Latest Car Insurance News

Posted January 2006

Safer Car Parks

The Home Office has a 5 year target to reduce vehicle crime by 30% from 1999 and the Public Accounts Committee has reported that the work towards this target, carried out in partnership by the Police, car manufacturers, car insurance companies, local and central government authorities and academics, remains broadly on-course.

In his statement as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee Mr Edward Leigh MP said that praise should be tempered with caution that there remain over 2 million thefts of cars and thefts from vehicles in the 2003-4 reporting period and car crime is shifting as a result of technological changes.

In particular car parks are the location for approximately one in five current car crimes, and only 7% of car parks have been improved is such a way to allow them to be included in the Assn. of Chief Police Officers’ Safer Car Parking scheme. Particularly lamentable is the work of public bodies such as hospitals and major corporates like the railways who have failed to provide secure car parks.

Inadequate security provides a secluded opportunity to the thief and to those breaking into cars. It also makes easier the recent phenomenon of car jacking, taking of vehicles with or without force, after the owner has entered the car and put the keys in the ignition, thus avoiding the need force entry to the vehicle.

This shows that increased car security in itself is helping, but is spawning a different form of crime to overcome the situation. Hence the need for all bodies involved in the reduction of vehicle crime initiative to play their full part, including those responsible for public car parks.

Posted December 2005

A Plague on Your Speed Cameras

Mr John Maxwell the chairman of the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has stated that the confidence of Britain’s motorists is being severely affected by the ‘plague’ of speeding cameras dotted around our road system and the non-discriminatory penalties issued to all who fail the speed test by one or thirty miles per hour.

He added that for too many car drivers the apparent rationale for the speed cameras remained revenue creation for the exchequer and not a means of reducing accidents and deaths on our roads. For speed limits to be respected and obeyed there has to be a rational and reasonable approach to setting the limits for any given stretch of road and respected system of penalties for breeching them. It may, for instance, be possible to raise speed limits where it is sensible to do so, not arbitrarily reduce on all stretches of the same class of road.

IAM welcomed the Road Safety Minister, Dr Stephen Ladyman’s, new Road Safety Bill as an opportunity for the minister to demonstrate that the car driver and other road users should be partners in solving the problems on our roads not as the problem itself. Especially welcomed is the proposal that fines imposed under speeding camera violations should be adjusted dependant on the amount of the excess speed, so that minimal infringement would not mean the full standard penalty.

Posted December 2005

Male drivers are more confident behind the wheel

There is a commonly held impression that men are generally more confident and passionate about their car driving ability than women. This is endorsed by Admiral’s Annual Driver Survey which found that far more men than women drivers believe that their driving skills are better than the average. A massive 65% of men taking part in the 1000 person study believed that they drove better than the average motorist in the UK, while among women drivers, just 47% were of that opinion.

Working out the arithmetic, 55% of us Brits think we drive better than average, and only 1% owns up to thinking they are worse, which points to a high degree of driving confidence overall.

Admiral’s managing director expressed surprise at the degree of self-confidence exhibited by the surveyed motorists but suggested that the amount of accidents on our roads didn’t support that number of good drivers.

Looking at it from the position of the opposite gender, only 36% of women surveyed thought that women were better car drivers whilst 39% of men believed men were better. It is comforting, however, that of all those surveyed, most (54%) thought that neither men nor women were better drivers.

It is also believed that if a driver’s level of confidence tends towards over-confidence and the feeling that road accidents and near-accidents are always someone else’s fault, this can lead to driver arrogance and be a contributing factor in road rage incidents.

Posted December 2005

RAC advertising campaign truly on the road.

Back in June 20005 Aviva bought the RAC for £1.1bn in order to capitalise on the obvious synergy between the motoring organisation and the Norwich Union car insurance brand it also owns.

RAC is now running a massive £5m corporate advertising campaign for the already trusted and established brand which aims to position itself as the UK motoring experts and providers of a wide range of value added services.

The campaign slogan "The people behind the people behind the wheel" is being endorsed using true life roadside situations to demonstrate that far from being just a vehicle breakdown service, the RAC can use its wealth of experience, together with that gained from being part of the Aviva group to provide information, help, and assistance in many other ways. The RAC brand also owns BSM offering nationwide driving tuition and Lex the personal and commercial vehicle leasing company. It can also offer current traffic and travel information, full windscreen services, financial and legal services and nationwide vehicle inspection services.

Aviva’s acquisition provided a cross sale opportunity for the approximate 2.2 million direct and 4.5 million corporate customers of RAC to the Norwich Union range which includes 70 products covering private car insurance and homeowner packages, small commercial vehicle policies, commercial property, creditor and liability insurance.

Posted November 2005

Swiftcover.com having a significant effect on car insurance premiums

This company which launched on June 28, 2005 has had a major affect on industry product pricing according to Deloitte recent quarterly review. They came to the market amid a £12 million campaign with the primary aim of positioning themselves as the only 100% online car insurer.

The marketing strategy so far emphasises that by deploying easy-to-use internet processes using cutting edge technology saves customers money in comparision to call centres which it claims are inefficient, costly, and frustrating to use. Television and radio campaigns illustrate the company's unique selling point by using the strap line "Don't cluck around with call centres".

Although it is clear Swiftcover intend to radicalise the industry in the same way Direct Line shook up the cost of car insurance applications and claims processes by using telephone sales and servicing in 1985, a telephone service is made available to existing customers in the event the internet is not accessible.

 

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