29 June 2011
Car Insurance News Round-Up - June 2011
This
month's news round-up includes a look at the various effects of the
increasing cost of motoring, our own research into people's car
insurance buying plans, Jack Straw's public complaints about
uncompetitive practices by car insurance companies and the implications
of continuous insurance enforcement now it is upon us.
Our
blog provides more news stories on
these and numerous other topics. It's been an eventful month, with
plenty more to see there, including a review of the arguments around lowering the
drink driving limit.
Jack Straw adds his support to a ban on
referral fees
In our blog Jack Straw calls for
referral
fees ban in car insurance, we report on Jack
Straw's position as laid out in his article in the TImes and look at the context
and arguments surrounding this issue. Since Straw's article, one major
insurer, Axa (that runs Swiftcover), has said that it will stop paying
referral fees.
Survey finds that Motorists prioritise cheap car
insurance over getting the best cover
This is the key finding from our survey on this
issue in which we found that 63% prioritise buying cheap car
insurance
over getting the right cover. It is consistent with the
findings reported by the British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA)
and confirms that as the price of car insurance increases, motorists
increasingly favour the 'no frills' options.
Rising motoring
costs are impacting everyone and increasing risk
The cost of running a car has risen by 21% in the last
year. Motorists are looking for the Government to do more to help
them, with a call for halving of
fuel tax, while, by cutting back on servicing, some cost-cutting motorists could
be
risking lives. Quality of life has also been effected by
rising fuel costs with motorists saving money in other areas, notably recreation, while also reducing their car use.
However, safety is important to motorists and there is no support for a
Government-muted drop in the frequency of MOT testing. Europe-wide
motoring organisations have also called for an urgent EU petrol price review.
Continuous Insurance Enforcement 'goes live'
As of 20 June 2011, any keeper of a vehicle that is
not declared SORN with the DVLA but which is not insured will be
written to by the Government with fines and potential car seizure if
remaining non-compliant with car insurance. We review what these
changes mean for drivers in this article: Find out what it means for you as
new car
insurance rules are enforced.
Only 20% will definitely take out legal expenses
cover when they renew their car insurance
In
view of the ever-increasing cost of car insurance and motoring in
general, motorists are not looking to add to their costs. The majortiy
therefore decline legal expenses cover as we found in our survey of legal expenses
cover. However, there are risks of doing this, partly due to
pending legislative changes, as we review in our article (link).
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