Tag: van insurance

Careful: your insurer might just hate Jesus

Posted on by News Desk

VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 6 FEB 2015:

In news that will almost certainly make your head spin like a girl possessed by the Devil, one car insurance company threatened a vicar for being Christian.

All right, it’s a tiny bit more complex an issue than that. Honestly though it does kind of boil down to just this: Age UK, who insures Rev Wena Parry’s Vauxhall Zafira, told her that the pro-Jesus stickers she has on her car could be counted as modifications – and that not informing the insurer that these ‘modifications’ were made could lead to her insurance cover being invalidated.

All right, so let’s address this, shall we? The whole idea behind telling your car or van insurance company that you’ve made modifications to your vehicle is to make sure that your policy reflects the condition of your car. Boy racers installing spoilers and turbochargers on their cars are obviously going to be engaging in risky behaviours that need to be reflected in a higher insurance premium, and having anti-theft systems like immobilisers fitted to your vehicle change likewise change your vehicle’s value to an insurer as well. All of these reasons are absolutely valid ones.

Having two pro-Jesus stickers on your car, however, do not do the same thing as increasing your vehicle’s performance or make it harder to steal or break into. I simply fail to see how having stickers that read “Christ for me” and “Christ must be Saviour” are out of place on the car of a vicar. Rev Parry make it to Heaven quicker in her sticker-adorned car? Will the stickers make it harder for demons and devils to possess her engine block? I don’t understand, and I don’t think I ever will.

Rev Parry thinks its discrimination against Christians. That could be the case, there’s no denying that. However, I think the more likely culprit is that there are pillocks working at Age UK that wouldn’t know their arse from a hole in the ground. Corporate stupidity certainly transcends all faiths and religions – you certainly don’t have to be an idiot to work for one of those companies, but based on this instance it looks like it certainly can’t hurt.

 

Welcome your corporate overlord, get cheaper insurance

Posted on by News Desk

VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 30 JAN 2015:

Well it’s official: the only real way to get cheaper insurance for your car or van is to sign on to one of those telematics-based policies that spies on you.

All right, yes I know you’re not actually being peeped on whilst you’re in the loo or something like that, but let’s be honest, shall we? These so-called “black box” car insurance and van insurance policies might offer you discount rates if you can prove you’re not a pillock behind the wheel, but you’re also letting a big corporation essentially monitor and record everywhere you go, not to mention when – and how – you get there.

Yes, I know that telematics is a particular boon for young drivers. Yes I know that these younger Brits can sometimes save as much as 20 per cent on their insurance costs – a kingly sum considering how much insurers charge anyone under the age of 23 to begin with. And yes, again, I know that encouraging younger drivers to be responsible behind the wheel is bloody brilliant, especially if these drivers know they’re being rewarded for their good behaviour. I just don’t bloody like the idea of a big, faceless corporation getting to keep track of exactly where my teenage daughter goes in her 12 year old Vauxhall Corsa that still cost more to insure than it cost to purchase.

So what’s the big deal if you’re leaving a paper trail as you motor about? If you’re not up to anything untoward you’ve got nothing to hide, don’t you? Besides – you’re in public, and you don’t have an expectation of privacy when you’re out in the open. That’s why CCTV cameras dotting cities like London aren’t even a bother to so many people nowadays.

Well bollocks to that I say. It doesn’t matter if I’m up to no good or I’m just having a lovely Sunday afternoon drive on some B roads – it’s nobody’s bloody business but my own where I go and what I do. If I want to share that with other people I’ll Tweet about it. I don’t care how much discount car insurance you’re offering me – just leave me the hell alone and let me listen to my Sade CDs in peace.

Prepare for a 10 per cent premium hike this year, AA says

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VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 23 JAN 2015:

Brace yourselves, blokes: the AA says drivers can see car insurance and van insurance premiums go up by around 10 per cent over the coming year.

The slow creep upwards for premium prices – even those found on insurance comparison sites – has already begun. In fact, the motoring organisation says that the last three months of 2014 saw an 0.2 per cent increase, with the price of the average motorist’s cover rising to a cost of £540.

On the one hand, this is around £200 lower than the high-water mark in 2011, certainly a bad year for more or less anyone and everyone who had to get behind the wheel. Still, the AA says that this year’s going to see some substantial price increases nevertheless, even with the mount of competition within the insurance provision sector

Meanwhile, to add insult to injury petrol prices keep coming down – something that makes it worse for motorists as insurers assume everyone will be driving about more. This means the number of accidents is likely to increase, which leads to more insurance payouts – so your favourite neighbourhood insurance company has been preparing to jack up its rates to counteract the supposed effect.

Is it fair? Of course not. At the same time, is there anything you can do about it? Well you can stop auto-renewing like a pillock every year, considering how much insurers hike up premiums on ‘loyal’ customers who hang about for more than 12 months. Of course doing that isn’t going to guarantee you get fantastic cut-rate insurance cover – just that you won’t be so buggered as the next bloke who just keeps renewing with one of the big insurers year in and year out.

Other than that? Well it’s pretty much suffer in silence. Switch to telematics, if you think it will help – unless you’re rubbish behind the wheel, as you’ll end up paying more instead of paying less. Or just sell the Astra and take public transport like the rest of us, you spoiled bastard. Think of the money you’ll save on petrol and insurance premiums! So what if you have to ride the bus with the rest of the unwashed masses?

Lowered petrol prices lead to higher insurance premiums

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VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 16 JAN 2015:

Well if this just doesn’t prove my point that you’re damned no matter what you do: new research says that when petrol prices drop, insurance premiums rocket.

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, you heard it here first: you officially can’t win. If you’re finally relieved to see you’re not suffering any more pain at the pump due to petrol prices dropping like a stone, you can look forward to your car insurance or van insurance rising to compensate for the sudden extra cash you had. Imagine how bad fleet owners feel after having to pay even more for their commercial van insurance cover, after finally breathing a sigh of relief that their fleet of commercial vehicles won’t be burning a hole in their pocket at the petrol pump!

So how does it work? Well it’s ridiculously simple, actually. As petrol prices come down, insurers figure that this means motorists will have more cash to devote to filling their tanks. This works out to drivers feeling like they can motor about more than they do when they’re suffering from high petrol prices, so insurers decide that the roads will inherently be more dangerous because everyone’s out and enjoying a nice day or two just driving about without having to worry about taking out a mortgage to fill their tank at the end of the week.

It makes sense statistically but it’s truly frustrating for drivers, don’t you think? Also, it’s not like rates go up that much during times of cheap petrol – research says that over the last three months as petrol prices dropped insurance costs went up by a paltry 2 per cent – but it’s the principle of the thing that rattles my cage. Can’t we just enjoy the fact that we’re not being squeezed at the pump without our insurance companies trying to squeeze every last penny out of us?

Do you know what a 2 per cent rise equates to on average. £12 a year. That’s not much individually but taken altogether with millions of motorists that adds up quickly. Does the insurance industry really need that much extra cash? What are they doing with it all anyway besides trying their best not to pay out on fake whiplash claims?

New vehicle registrations hit 10-year high in 2014

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VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 9 JAN 2015:

Unbelievable: new research from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders says that the number of new vehicle registrations hit a 10-year high last year.

So this is some brilliant news for carmakers and car insurance providers here in the UK, with some 2.476 million cars sold in the country over the course of the last 12 months. This is the highest figure since 2004, and it’s also a 9.3 per cent increase over 2013 figures as well.

Yes, well done car buyers, good for you! Guess what, though? With those 2.475 million new cars getting sold in the UK this year there were 2.476 million new insurance policies taken out as well. That’s a pretty big bump, and it could lead to either good news or bad news for the car and van insurance marketplace.

So here’s the first scenario: insurers were so chuffed by having the influx of new policies – more than 9 per cent more than last year, after all – that the extra revenue collected from premium payments has filled their coffers. The result: cheaper insurance for everyone in the UK, huzzah!

Doesn’t sound likely to you? Yes, me neither. It’s far more likely that these insurers will see this as the beginning of a trend where there will be increased demand for their services going forward. And you know as well as I do when demand goes up while supply stays the same: prices go shooting into the stratosphere. In other words, all these bastards buying Ford Fiestas and Vauxhall Corsas are effectively driving up the prices for everyone else, including personal and commercial van insurance customers, simply because there’s just so many more of them from last year.

In other words, hold on to your wallets, blokes – I’m reasonably sure that when you renew your policy this year you’re going to see that prices have gone up across the board. I mean there was already some evidence of this happening as of a few months ago, but now this absolutely seals the deal – or at least I think it does, anyway. But then what do I know?

Police crack down on insurance dodgers in highly public way

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VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 2 JAN 2015:

Think dodging car insurance or van insurance is a low-profile crime? Think again – police forces around the UK are dealing with it in a public, humiliating way.

Sooner or later you’re going to run into some genius who thinks they can get away with not having their car or van insured. It’s a victimless crime, they might say, or that it’s such a private matter that no one will know. Well, if you’re thinking of following in their footsteps with your own car or commercial van insurance cover, think again – the police will find you, seize your vehicle, and shame you by putting it on display for all the world to see.

Or at least that’s what’s happening in Cheshire. The police in the town of Widnes have kicked off a campaign to raise awareness about what happens if you don’t pay your insurance premiums, and it involves putting seized vehicles on display for the world to see right outside Widnes Police Station.

For what it’s worth, I hope a programme like this spreads not just across Cheshire but the entirety of the UK. A nice, high profile reminder of how you can get your vehicle taken away from you if you think you’re above the law? It’s brilliant, and I can’t even begin to tell you how much I’ll relish licking the salty tears off the cheeks of all those numptys who think they were getting one over on all of us only to have their precious cars and vans forcibly taken from them.

Honestly now, you can’t say that you don’t know what happens to you if you wander off without bothering to pay for proper insurance on your vehicle. It’s bloody mandatory, for pity’s sake – and not only that, police have specialised equipment now to determine if you’re motoring about without proper cover now. There are databases that are linked with the insurance industry that the police have access to without even having to step out of their own vehicles. In other words, you will be found out and if you keep up with it you will end up getting your own vehicle seized. On top of that, you’ll have some hefty fines to pay – and now everyone will know what a skiving bastard you are.

2014 in review: enjoy it while it lasts

Posted on by News Desk

VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 26 DEC 2014:

New data for 2014 in total shows that car and van insurance rates fell for the year – but experts say don’t get used to the phenomenon.

The cost of motoring seems to go up and down like a child’s yo-yo toy, doesn’t it? Between the price of a litre of petrol and the constantly fluctuating car insurance premium prices we’re all subject to, it’s a wonder anyone has any money left over for anything else at the end of the year. Still, there’s good news for drivers, as an insurance comparison site just did some maths and came up with some cheerful figures: the average premium price dropped by more than 6 per cent over the course of 2014. Not only back, but that builds on the back of 2013’s 3.2 per cent drop and 2012’s 2.6 per cent decrease as well. Combine that with petrol prices trending downwards and there are some happy chappies out there when it comes to motoring costs!

Of course, nothing lasts forever – and industry analysts are already raining on our parade by warning how things are likely to take a turn for the worse in the New Year. Those premium prices might have bottomed out this December, as data shows averages were some 0.7 per cent higher than they were 12 months before that. In other words, it looks like the costs of annual cover is likely to begin trending upwards at least, though petrol prices are likely to remain low for a bit longer.

So why the roller coaster? The casualties of a price war amongst insurance companies, analysts say. Everyone’s been jockeying for position, and they’ve all been slashing their prices precipitously, only to suddenly realise they’ve cut back so far that they can’t sustain their business this way. This means prices are going to come up, up, up in the New Year.

However, you’ll still be likely to get a good deal if you switch providers soon. Insurers will likely leave their cut-rate premium prices for last and simply jack up the rates for their existing customers, as is their wont. When you start seeing higher prices for new customers, then you know we’ve arrived in the thick of it.

Do you want the good news first or the bad news?

Posted on by News Desk

VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 19 DEC 2014:

Well, it looks like there’s good news and there’s bad news when it comes to car insurance and van insurance costs in the UK. I hope you’re sitting down!

So here’s the bad news: a insurance comparison site recently found that comprehensive insurance costs went up last month. It wasn’t much – maybe around 0.3 per cent in the end – but it’s just one more nail in the coffin when it comes to the idea of dropping insurance costs. In fact, this is the third month in a row prices have gone up to the tune of around 2.1 per cent.

Again this is truly a drop in the bucket when it comes to the last three years of insurance price cuts that saw the industry shed 32.5 per cent of prices. So it’s kind of like the beginning of the end; have you ever been right atop a roller coaster before it plummets down at breakneck speed? It’s kind of like that right now, only with the amount of money you’ll have left over after prices start creeping up and not anything to deal with adrenaline or having a pleasant time.

So that’s the bad news; now for the good news. Oil prices, that have been in freefall for quite some time, could drive petrol prices under the £1 per litre threshold in the coming New Year. If you’re keeping score at home, the last time we had that kind of action on petrol was May of 2009!

So yes, the bad news is that we’re likely to see some insurance prices continue to ratchet up further and further as time goes on over the next few months or even years. However, with the price of petrol set to drop below £1 we could all see a bit less pain at the pump when we pull into the garage to top off our fuel tanks. It’s not the best alternative – especially since petrol prices do fluctuate that badly – but truly it’s better than nothing, isn’t it?

Well, most likely not. However, if you keep telling yourself that perhaps you’ll start believing it sooner or later, eh? I know it sounds cynical and bitter; what can I say besides ‘guilty as charged?’

Brits call for in-car CCTV to foil fraudsters

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VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 12DEC 2014:

Brits tired of watching their car insurance and van insurance premiums increase thanks to fraud are calling for in-car CCTV systems to keep an eye on things.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to see insurance rates keep creeping upwards. Whether it’s just to keep your Vauxhall Astra on the road of you’ve got a fleet of Ford Transit vans that need commercial van insurance, the cost of annual cover is one of the biggest sticking point for personal and business insurance customers everywhere.

When it comes to car insurance fraud, scammers have been driving up insurance costs for a while thanks to their making bogus claims left and right, but new research says that if it means stopping fraudsters right in their tracks and keeping premium costs down, 71 per cent of British motorists would be chuffed to bits to have a CCTV camera fixed to their dash.

Now, truth be told that’s an enormous number of Brits willing to turn themselves into little spies for the insurance industry. I know it sounds a bit cynical but isn’t that exactly what’s going on here? You’re willing to trade cheap insurance rates in exchange for acting like the eyes and ears of your insurer, making sure that they don’t end up getting victimised by scammers and fraudsters in the process. I suppose it sounds like a good quid-pro-quo, but there must be some people that are a bit concerned about the constant surveillance we’re all under in today’s day and age – or is it just me?

Yes, yes, I know the old chestnuts – you don’t have any expectation of privacy if you’re out in public, and that you don’t have anything to worry about if you have nothing to hide. Still, it just sticks in my craw about how much surveillance there actually is going on everywhere, even if it does come at a bonus of cheaper insurance rates. It still seems more than a little invasive to me. It just smacks of George Orwell’s dystopian novel a bit too much, with the idea that Big Brother is watching over you to record every little action you undertake that it might not approve of.

Then again, maybe it’s just that I don’t want people to see me scratching my arse in public. That could be it as well, after all.

 

 

Consumer laziness costs when it comes to insurance costs

Posted on by News Desk

VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 28 NOV 2014:

If you’re not a big fan of shopping around for car insurance or van insurance every year, guess what: your laziness is costing you – likely more than you think.

For what it’s worth, nobody enjoys having to deal with insurance companies, especially when it comes to those parasitic little bastards that you have to, by law, associate yourselves with in order to keep your car or van on the road. Plenty of people just find the cheapest deal they can initially find – usually by checking an insurance comparison site – and then just mindlessly auto-renew every 12 months, but did you know that this costs motorists an extra £2 billion every year?

I know that sounds like a completely made up figure, but I’m not trying to take the piss out of you. The truth is that insurers almost always increase your premium cost from one year to the next, relying on laziness and apathy on the part of policyholders to not actually investigate how much they could save by switching to another provider. It’s a tactic that’s worked wonderfully well for insurers – but not so well for cash-strapped Brits trying to make ends meet, or ones that think their loyalty with a certain insurance firm will be rewarded.

Now I know what you’re probably thinking: but everyone keeps saying that the cost of annual cover is going down on average! Well that may be true for new customers, but it certainly isn’t for existing ones. Insurers need to attract new policyholders after all, and the best way to do that is to offer an attractive headline rate for the first year; at the same time insurers need to keep paying the bills, so the rates these new customers are charged are subsidised, by and large, by hapless policyholders who see their insurance costs ratcheted up year on year.

So how do you avoid being victimised by this business practice on the part of insurers? It’s easy, mate – just don’t auto-renew like a pillock every year and you’ll be right as rain. Yes, it takes a bit of extra work on your part but the savings alone are worth it. Do you want to be part of that £2 billion? I know that I sure don’t want to!

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