The latest study published by moneysupermarket.com has suggested that motorists driving under the influence of alcohol face significant increases in their car insurance premiums or even worse, have their very livelihoods threatened by insurers refusing to provide cover.

The survey, published on 10 November revealed that leading insurers including some major players such as Budget, Kwik Fit and the Post Office, increased insurance premiums by an average of 82 per cent for drivers with previous drink driving convictions.

Now this may be a case of some insurers adopting more prudent underwriting philosophies by effectively pricing themselves out of the market to try and protect profits in these difficult times, but further financial penalty isn’t going to solve the problem on it’s own, particularly as we approach the traditional festive Christmas period.

The most sensible way is for people to take personal responsibility beforehand and adopt the age old policy of “don’t drink and drive.”

 
Andy Leadbetter, head of insurance at moneysupermarket.com summed it up particularly well by saying:

“Even if you are over the limit by just a small amount, finding yourself uninsurable will be a huge blow.”

“Surely getting behind the wheel after drinking just isn’t worth it.”

460 people were killed in the UK last year as a result of drink driving according to the Department of Transport.

That’s 460 unnecessary deaths that could, in all likelihood, have been avoided!

Think before you drink, before you drive!

It may be another age old saying, but is still as valid as ever!

Previous suggestions and inferences that the higher fuel prices hitting motorists in particular over the recent months being the main reason for a reduction in road casualty figures appears to have gained some foundation.

AA president Edmund King has put this directly down to the fuel increases at the pumps following publication by the Government of accident statistics for the second period of 2008 showing that the number of deaths due to road accidents has decreased.

Mr King argues that the result of high petrol prices was that motorists drove more economically to save money and generally reduced the frequency they used their vehicles.

Mr King stated:

“This past quarter saw petrol prices rising towards their maximum, which was reached on 17th July, and industrial disputes affecting petrol supply. 77 per cent of drivers in our AA/Populussurvey said they had reduced journeys, cut back on other expenditure, or done both as a result of high fuel prices.”

“Drivers also indicated that they were slowing down to save fuel. These actions could have contributed to a reduction in accidents and deaths.”

It has long been evidenced that reduction in speed can reduce the number of accidents, and particularly, the number of fatal accidents, both of which would affect policyholders no claim bonus and of course, in many cases,  increase insurance premiums.

Norwich Union may have had a crack at PAYG car insurance previously but pulled  out again after failing to get it’s target of 100,000 customers signed up, deciding the two-year scheme wasn’t cost effective.

That doesn’t seem to have put off www.coverbox.co.uk who have announced their intention to launch a new Pay-As-You-Go car insurance scheme in  January 2009.

Backed by vehicle data management company, Wunelli Limited, the scheme will make use of  the technology supplied by vehicle security firm, Cobra.

Premiums will be calculated by monitoring policyholders’ driving habits and will be based on the distance driven, the time of day or night when the vehicle is in use, and even where vehicles are being used via a small tracking device fitted to the vehicle.

The “black box” that records the information takes around twenty minutes to fit and the technicians travel to the customer. There is expected to be a fee for provision of the box of around £30 which could more than be recouped in the first year by policyholders depending of course, on the extent of use of the vehicle.

Other benefits include:-

• Comprehensive cover from less than 1p per mile
• Theft tracing of your car via the GPS unit included in the coverbox
• Choice of high quality insurers
• A personal website portal for policyholders to review their driving and insurance

More information on the scheme can be found on their website at www.coverbox.co.uk

There is now an opportunity for members of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) to benefit from a new “Affinity” scheme being offered by Gaelic Insurance in Northern Ireland.

Gaelic insurance provides car insurance, mortgages and life cover, and have set up the scheme whereby every time a member of a GAA club takes out a policy, their club will be paid a commission, thereby providing additional funding for their clubs.

The scheme is expected to help a lot of gaelic football and hurling clubs  provide funding to gaelic sports in Northern Ireland at grassroots level.

Whilst initially running in Northern Ireland only, there are plans afoot however, to extend the arrangement to the rest of Ireland in the spring of 2009.

The marketing manager of Gealic Insurance, Karen Quinn, said:

“The popularity of Gaelic games has increased dramatically over the past decade and represents the largest sporting organisation in Ireland”.

“The GAA is one of the strongest organisations within Irish society and at it’s very core are the local GAA clubs, run and managed on a voluntary basis. Gaelic Insurance has acknowledged the opportunity to provide a product and service that would boost fundraising at no extra cost to members and supporters”.

“Gaelic Insurance will provide the highest quality insurance protection for its policyholders by bonding together to create a true relationship between policyholder and the nominated GAA club or school of the policyholders’ choosing.”

The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation mainly focused on promoting traditional irish sports such as hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders.

With a membership of some 800,000, it is the largest organisation in Ireland.

Every motorist loathes those dreaded speed cameras, and whilst there will always be debates surrounding whether these cameras are there to help supplement police authority’s income, or to help prevent accidents and encourage safer driving, there are statistics available to support each claim.

Depending on the number of penalty points a driver is given will determine whether the first speeding conviction will affect your insurance premiums.

There is a very good chance that drivers can expect their premium to increase however on any second or subsequent conviction.

In a recent survey conducted by RoadPilot, it was revealed that 71% of motorists break the speed limit at least once on every four journeys, so those motorists may be interested to hear that RoadPilot has reduced the price of its speed camera locator in time for Christmas. This is to compete with the increasing number of mapping vehicle trackers, such as satellite navigation devices, which are now capable of built in speed camera detection.

The speed camera locator is small enough to fit into the average pocket and will warn you when you approach speed camers and accident blackspots. RoadPilot claims it’s surveyors visit every location recorded in order to ensure details are accurate.

MicroGo is the world’s smallest GPS speed camera warning system. The system uses latest GPS technology  so they can act as vehicle trackers for nearby speed cameras. It comes ready loaded with RoadPilot’s database of speed camera locations and accident black spots across the UK and Europe.

Costing slightly more than the average speeding fine nowadays it will help you to stay the right side of the law. In this instance small is not a negative factor as it includes voice warnings including the speed limit.

Direct.Gov.uk reports that on average, 9 people are killed and 85 injured each day on the UK’s roads, so please remember, being alerted to accident blackspots, whilst useful, will not exempt you from having an accident, risking injury and of course loss of no claims bonus.

Drivers need to remain vigilant at all times!

It is generally accepted that car engine and fuel emissions contribute to climate change. Whilst the biggest mode of transport impacting on our climate is without doubt air travel, everyday car journeys continue to play an important part, accounting for 25% of all UK emissions.

Whilst the recent extortionate fuel prices (thankfully starting to come down again!) may have helped some to do their bit by reducing the number of journeys made, automatically reducing their carbon footprint, this is not to say that they can’t do more.

ibuyeco, the car insurance provider, offers a new concept by amalgamating a car insurance policy with the concept of carbon offsetting.

The idea being that a policyholders’ carbon footprint is calculated using details gathered during the gathering of information to calculate a quotation such as mileage, model of car and use of car.

The cost of offsetting 100% of the policyholder’s carbon footprint is calculated and simply added to the car insurance premium.

 
ibuyeco purchases carbon credits from carbon reduction projects such as studies into alternative energy sources to offset the CO2 emissions produced by driving the insured car.

Lucy Bailey, Senior Marketing Manager of ibuyeco says:

“Choosing a green car insurance provider does not mean it is more expensive than traditional car insurance brands. We work hard to ensure that we deliver a competitive insurance quote as well as an opportunity to offset the CO2 emissions generated by the car during the year.”

Insurers are closely monitoring, and becoming more and more concerned regarding personal injury claims.

The Personal Injury Claims market is developing into big business in it’s own right for legal advisers, and there is some question whether a percentage of claims are exaggerated.

The knock on effect of this ever increasing financial drain for insurers is that they must pass on the costs to car insurers.

AA Insurance has been gathering motor insurance data for many years, and the information collated is used to help researchers to improve the accuracy of their forecasts in relation to the climate ahead.

One such prediction states that the total cost of motor insurance claims will reach £10.9 billion by the year 2012.

Information collated suggests personal injury claims are having a significant impact on the claims industry, being the single largest contributor to the increase in the settlement cost of claims.

Simon Douglas the director of AA insurance commented that:

 “Insurers are particularly concerned about the increasing legal costs and personal injury claims which last year rose by 22 per cent”.

It has been well publicised that young drivers cost the industry the most, with young male drivers claims costing an average of £4,500 compared with £2,700 for their female counterparts.

Car manufacturers continually strive to introduce additonal electronic features that actually add to the driver’s comfort and experience.

The Gentex Corporation, leading suppliers of auto-dimming mirrors has announced that its mirrors are to be fitted to the new generation Ford Fiesta in Europe.

The Gentex mirrors automatically darken to reduce headlight glare from vehicles behind, and are to be fitted to the Ghia and Titanium car trims.

Not only do they increase driving safety by eliminating accident-causing glare, but they also provide car manufacturers with a cost-effective way to offer customers value-added electronic devices and other features.

Enoch Jen, Senior Vice President said:

“Fiesta joins the European Ford Focus in offering auto-dimming interior mirrors. Fiesta and Focus account for the majority of Ford’s European production, and we are very pleased that Ford recognizes the importance of the auto-dimming feature in the European market.”

Over the years, Gentex mirrors have become recognised as more than a safety feature; they have, by demand and design, become sophisticated electronic modules and can now incorporate compass and temperature displays, driver communication interfaces, door openers for garages, headlamp control sensors, etc.

Research reveals that headlight glare during night time driving from the vehicles travelling behind you can be blinding. Even after the glare has gone, an after-image remains on the eye’s retina creating a temporary blind spot, and you may not even notice it.

This phenomenon is known as the Troxler Effect, and increases driver reaction time by up to 1.4 seconds.

At 60 mph, you’d drive over 123 feet before you even reacted to the danger in front of you.

There is no question that the recent high petrol prices and the credit crunch have left the majority of us carefully considering the extent to which we use our cars.

There is even suggestion that the price of petrol impacts on the number of accidents that occur as drivers adjust their driving habits to keep fuel usage down and equally cut down on the number of unnecessary journeys they undertake.

The recent step up in the petrol price war by Asda announcing that they have slashed it’s prices for unleaded petrol by a further 2p a litre is no reason for everyone to backtrack however.

We are entering that time of year where the weather will play a major part in road and driving conditions and adjusting our driving habits must be a priority to take account of these changing conditions.

• Water on the roads will make them slippery with potential for cars to aquaplane.
• Leaves on the roads will make them slippery affecting braking distances.
• Vision will be affected during heavy bouts of rain.

If it snows, car and driver safety becomes even more difficult to manage!

So please, maintain the recent safer driving habits adopted and stay accident and insurance claim free!

Haulage and transport companies have access to some extremely sophisticated technology nowadays such as the Motorola VC6096 In-Vehicle/Fixed-Mount Mobile Computer.

This computer offers an all-in-one in-cab solution designed to aid transportation and logistics providers to achieve cost-effective compliance, maximise driver productivity, improve safety and vehicle utilisation, reduce costs and improve customer service.

There are some excellent advantages of introducing this technology for car owners such as giving your car dealer direct access to your vehicle’s engine management systems remotely.

Car users would then be able to get up to the minute advice direct from their garage should they detect a fault enabling the driver to get the car in for maintenance repairs before the problem manifests itself and they breakdown!

On the down side possibly however, would be that with the advent of vehicle tracking systems etc. as well, if Police Authorities or Insurance Providers are given access to this technology, it could determine whether a driver is prosecuted or have an insurance claim rejected?

It could of course have the opposite effect and prove one driver innocent and perhaps reduce the number of accidents where all parties involved lose no claims bonus because they cannot decide who was actually at fault!