November 18, 2009
Young Drivers hit with big premiums
Story link: Young Drivers hit with big premiums
Young drivers have always had a problem with premiums for car insurance, but apparently the situation is getting worse:
Young motorists charged “horrendous” premiums
Young drivers feel ripped-off by car insurance firms because it is cheaper to be fined for not being insured than to pay for insurance, said Nigel Lacy of car insurance scheme Young Marmalade.
Teenage drivers can find themselves paying “horrendous” insurance premiums of up to £3,500, Lacy said.
According to Lacy, insurance companies need to make more of an effort to take care of young drivers and work with them to improve their driving skills.
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Certainly it’s a fair point to make, but perhaps any kind of push for cheaper premiums needs to go hand in hand with education and greater training.
We continually read stories in the papers about how a young driver takes friends out, shows off a bit, then loses control resulting in many of the passengers being killed.
So while reducing premiums is laudable, we need to address the issue of road safety among young drivers as well.
February 23, 2009
Car insurance – Up and Down
Story link: Car insurance – Up and Down
Insurance companies are constantly changing their pricing structure around to suit themselves; this is mainly due to the fact that they take into account not just total claims, but their current operating costs as well. If insurers want to stay ahead of the game this year, then they will want to start chopping their prices back slightly.
Recent figures have revealed that car insurance premiums fell by more than 3 per cent, in the last six months of 2008.
Car insurance provider, Sainsbury’s Car Insurance, found that the average motor insurance premium, in June 2008 was, £514.16, which is 3.1 per cent higher than the figure in December of the same year at £498.22.
February 4, 2009
Premiums to fund holidays
Story link: Premiums to fund holidays
Its all part of a brand awareness strategy, and I suppose if the brand is the cheapest for the particular individual, then they are going to have no problems with the campaigns, insurance may be expensive, but they have their own overheads.
UK Insurance Premiums to rise … to fund Celebrity Holidays? - We have recently been perplexed by what appears to be a unique strategy among some insurers. Although we have a few MBAs on our staff, none of them recall the dons back at university talking about it, so perhaps it’s something entirely new. An outline is below for the curious.
Step One: Spend as much as possible on celebrity adverts
Despite the credit crunch, some insurance marketers have gone celebrity mad recently with several companies enlisting big name stars to grab your attention.
1/5 choose the smaller car
Story link: 1/5 choose the smaller car
The days of driving round in a huge 4×4 for luxury, the in thing to do nowadays, is to buy yourself a city car, which is not only a lot more economical to run, but they are usually in the lower end of the insurance groups, making them extremely cheap to insure.
One in five UK motorists have downsized to a smaller car since the start of the credit crunch, new research has revealed.
Car insurance provider LV= discovered that 19% of drivers have sold their car in favour of a smaller model, with each downsizing motorist saving an estimated £309 on running costs.
Snow driving
Story link: Snow driving
Driving in the snow is extremely dangerous, but drivers need to understand that the brakes on a vehicle are just asking for trouble, especially when hitting icy patches. Hitting the brakes won’t allow the driver to steer the car, and the loss of control could cause a crash and therefore a insurance claim, not good!
When pulling away in snow, drivers should try to use second gear rather than first, says the RAC.
“In these conditions, it’s all about keeping the revs down. Pull away in second gear rather than first, and do everything gently.