Tag: van insurance

Drink driving raises everyone’s rates in more ways than one

Posted on by News Desk

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 10 July 2013:

There’s nothing wrong with a few pints now and again, but if you get into your van afterwards and go plowing into an elderly couple you’re part of the problem.

In fact, you’re going to see your van insurance costs rise by an average of 121 per cent. Yes, that’s more than double – and that’s only if your car insurance provider doesn’t drop you like a hot stone!

An insurance comparison site recently uncovered this new information this week, publishing the figures in a fanfare of warnings such as ‘drink driving is bad.’ Listen, it doesn’t take a genius to know that, but it’s not just because you’re going to end up with a massive fine and heightened insurance costs – if you end up damaging someone’s property or heavens forbid cause a serious injury to someone else, you’re going to be responsible for a massive insurance claim, which raises rates for everyone else as well because we have to pay for your idiot mistake, so just don’t do it mate.

Of course things are most likely going to get worse before they get better on this front, as another news story I read this week detailed how the number of traffic police on duty in the UK have been slashed by 12 per cent over the past five years. This means that with fewer police on the roads watching for drink drivers, more people are slipping through the cracks and potentially causing life-threatening harm to others.

Road safety charity Brake said in a recent statement that some police forces have seen reductions as high as 30 per cent to 40 per cent, believe it or not! Welsh traffic police figures are down 31 per cent for example, while the English average was 13 per cent – yet somehow Scotland’s traffic police figures actually increased by 4 per cent. I’m not sure if there’s a culturally insensitive drunken Scotsman quip in there or not, though.

Brake is quite concerned at these cuts, especially in locales such as Dfed Powys and South Wales where the average cuts stood at around 40 per cent. It’s even worse in Bedfordshire where traffic police presence has been scaled back by 44 per cent, so use that information to your advantage if you’re going to be in those areas any time soon, either because you live nearby or you’re making a delivery there in your commercial van.

This is a serious problem if you ask me. We need more police on the roads checking for bad motorists, not less – I would brace yourself for another insurance rate hike if I was you, because if these figures are accurate it’s almost guaranteed that accident figures are going to jump.

Better protect your firm’s fleet from insurance claims

Posted on by News Desk

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

If there’s one thing I’ve learned this week it’s that it’s never been more important to make sure you’ve got adequate van insurance cover in this day and age.

I know you may not necessarily believe me when I say it, but it’s true: it’s a bloody wasteland out there when it comers to legal liability, and if your firm has a large fleet of commercial vans or other vehicles you’re exposing yourself to risk every day one of your employees gets behind the wheel to deliver a parcel or respond to a client’s needs. In fact, new research from AXA found that all too many firms are lacking basic levels of commercial vehicle insurance cover and are exposing themselves to undue risk.

Around 45 per cent of firms surveyed by AXA admitted that they had no idea that there’s such a thing as corporate manslaughter, despite the fact it’s been five years since the new offence was introduced. Considering the charge carries no limits on the fine that can be levied on a guilty party, it is incredibly important to make sure your van insurance policy has specific cover for such an incident or you could end up shuttering your doors in the event of a bad accident!

And speaking of bad accidents, you’re likely to end up having to deal with one sooner or later – and that makes it even more important to have proper levels of commercial van insurance cover. Whiplash claims in particular are becoming increasingly popular, and if one of your drivers ends up involved in a rear-end shunt with another vehicle it’s almost a guarantee that the driver of the other car is going to claim for whiplash injury.

The Faculty of Actuaries recently said that whiplash figures have risen to absolutely epidemic levels resulting in some £1 billion in court costs and legal fees – and these costs get passed along to the average consumer. The worst part about this is that roads in the UK are actually safer than they’ve always been, yet still claims figures are mounting; this is sort of to be expected during the aftermath of a recession, as money is incredibly scarce for the majority of people, leading enterprising Brits to try to capitalise on a car accident by claiming injury where there is none.

This makes it even more important to have excellent van insurance cover if you want to avoid paying out on these spurious claims!

The travails of a younger van owner never cease

Posted on by News Desk

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 26 june 2013:

It’s no secret that the younger generation today has plenty of obstacles in their way when it comes to car insurance or van insurance, what with the economy.

Thinking about the financial stability of the UK, the eurozone, and in fact the entire world is most definitely not for the fainthearted at the moment. It’s getting harder to make ends meet, but there is a bit of good news on the horizon in the form of some very interesting information I uncovered this past week.

First off, a new research study from a major comparison site discovered that you can significantly impact your rate quotes by simply not waiting until the very last moment when it comes to policy renewal. This top tip applies to both car owners and those looking for commercial van insurance cover, so listen carefully: leaving your renewal until the day of will leave you between a rock and a hard place, and any insurer you go to will know this and raise their rates accordingly, so plan ahead!

Seems like a clear case of price-gouging doesn’t it? Well it is and it isn’t – according to insurers, anyone who is scatterbrained enough to wait until the day of renewal before getting their policy sorted is most likely the kind of person that is easily distracted or inattentive behind the wheel, so waiting to the last minute is just giving your insurer an excuse to charge you even more.

This is especially difficult for younger motorists, considering premium prices are too damn high to begin with. Still, I did run across a bit of good news on that front as well: according to Autonet, younger van drivers are experiencing lowered rates on their vehicles when compared to 2012’s figures.

The insurance broker discovered that prices for the first half of 2013 have declined by around 23 per cent from last year’s figures, which is quite a pleasant change for cash-strapped younger Brits. Of course, this still means the average premium price is well over £1,250, so while it’s a bit less expensive than it was in 2012 it’s still well nigh unaffordable – and in many cases might be more expensive than the vehicle you’re trying to insure!

Van owners run into trouble on both sides of law

Posted on by News Desk

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!

Accidents drive up insurance costs for everyone

Posted on by News Desk

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 31 Mar 2013:

There’s a good reason your van insurance premiums keep going up: the number of accident claims have been soaring, which drive costs up for absolutely everyone.

Whether you’re a White Van Man or you just drive your Vauxhall Astra to work and back home every day, you’re sure to feel plenty of pain whenever it comes time to renew your van or car insurance. The driving force behind these massive premium hikes has been revealed to be largely tied to the number of accident claims being brought against the insurance industry.

The worst part is that there’s really no reason for these heightened number of claims, as roads in the UK are actually safer than they ever have been before according to the Office for National Statistics. Recently released figures from the ONS show how the number of accidents occurring on UK roadways has plummeted over even just the past few years, yet the number of claims arising from these accidents seem to be going up; some of this could be related to fraud, and the nation’s scammers are indeed out in force whilst looking to make a few extra quid at someone else’s expense, but if you ask me the big reason here is the economy: in tough economic times, people involved in accidents are much worse off than they are in times of plenty, which means they are in more dire need of compensation.

it’s certainly a mess, and the only real way to drop accident claim figures is to make the roads just that much safer. One way to do this is to keep a lookout for cyclists, according to driving charity Brake, which recently discovered in a survey that more than 8 out of every 10 cyclists have either been struck by another vehicle or suffered a near-miss.

Cyclists seem to be a favourite target for commercial vehicles in particular, as more than one out of every ten bicycle accidents were at the hands of a van or other commercial vehicle. Based on these results, Brake has urged fleet managers to get their drivers some proper training on manoeuvring their vehicles and keeping an eye out for blind spots, as cyclists are often so small as to slip by nearly unnoticed in a blind spot, only to end up eating pavement thanks to a sudden movement on the part of the van.

Of course, I’m not about to let cyclists off the hook here completely themselves: plenty of time it’s not the fault of the van driver. Cyclists like to squeeze through tight fits if they’re feeling especially cheeky, even though taking these risks certainly exposes them to heightened risk of being involved in an accident, so as much as Brake may say that van drivers need to watch out I think it’s not out of line to tell cyclists to quit mucking about quite so much as well!

Bad news spread around for insurers and manufacturers

Posted on by News Desk

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

Posted on by News Desk

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

Posted on by News Desk

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

Posted on by News Desk

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!

Posted on by News Desk

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!

Step 1

Complete your quick and easy quote

Step 2

Reveal your van insurance policies

Step 3

Pick your favourite and get instant cover