Tag: van insurance

Tesco expands to van cover in its insurance offering

Posted on by News Desk

While rumours are swirling about the possibility of some insurers leaving the commercial van market, one iconic supermarket giant has expanded its car insurance offering into the commercial van insurance sector.

The banking arm of Tesco, which already offers a range of financial products, has announced they are offering van insurance that boasts not only comprehensive cover but also includes a lifetime guarantee on repairs, legal cover, lock and key cover, a courtesy van, and mobile repairs, all standard.  Each van can have as many as eight drivers included in the cover, which is ideal for commercial vehicle fleets with floating drivers, and Tesco is also including more than three months’ worth of Eurozone cover as well.

The supermarket giant has certainly pulled out all the stops, especially for Clubcard customers, as Tesco offers a payment holiday scheme that can net as many as two months’ off from paying insurance instalments in a 12 month period.  Tesco is also offering public liability and employers’ liability insurance in an add-on bundle for customers that need cover for their equipment and tools.

Tesco Bank’s managing director of insurance, Julie Hopes, spoke out on the new offering, commenting that Tesco understands how integral it is for commercial vans to be kept running smooth for all too many firms in the UK.  Self-employed van drivers are in particular need of a comprehensive policy that offers excellent cover as standard as well, the supermarket giant said, adding that it’s not only AXA-underwritten tradesmen and van insurance policies that are available, as third party only and third party fire and theft are also on offer from Tesco as well.

Get off your mobiles behind the wheel – or else

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Enough is enough, one van insurance provider has recently warned its customers – get off the bloody mobile phone while you’re behind the wheel if you don’t want your insurance premiums to go up.

Swinton Vans has had it with those caught being convicted of dialing and driving, announcing that commercial van insurance policy holders can see their premiums go up by as much as double in such an event.  One driver saw an even higher increase, with a 128 per cent price hike of nearly £1,500 on top of their already relatively high annual quote of £1,147.60.

Van drivers need to know what the consequences are for being caught driving with the mobile phone up to their ear, Swinton Vans says, warning that the law does not differentiate between big companies and small business owners such as electricians, gardeners, and plumbers – anyone found not pulling over to take a call or to send and receive emails or text messages will be dealt with in no uncertain terms.  In other words, pull over or you’re going to run the risk of that phone call or text message being a very expensive one indeed.

Swinton Van Insurance’s commercial vehicle manager, Phil Moss, remarked that you need to think twice about using a mobile phone behind the wheel, especially since for many van owner, their vehicle is their livelihood – and having to suddenly pay double your original insurance quote could do more than ruin your day; it could place your whole business in jeopardy.

Cut back on your costs to offset insurance increases

Posted on by News Desk

It’s common knowledge that the commercial van insurance market is currently in an abysmal state, but you can cut back on your costs in other areas in order to offset any insurance increase you may be labouring under, experts say.

Van insurance industry insiders have come forward with quite a few top tips on keeping your outgoings as low as possible in the current economy, which is incredibly important as  instability in the eurozone and fears of a double-tip recession at home begin to solidify.  Worse is that rampant fraud in the insurance sector – from criminals making spurious and outright false whiplash-related insurance claims – are driving premium prices to eye-watering levels.

The good news is that there are things you can to do counteract this sometimes disheartening and seemingly inexorable rise upwards.  First off, experts say that if you’re not using a comparison site to shop around for the best quotes, you’re missing out on what could be some very cost-effective deals – especially since insurers typically hold their best rates in reserve for new drivers as a way to remain competitive.

Comparison sites make it much easier than ever before to find the best price, as all you as a consumer need to do is to input the details of your business or your personal information once.  The comparison site will then query its panel of insurance partners, pulling a multitude of quotes for you to compare all at once and against one another, thus saving you massive amounts of time – and quite often leading to saving significant amounts of money as well.

UK insurance industry turning itself around – finally

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The insurance industry in the UK is on the cusp of finally turning itself around, as car and van insurance providers are reporting a 106 per cent combined ratio, indicating that the nation’s insurers were almost out of the red for the first time in 18 years.

Deloitte said in a recent report that the insurance industry took in around £14 billion in premiums last year after the market grew by 10 per cent, leading to a relatively small underwriting loss (‘small’ in car insurance terms, at any rate) of about £600 million.  This may seem like a catastrophe, but the 120 per cent net combined ration from 2010 saw the industry losing shedloads more money, which means that things are actually looking up.

Expenses for the entire insurance industry amounted to 27 per cent of its total outgoings in 2011, which is quite low.  In fact, if it were not for the amount of its funds that went to settling claims – which was a massive 79 per cent – the profits would have been glorious for nearly everyone involved.

The reason that insurers did so well can be attributed to the rate hikes that we’ve all been suffering from.  However, it’s obvious that the money isn’t going to line insurance executives’ pockets, at least, as every spare pound apparently needs to be thrown at solicitors and claims management companies that are bleeding insurers dry – and by extension, their customers.

However, there are plans that are beginning to coalesce in order to get a handle on massive claims volume, especially whiplash-related claims, which experts say are responsible for £2 billion in costs in 2011 alone.  Hopefully these measures will have some positive effect on the insurance industry’s bottom line to the point where they can afford to drop their rates for personal vehicles and commercial vans and trucks alike.

Watch your manners: white van men voted most rude at wheel

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All you van drivers out there better begin watching your manners, as a new survey has found that white van men were voted as the most rude when behind the wheel.

The survey recently found that white van men beat out every other driver on the road when it came to being belligerent buggers behind the wheel, even when it came to those who drove Saabs, Mercedes, Land Rovers, Range Rovers, or Porches.  At the other end of the spectrum, the most polite and courteous people on the road tended to drive Fords, while owners of Peugeots, Vauxhalls, Citroens, and Audis were also found to be much less likely to tailgate or to turn without indicating.

The study, which was commissioned by a major car insurance comparison website that also offers van insurance, found that whether it was refusing to indicate properly, speeding through changing traffic lights, or not letting people out at junctions, drivers notice this kind of dastardly behaviour.  The website’s insurance expert, Peter Harrison, said that most drivers associate motoring habits – both good and bad – with different makes of vehicle, so that if you drive one of the vehicles on the naughty list, you should go out of your way to not be such a rude bugger.

2,500 motorists were surveyed in the study, discovering that 75 per cent of white van drivers actually admitted to never indicating their turns.  The next-rudest car owners were actually much more polite, at only around 25 per cent for BMW owners and 20 per cent for people who drove a Lexus doing the same.

Don’t go it alone: find a good guide for taking out cover

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The path to taking out van insurance is fraught with the kinds of pitfalls that can see you losing lots of money in a big hurry, so experts say you shouldn’t just stumble about in the dark: take a guide with you to make sure you get to where you need to go.

Just like you wouldn’t leave on a journey to some place you haven’t been before without getting directions or putting the address in your satnav, you shouldn’t go blundering about aimlessly when it comes to finding the best deals on van insurance, either.  There are an abundance of places you can turn to in order for guidance, with the best choice usually being a comparison website that offers specialised information on commercial van insurance as well as how to keep your motoring costs from going through the roof.

While taking out cover for a commercial van is similar to the process that you go through in taking out personal car insurance cover, there are several differences that you need to know about prior to signing any contracts.  A guide will help explain what these differences are and guide you towards the best choice for your needs, which can save you cash in the long run as you’re not purchasing cover you don’t need.

With the current economic landscape being as uncertain as it is, business owners are not in any sort of position to be throwing money away.  You need cash to keep your firm afloat, whether you’re providing goods or services to your customers, as you’ll need to pay your employees and all your other operating costs, such as filling your van’s tank; and with the price of fuel on a seemingly unending spiral upward, every last pound you’re not spending on superfluous insurance cover is one you can spend at the petrol pump.

AIG planning to drop out of the UK insurance market?

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One major insurance industry player says it is thinking long and hard about whether it will stay in the UK market or flee with its tail between its legs, according to a th words of one of the company’s executives.

Insurance Australia Group’s chief executive and managing director, Mike Wilkins, said that AIG will be conducting a ‘strategic review’ of the firm’s UK arm in the face of improvement in the British economy.  AIG’s UK division saw £3.2 million in losses in 2011’s second half, which may seem like reason enough to abandon the country, but this is actually a vast improvement to the second half of 2010, where the business lost
£77.4 million.

While the insurance group is still thinking over its options, they include either focusing the firm’s strategy to a specialised motor insurance offering or even selling off the entire business either in part or completely.  The UK assets for IAG include stakes in Barnett & Barnett and Arista, and the group owns Equity Red Star as well.

IAG needs a return to profitability in its UK businesses, Mr Wilkins said. The insurance markets in the UK are particularly nightmarish at the moment, leading to shareholders exerting pressure upon the firm to deliver better value for money, and with the progress IAG has made in reducing the massive fountain of cash that has been flowing from its arteries in the UK, now may be the best time to re-assess the firm’s longer term plans, the chief executive added.

 

Commercial insurance market conditions are nightmarish

Posted on by News Desk

The current market conditions for business owners that have to make sure they have the proper cover in place are positively nightmarish, made even worse by how relatively low they’ve been prior to these ubiquitous rate hikes – leaving many business owners crying to the heavens for an answer – or a way to avoid all the pain.

Van insurance prices have rocketed as of late, something that can be blamed on several different factors.  Profit margins for insurance providers are being eroded steadily as a result of a massive uptick in the number of motor insurance claims involving car crashes where personal injury plays a part, sending insurers scrambling to recover their outgoings by raising their rates for all their commercial van insurance and personal car insurance customers.

Claims management firms have been having a field day in soliciting injured motorists to make claims against insurers for massive payouts – in order to take a generous slice for themselves, of course.  Guess where these claims management companies are getting their information from in regards to which house to call or which mobile phone to text with their unsolicited enquiries?  That’s right, the insurance companies themselves.

Insurers actually sell on the personal details of their customers who have been involved in accidents where the other party in the incident is covered by a competitor.  They call the process ‘charging referral fees,’ but most people would call it ‘hanging the industry out to dry,’ especially as each insurer does it to every one of their competitors, resulting in increased claims across the board.

Steps have been taken by the Government to bring a halt to the practice, but for many, the damage has already been done.  Claims figures are up by nearly 70 per cent over the past few years, even though the number of accidents that have actually occurred have dropped by around 23 per cent.

Handy guide launched for comparison site shoppers

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One major comparison website has come forward with a handy guide chock-full of top tips for cutting down your van insurance costs in the current economy, it was recently revealed.

While it seems you can’t swing a cat without hitting a comparison site nowadays, it’s quite commonplace to find one that tries to distinguish itself from the rapidly growing pack by offering added value.  Many choose to diversify the options they offer consumers, such as allowing people to do all their home and life insurance shopping as they do their van and car insurance as well, while others offer tips and strategies for keeping your costs down – something that has become incredibly popular lately with the eye watering petrol prices a veritable plague upon us all.

One new guide has recently been put out there, free for everyone, and has been tooled to be of particular interest towards anyone shopping for commercial van insurance – especially those going into business for themselves for the first time.  The guide examines the several different use categories that you need to be aware of when taking out van insurance, since it’s one of the things that controls how much your policy is going to cost, and the list provided by the guide is exhaustive in the variegated factors that can cause a quote to go up and down like a funfair ride.

It can be incredibly frustrating, trying to find the best cover at the cheapest price, especially in a world that has so many variables to take into account.  Many people who have tried shopping for cover have begun to pull their hair out after trying to navigate the treacherous waters on their own, but now help is at hand for anyone who feels frustrated to tears, thanks to comparison sites that offer added-value guides.

Step 1

Complete your quick and easy quote

Step 2

Reveal your van insurance policies

Step 3

Pick your favourite and get instant cover