Latest Car Insurance News
Welcome to Expert Car Insurance News. Here you will find all the latest information concerning the motor insurance industry.
Posted June 2007
Your average family motor costs more to run - over £5,600 a year
The cost of running a car keeps rising and broken down to the cost per mile, it’s gone up an average of 2.75 pence for every single motorist with a petrol driven car. The annual survey issued by the AA has published details showing that the budget required to maintain a small family motor has gone up by £77 per year.
The start point is the cost of fuel and the price of petrol per mile varies depending on engine size between 35.86p and 111.88p, which taking into account the numbers of the various sizes of car on our roads averages out at 65p which is a 2.75p increase. For diesel drivers it’s not quite so bad with the average price per mile now 59.61p which is an increase of 1.84p.
A large percentage of these fuel rises hit the motorist in May together with a hike in interest rates which affected finance costs. Without these, the increase would have been less than half for the average small family car, which ran in at £5,685a year.
A spokesperson for AA car insurance said that the benefits that should be accruing from the increased servicing periods of most new cars and the improved compounds in modern tyres which give them a much longer life are being drained by the increases in car insurance, depreciation and most of all in the last year petrol. Of course different combinations of cars and of driver age and experience will vary the total package cost but even the best performing cars measured by year-on-year cost to own, the Superminis, still had a £65 hike in costs hitting an average £4,401 for a standard 10,000 mile driving year.
Posted June 2007
Ministers preach to reduce the drink drive limit
British ministers are considering the possibility of dropping the legal level of blood alcohol permitted while still allowed to drive. This and more flexible rules, allowing the police to introduce random breath tests are to be considered by the Government later this year. The move will bring us into line with our European neighbours.
Currently in Britain the alcohol limit is 80mg per 100 ml of blood, which dependant on body frame size and other elements is equivalent to approximately two pints of ordinary strength beer. The trouble is that drinking habits are changing and the types of alcohol drunk and the size of the glasses (or bottles) it is drunk from are changing and it is easy to pass this level with one goblet of wine, the goblet being four times the old pub measure for wine.
Research by University College London has calculated that this reduction could bring down the number of deaths on our roads by 65 per year.
However before bringing in a lower drink-drive limit Stephen Ladyman, the Transport Minister, said that he would want to see that the current level was being adequately enforced by the police, because if 80mg /10ml is not being properly policed then drivers that are of the mind to take a risk are just as likely to ignore a 50 mg limit.
If effectively enforced the lower level means that it is practically a ‘Don’t drink at all’ if you intend to drive message that the Government is putting forward. This is to ram it home to all motorists, including the increasing numbers of young drivers that are getting behind the wheel after drinking too much, that it is not an acceptable practice. The good news would be that if it works, and because so many accidents are alcohol related, we may see a reduction not only in road fatalities but also our car insurance premiums.
Posted June 2007
Please make the driving test harder say youngsters
A survey of drivers that have passed their driving test in the past
2 years has revealed that 90% wished that the test had been harder and
had ensured they were better equipped to drive in the complex and busy
traffic conditions of today. The study by car insurance provider Direct
Line also found that 25% admitted to having had a road accident,
anywhere from a small bump to a major accident, their first two years
behind the wheel and that a further 17% said they had at least one near
miss in that time. Over half of these drivers put their experiences
down to inadequate driving skill, brought about because the test is
too easy to pass.
The survey asked driving instructors their opinions as well and 75%
of them said that they were afraid that the present test was too easy
and didn’t prepare drivers for some of the potentially most hazardous
circumstances that they would encounter. These included motorways, night
driving and country roads in particular, where there is no specific
element in the test to certify that newly qualified drivers can cope
with to any standard of competency as they are not tested at all.
A spokesperson said that Direct Line have a lot of car insurance claims
from recently qualified drivers and this survey suggested that the
individuals themselves and their instructors both believed that it was
because they were under-prepared for today’s roads by the instructions
given to pass the existing driving test. The instructors added that they
believed that the test should be enhanced to encompass important areas
of regular encountered hazards including driving at night (72%), dual
carriageway (78%), the specific rules related to motorway driving (84)
and most popularly, driving on rural roads.
Posted June 2007
Crashback affects millions and largely goes untreated
Claiming on the car insurance to fix the car and compensate for injuries following an accident doesn’t paint the whole picture according to leading insurer More Than car insurance. In a recent study they revealed that around 8 million drivers may be suffering from a new phenomenon, ‘Crashback’.
Crashback occurs when drivers suffer anxiety and serious concern about driving again following an accident on the nation’s roads. At first sight it seems incredible, but the research found that a substantial 40% of drivers involved in an accident remain anxious about travelling in their vehicle long after the incident.
The figures demonstrated that 170,000 drivers were sufficiently affected that it took 6 months for them to gather the confidence to drive again following an accident. Another 85,000 drivers still hadn’t driven after more than 6 months. The remainder of these Crashback sufferers experienced dreams reliving the accident, a loss of confidence and even panic attacks.
This shows that the road to full recovery following a car accident is slow and the psychological scars can remain for long periods, sometimes leaving drivers permanently scarred by their experience, and retaining a nervous and erratic disposition behind the wheel, often their crash is on their minds whilst driving.
Recovering from such traumatic experiences can be helped by the simple expedient of talking to someone, and to this end the car insurance company's accident councelling partners, FirstAssist, provide a professional service to help drivers cope with the remaining mental scars and recover their confidence. They said that getting it off your chest is very important in the process of moving-on effectively, and if the anxiety can’t be reduced by talking to family and friends it can be a positive benefit to talk to a trained councellor who can talk you through all your feelings and get you feeling positive again about taking the wheel.
February 2006 to March 2006 News Articles
January 2006 to February 2006 News Articles
December 2005 to January 2006 News Articles
August 2005 to November 2005 News Articles
April 2005 to July 2005 News Articles
May 2004 to December 2004 News Articles
March 2004 to April 2004 News Articles
