The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has told all police forces that thousands of motorists caught speeding should be sent on Speed Awareness Schemes rather than having penalty points put on their licence and hefty fines imposed from next month.

The national Driver Offender Retraining Scheme database, which will be used to identify drivers eligible for the retraining scheme, will be run by Road Safety Support (RSS), a subsidiary company of ACPO, earning the association an estimated £5million a year charging police forces around £5 for each driver checked.

Last year 2.1 million motorists were caught speeding and it is very possible that a lot of those caught speeding will opt to attend such a scheme rather than have their licence endorsed, which could affect their insurance premiums at next renewal and pay a fine.

There will not be unlimited opportunities to attend such schemes however. Repeat offenders will still find themselves disqualified from attending the scheme again within a specified period of time.

An ACPO spokesman however has stated:

“The database administration charge is £1.50 but it is proposed this will increase to £5. RSS does not make profits and any surplus will be returned to road safety initiatives.”

Recent years has seen increases in the number of insurance aggregators appearing on the internet.

Insurance aggregators aim to establish a simple principle, namely working with a number of direct insurers and intermediaries to deliver a simple experience by allowing customers to complete a generic questionnaire to secure insurance premium quotes from a number of insurance providers.

The Comparison Consortium, established earlier this year to regulate and represent the online price comparison industry, has announced plans to develop a new code of practice for aggregators, in association with Association of British Insurers (ABI).

With input from the ABI, it plans to develop a code of practice for online insurance services and professional guidance for insurers which use them.

The working group will create an accreditation scheme for websites that adhere to its code of practice in order to offer regulation and professional standards to the industry as a whole.

Richard Mason, the current head of the Comparison Consortium said:

“Since the establishment of the Comparison Consortium earlier this year we have been working hard behind the scenes to establish strong working relationships with other industry bodies where we have a mutual interest. The establishment of this working group illustrates the growing level of respect for our organisation within the price comparison industry.”

There is no doubt that price comparison websites have, in short, “revolutionised” the insurance industry, and insurers have adapted pricing strategies for such websites but such initiatives have led to confusion for the customer due to the way prices are quoted online.

Price is of course an extremely important factor but will not always be the deciding factor. This should be left to individual choice, but all too often unfortunately, the customer finds themselves struggling to make a true comparison of the products on offer as the benefits offered by each policy are not clear.

The work of the Comparison Consortium is to address some of these issues and bring about greater clarity and transparency to the market as a whole, something which will benefit everyone, insurers and the customer alike.

The Insurance Times and its partner Norwich Union, have been visiting every corner of the UK having organised regional round tables discussing topics such as broker consolidation, regulation resulting from the financial crisis and outsourcing.

To end the series, a discussion hosted by Krishnan Guru-Murthy, the Channel 4 news presenter, was held in Birmingham, wherein Guru-Murthy asked the panel and audience if independent brokers are going to be able to survive the current climate of consolidation and economic difficulties.

From a customer perspective, there is probably no better time than realising the benefits offered by brokers as their expertise and market knowledge, particularly surrounding developments in the industry, could prove invaluable.

Whilst the temptation may be there, this is not really a good time to fnd yourself under-insured as this is actually a time to protect the value in both your home and business.

Therefore, from a broker perspective, you are probably more important than ever to your customers.

From an underwriting point of view, insurers need to feel assured that the broker knows their customer well.

The subject of commission payments and the apparaent power struggle between brokers and insurers was also discussed.

Not surprisingly, larger brokers continue to try and push commission payments up and Norwich Union, for example paid out 26% in commission in 2008, up 4% on 2006 across all ines of business.

Insurance companies are however looking very closely at the profit realised by their individual broker network partners and with individual reviews on a  case by case basis, some brokers could see commission levels squeezed. Something they claim they cannot afford.

It appears therefore that the days of brokers being in the better bargaining seat when it comes to negotiating commission levels is nearing an end and insurers are starting to stand their ground.

Ronaldo has just found out that just because you have had your car repaired or replaced following an accident/incident, it does not necessarily mean your claim has been completed.

Ronaldo, Fifa’s world player of the year, thankfully walked away unhurt from the accident when he wrote off his £200,000 Ferrari following collision with the walls of a tunnel running underneath Manchester Airport runways and subsequently hitting metal handrails that protect an emergency exit in January.

The Manchester United and Portugal winger now finds the airports insurers, (Aon is broker and Allianz lead insurer) are in the process of claiming for property damage believed to be in the region of some £20,000 for repairs to the tunnel.

Just like any other insured person, Ronaldo’s insurance premium also covers damagae to third party property and as you see, the costs soon mount up. These costs do not take the additional time and expense incurred by the police and other emergency services involved in the associated traffic management during the incident and subsequent clean up.

Let’s also not forget of course, anyone else caught up in the traffic chaos, the accident undoubtedly caused when roads around such a busy airport were affected for a period.

AIRMIC, which represents nearly 1,000 risk managers, including 75% of the FTSE 100 believe standards are set to improve following publication of  a new best practice guide.

The Association of Insurance and Risk Managers state the guide will give insurers the opportunity to demonstrate how they measure up to the criteria set out in the document. The association has embarked upon a series of discussions with leading insurers and already secured agreement with some of the major insurance companies such as AXA, AIG, Royal Sun Alliance and Zurich about applying the guide.

The document lays down 8 areas that determine the measure on the quality of the claims handling services of any particular insurer together with the factors which help to demonstrate the necessary evidentiary information to prove they measure up to standard.

The components are: Culture and Philosophy; Communications; People; Infrastructure; Claims Procedures; Data Management; Operations; Monitoring and Review.

The guide has been produced following a series of discussions instigated by insurers approached AIRMIC, asking for help in assessing their claims services. Airmic said it wanted the document to have two main functions – as a tool for insurance buyers and as a reference point for insurers.

John Hurrell, CEO says:

“Our insurer-partners have given this project their wholehearted support. They genuinely wish to demonstrate that they have an excellent claims service because that is, after all, why people buy insurance. The major brokers are also behind us.”

LV= has added its ABC Insurance private car product to a number of BGL Group car insurance panels.

Initially, the product will appear on the Budget, Dial Direct and QuoteMart panels and is expected to go live on other panels during the course of 2009.

BGL has more than two million existing customers and Phil Bunker, managing director of LV=’s broker business, said:
 
“I’m very pleased that ABC is now trading with BGL. I know the group well and I have been very impressed at the way they have grown their business over the years. They are one of the strongest intermediaries in the market and I am pleased ABC will now be able to play a part in their success story.”

This annoucement follows closely on the heels of LV’s announcement that it’s broker division is expanding into Scotland.

The expansion will be led from a new office based in Glasgow. Much of Scotland’s insurance business is dealt with by companies based in the city and LV= strongly believes that the opening of an office in Scotland, will leave it in a good position to  offer a first class service to local brokers.

Jim Rennie will be Branch Manager with 30 years experience including sales and management roles at both AXA, Independent Insurance and most recently as branch manager for Zurich’s broker business in Scotland.

Margaret Alexander is the Senior Underwriter with over 20 years’ experience in the local market, previously holding sales and underwriting roles with both Norwich Union and Chubb ably supported by Alison McDowell who has over 20 years’ experience in the local market, working most recently as a commercial underwriter with RSA.

Alan Blair is the Regional Sales Executive having worked for both Norwich Union and Fusion in sales roles for 20 years.

Following LV=’s acquisition of Highway Insurance in October 2008, Sandra Inglis, Regional Account Manager for Highway in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Northern England, will also be based in the new Glasgow office.

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) attacked the insurance industry and the FSA over the practice known as third party capture.

It is a rapidly growing, controversial approach by insurers of approaching injured parties directly in order to settle the claim before a lawyer becomes involved.

The technique is used in order to speed up the claims settlement process and cut out costly legal actions and keep down claimant lawyers costs.

Claims by the APIL president, Amanda Stevens infers that insurers attempt to bully claimants into accepting lower compensation than they should be entitled to and that the FSA (Financial Services Authority) is not taking action against this activity.

Insurers insist that they deal fairly with the injured party and that the compensation offered is fair.

The FSA began an investigation into third party capture at the end of 2007, calling for evidence of bad practice from claimant lawyers and trade unions but has not, as yet,  publish any findings.

With the economic downturn taking a real hold, the arguments around third party capture is set to intensify with the practice likely to become more prevalent with insurers looking to reduce the cost of claims by offering speedy settlements, and legal costs.

In these times of credit and financial instability, the pressure is on, not only for customers, but for businesses as well.

Not a day goes by where you don’t hear/read about some business having gone into administration or ceased trading.

The insurance industry is no different to any other, and just as susceptible.

Throughout the year, the  Financial Services Authority (FSA) an independent non-governmental body, given statutory powers by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 monitor the trading activities of financial bodies and enforce breaches in the fight against money laundering and inpropriety etc. It will, if the need arises, issue health warnings etc. to consumers.

The latest warning was issued about A Razzaq Insurance Brokers, based in Oldbury, West Midlands, over concerns that there was  a risk that the company had not passed on all insurance premiums collected to the insurers, and was alerting customers to check the validity of cover arranged through the company.

The FSA said: “If you took out a motor insurance policy through A Razzaq Insurance Brokers then, without valid third-party insurance, you may be committing an offence if you use a vehicle on the public highway under the provisions of the Road Traffic Act 1988. If you are a customer of A Razzaq Insurance Brokers and are in any doubt as to whether you have valid insurance, you are strongly advised to contact the insurance company with whom you believe your policy is held, to check. If you discover you are not covered, you should take immediate steps to arrange new cover.”

You can keep up to date with the latest warnings about firms that may be in financial difficulty etc.  by visiting the The FSA Money Made Clear section of their internet website.

Although having had its troubles with the regulator in Ireland, Quinn Insurance is confident about its future in the UK and has big plans for the UK broker market.

This is in spite of being fined €3.25m (£2.7m) last October after breaches of regulatory requirements and its owner and chairman Sean Quinn facing a €200,000 personal penalty and  forced to step down from the insurer’s board.

Colin Morgan, chief executive of Quinn Insurance, is to hold detailed talks with UK brokers next month, scheduling meetings with it’s broker partners in its London offices in early March.

Quinn is the second largest insurer in Ireland, having more than 700 broker agencies around the UK and is looking to increase it’s market share, particularly in comercial lines insurance.

Quinn-direct Insurance was established in Ireland in 1996 and has gained a reputation for offering value for money products and good customer service.

More than 1milllion customers hold a variety of general insurance products such as private and commercial motor insurance, motorcycle insurance & home insurance purchased through their purpose built call centres in Ireland and the UK, broker agents, and the company’s internet site which allows customers to obtain immediate cover online.

“We are very optimistic about the UK market,” said Quinn Insurance commercial director Richard Stafford.

“Our focus for 2009 is to grow there.”

Sometimes, thieves don’t bother to pinch the car, they just steal the number plates, causing other damage in the process for some reason which has to be claimed for from your insurance policy.

If you want to protect your vehicle registration plate from theft, consider fitting the plates with security screws.

In some parts of the country, local garages are setting up agreements with their Community Safety Partnerships to fit the special screws in order to help prevent thieves stealing your number plate, fitting them to another car, and then going on to complete other criminal activities.

It is a scam particularly popular amongst people that steal fuel from petrol stations and legitimate owners of the registration number can find themselves having to jump through quite a few hoops to get the plate back.

It isn’t too much of a problem for the average car owner but if you have personalised plates, it can be more frustrating.

It will be unlikely that garages will fit these screws for free, but they might, if you are say getting your car serviced or MOT’d at the same time.

It’s certainly worth asking and for your own protection, make sure you notify your car insurance provider if you find you end up changing your registration number.

Remember, it could also involve you in having to pay an admin fee to your insurer.