conscience at the door when they climb behind the wheel! It’s rare, but occasionally you hear the story of how the police catch some bright bulb motoring about without proper van insurance cover or without a licence – which is exactly what 44 year old Damien Lannon was caught doing recently.

Mr Lannon, who owns a Citroen van, was caught red handed and now faces a six moth driving ban in addition to a fine of £360 after police stopped him for a routine traffic stop. Mr Lannon’s licence had apparently been expired for quite some time; to make matters even worse for the man, his van wasn’t insured either.

This wasn’t the first time the 44 year old had gotten himself into trouble, as according to court documents his licence already bore nine penalty points. The driving without proper cover awarded him an additional six points, putting him over the threshold for a six month ban, lucky bloke that he is.

If Mr Lannon thought it was expensive to secure cover for his van before this whole mess, imagine what a nasty shock he’s going to be in for in six months when he finds that the insurers willing to provide cover to someone with a track record of disobeying the law when it comes to compulsory insurance are few and far between!

Bad news spread around for insurers and manufacturers

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

Not only has it been revealed that insurers have been strung up by a recent massive ‘crash for cash’ car insurance scheme, vehicle production in he UK is down.

The scheme, run by a gang of at least 60 criminals in County Durham, was so widespread and responsible for so much in ridiculously overblown insurance claims that area motorists saw their car and van insurance costs soar by around £100 a year, experts say. On top of that, it was revealed by Durham Police that the masterminds of the criminal ring was actually a family affair, with many of the key members of the gang were members of the Burnhope-based Wright family.

All of this went down last March, but it’s only until now that a reporting ban has been lifted, and now everyone is absolutely agog at how widespread the fraud activity was. The scam was incredibly complex, involving accidents staged by motorists braking suddenly at junctions, which would cause the car behind to shunt into them, and sometimes both drivers were in on the whole thing in order to maximise the amount of cash they could get from insurers in the form of spurious whiplash claims.

This is absolutely the best part though: these enterprising bastards also had their own auto recovery firm, Craghead-based PJ Autos, which would not just remove vehicles from crash sites and then bill insurers for the service but also hire cars and vans out to anyone involved in the accident – again charging both commercial van insurance and personal car insurance providers alike. However, things began to unravel once the police discovered that somehow the car hire firm hired out the same car to not just one person at a time but four different people, and this was but one bit of evidence that eventually resulted in a massive number of arrests and convictions.

Luckily the police caught these criminals, but the damage has already been done. Hopefully things will begin to recover, but there’s more bad news for the auto industry: The Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders discovered that February’s vehicle production figures in the UK were down overall, indicating that sales may be on the decline as well.

The SMMT did the maths and found that there were 0.7 per cent fewer vehicles built last month than in February of 2012. That may not seem like much, but that’s more than 137,000 vehicles all told.

Insurance policy holders and UK motorists are still purchasing cars, according to SMMT chief executive Mike Baunton, as he blamed the drop-off on the export market declining by around 10 per cent. The eurozone’s economic instability is the culprit, added Mr Baunton, but he spun the news by remarking that last year’s figures were so high that a 0.7 per cent overall drop is something the industry should be able to absorb without much worry; I hope he’s right!

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!

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?

 

‘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.

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