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Yorkshire MP becomes latest car insurance activist11 Aug 2011by Emma Jamieson Only three months ago, Birmingham Labour MP Roger Godsiff accused car insurance companies of "milking motorists" via excessive premiums for young drivers. More recently, Jack Straw, the best-informed MP on the issue, has called for reforms in car insurance having called the payment of referral fees to car insurance companies "a racket". Straw has also tabled a ten minute rule debate on car insurance reform. The Prime Minister has declared the Government "sympathetic" to a referral fees ban, an issue that the Transport Select Committee proposes to re-examine, while the current Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill aims to reduce legal costs in litigation including in car insurance injury claims, among numerous other judicial reforms.  Lib
Dem Yorkshire MP, David Ward (pictured), has now entered the debate
after a 20-year-old driver in his constituency was quoted £53,000
for car insurance, according to a report in the Yorkshire Post. That
the young driver was female makes the quote even more remarkable, given
that car insurance for young female drivers is currently cheaper than
that for young men although this gender difference will cease at the
end of next year owing to the ECJ gender
ruling. The Bradford East MP has tabled a motion to raise the issue in Parliament and has encouraged the public to sign his online petition for cheaper car insurance, which will be presented to the Department of Justice. Mr Ward stated that he had been "inundated" with correspondence from Bradford residents who had seen car insurance premiums, even for drivers without a claim for 30 years, "go through the roof". Bradford is one of the most expensive car insurance postcodes in the country, partly because it has the highest incidence of cash-for-crash fraud. Ward comments: "I’m asking everyone affected by this issue across the country to sign the online petition to help me pressure the Government into tackling the problem." He adds: "If everyone who cares about this issue signs the petition, the Government will be forced to act." A Government of which he, as a Lib Dem, is a part. The petition, welcomed by the Association of British Insurers (ABI), can be found at: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/354 In commenting on Mr Ward's campaign, an ABI spokesman, as well as pointing out that premiums are calculated according to risk, said: "We want the Government to change the way people learn to drive... [so that]... people get to drive at night or in different conditions to make sure [that] when they get behind the wheel on their own they are safe and confident." If young driver risk can be reduced by acquiring better driving skills, then this would help to reduce the cost of car insurance for young drivers. The ABI spokesman also said that major insurers, (such as the Co-op) now provide pay-as-you-drive telematics car insurance where driving style is monitored by an on-board 'black box' and safe drivers are rewarded with lower premiums. There is no doubt that Jack Straw in particular has forced the issue of over-expensive car insurance into the political forefront and this has forced the Government and the Transport Committee to raise their game, as well as more publically debate the issues. That another politician has entered the fray, with the liklihood that more will follow, is to be welcomed by motorists that are increasingly of a view that the Government is not doing enough to help them to reduce their motoring costs. The high cost of car insurance is not an issue that the Government will be allowed to sideline or delay as it is becoming all too clear that the need for reform is pressing. |
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