Posts tagged convicted drivers
No hiding place for uninsured drivers
Apr 5th
If you listened to Radio 1 yesterday, you may have heard the newsbeat item about the change in the law regarding uninsured vehicles.
A lot of people seem to be confused about how the law will operate, given that it will now be an offence to own an uninsured vehicle, as opposed to driving it.
The law does not apply to cars notified as SORN, however, so classic car owners and people who are restoring, modifying or building a car off the road don’t have to worry about a visit from the old bill (unless they’ve forgotten to inform the DVLA that the car is off the road). Anyone insomniacs who want a hand sleeping can read the DfT’s paper on the subject of uninsured drivers (pdf).
The 1Xtra radio station also had a somewhat moreinteresting documentary on uninsured drivers, where they went to a part of Manchester notorious for the problem, with one in three drivers not having insurance cover, and talked to the offenders and those who have to live near them.
Dave Wilson on Google+Clamping down on the uninsured menace
Feb 1st
After the sweeping powers they got last year, the police are to get yet more powers to seize uninsured vehicles. Under the new system, they won’t even have to catch someone driving the uninsured car, and will be able to grab the car from a private driveway. What’s more, if you don’t either renew your insurance, or else complete a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) you’ll be liable for an automatic fine of £100.
If this seems like overkill, consider this.
Approximately 1 car in every 20 on the roads does not have valid insurance.
The drivers of these uninsured cars caused 36,000 crashes last year, resulting in 27,000 injuries and, sadly, 180 people lost their lives at the hands of an uninsured driver. In a third of these crashes, the uninsured driver fled the scene, knowing that it would be virtually impossible to be traced.
All of this costs money, £500 million last year, or £30 on everybody’s premium.
Uninsured drivers are ten times more likely than average to be drink drivers, six times more likely to be driving a mechanically unsafe car and three times more likely to have a Careless Driving rap.
Whilst we can’t do anything about cars which are unsound, drivers with a less than perfect history can get insurance for much less than they might think. We have special schemes available for drivers with a chequered history, and drink driving and careless or dangerous driving convictions need not mean extortionate premiums.
For everyone else, the new rules will mean that you will have to keep on top of your car’s insurance status, and make sure that you complete a SORN if you’re keeping the car off the road. You should also consider laid up cover to make sure your car is protected whilst you are working on it.
But the extra burden of red tape may well be worth it to rid the roads of the uninsured menace.
Speeding Ticket Misery
Dec 21st
As we’ve noted before, it’s becoming easier and easier for motorists to be caught speeding, although some drivers are successfully overturning unfair convictions.
But as the Mail on Sunday reported, the cost of the fine is the least of a driver’s worries, as their insurance premiums could rocket, in some cases by as much as 60% or hundreds of pounds.
To illustrate this they published the table below, showing the rates that the AA’s panel quoted on an example.
It’s not very often that a rival insurance broker will publish a whole range of sample quotes like that, so I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity to compare our rates with a major competitor. As you can see, their cheapest rate for a 44 year old man from Gloucestershire with a 2.0i Ford Mondeo Ghia, maximum no claims and 2 SP30 speeding convictions comes in at £404.
So I got quotes guru Dan Clark (who you can now find posting on a ever growing list of forums, btw), to run the same details through our underwriting criteria.
Our rate came in at £315.
That’s a whole £89 cheaper – 22% less – than the best quote the AA could offer. And cheaper than all but one of the quotes listed for the same chap with a clean license (and even that is only £19 difference).
And in case you think we cheated by raising the excess, we didn’t – the policy excess is just £100, low by any standards.
So the message for drivers who’ve experienced the dreaded double flash from a GATSO is clear, make sure you call us (08000 83 88 33) at renewal time, or you could find yourself paying well over the odds for convicted driver insurance.
8 Fibs You Tell Your Insurer at Your Peril…
Sep 12th
Lying is a major problem for insurance companies. But it could be even more of a problem for the drivers who lie in order to get a cheaper premium. They may well find out that their deception is detected only at the time they need to make a claim.
Some of the most commont pork pies people are tempted to tell their insurance company:
- Business use – not declaring business use for your car. This is especially tempting to part timers and home workers, but if you use your car for business purposes you need to tell us.
- Withholding motoring convictions – in some cases convictions will add nothing to the premium, in other cases they will add a smaller or larger amount, but Adrian Flux can offer you a good value quote, whatever your history, so don’t risk driving around on invalid insurance – you’ll only pick up another conviction if you’re caught.
- Withholding criminal convictions – where others can’t quote, Adrian Flux can. Again, don’t risk invalidating your insurance.
- Fronting – insuring your car in the name of a parent or older relative. This is probably one of the most common lies told to insurance companies. This is why quotes are always rated on the youngest named driver. Honesty is always the best policy.
- Undisclosed modifications to the car – Adrian Flux can cover pretty much any modification going, from body styling to nitrous kits. Some mods add nothing and might even reduce the premium. In any case we will cover all your modifications on a like for like basis, so please tell us about them all.
- Lying about your claims history – If you’re not detected when you take out the policy, you will be found out if you have to claim again. Insurers now have very sophisticated software, introduced to combat organised fraud, which analyses claims for patterns – all the insurance companies share the claims data to cut fraud to a minimum.
- Incorrect licence – some drivers will claim a full UK licence when they actually have a licence from another country. Not a good idea if you want the insurer to pay out in the event of a claim.
- Giving an alternate address – I heard of one case where a young man who lived and worked in central London had told the insurance company that his main address was in a Swansea suburb, where his parents lived. The massive savings on his car insurance were more than negated when he had to make a claim and investigators found out the truth.
If you are tempted to lie because you feel you may be refused a quote, then come to Adrian Flux. We can find an insurance policy for almost any driver, but you should always tell us the whole truth, or you policy will be worthless when the time comes to claim, even if the thing you lied about is irrelevant to the incident. We will always do our very best to help you, and unlike companies that provide quotes from a computer screen, our underwriters can take all factors into account when calculating your premium. Give us a call on 0800-083-8833.