This could happen to any one of the millions of drivers whizzing around on UK roads.

In fact, 35% of all accidents were reportedly due to people failing to take care, look properly or concentrate.
 
Failing to look properly was the most frequently reported contributory factor.

Four of the five most frequently reported contributory factors included reference to driver/rider error or reaction.

When it comes to fatal accidents, the most frequently reported contributory factor (33%) was due to a loss of control.

Younger drivers, particularly males, are statistically more likely to have contributory factors related to speed and behaviour, whereas mature drivers are more likely to have factors related to vision and judgement.

It is clear from such statistics that certain driving behaviours are more often found in particular driver types and age bands making it difficult to argue with insurance providers when they quote higher premiums for the younger male drivers and those unfortunate enough to suffer from certain medical conditions.

Pedestrian casualties living in the most deprived areas were reported at a rate of 70 casualties per 100,000 population whilst only 21 casualties per 100,000 population in the least deprived areas.

Source: Department for Transport - Road Casualties Great Britain: 2007

Car insurance companies often feign surprise when customers complain about the wide range of costs and fees which are enforced should anyone wish to change or cancel a policy mid-term.

Insurers will refund some of your premium payment on a pro-rata basis (you only pay for the time the policy has been in force) if they are not prepared to insure your new vehicle, but if you cancel the policy mid-term because you have sold the car, or simply want to switch to another insurer, they will impose cancellation charges to cover administration.

Costs can vary enormously and although one would think that the insurance representative simply needs to press a button and the rest is done automatically. This task should take a matter of seconds yet insurers charge anything up to £50 for pressing this button!

It is not always easy to establish this element of the cancellation charges so you may need to ask your insurance company’s customer service representative when cancelling the policy.

Whilst most insurers do include reference to administration fees being charged in the event of cancellation, not all do. As an example, Elephant.co.uk do not mention that you will be required to pay an administration fee on cancellation of their policy.

It is always worth asking the insurer to provide you with a full breakdown of any cancellation charges including any administration fee charged. If the fee seems excessive and unjustifiable, then contact their complaints department and if you are unable to resolve the matter to your satisfaction, consider taking the matter further.

Insurance premiums may be rising but some of the pain may be offset for people looking to buy new cars by manufacturers and car dealers offering some amazing deals at the moment.

There may opportunities for would be buyers to haggle with car dealers to negotiate better deals.

The bi-annual issue of new registrations is no longer a time for dealers to sit back on their laurels and wait for the money and purchasers to roll in through the doors in their droves. They are going to have to work hard to make those sales.

Discounts on the less favourable models, or those with larger engines are being heavily discounted. The price on the car window or roof is a starting point. Even of you don’t like to haggle, have a go. The time is right and you will have a very good chance of securing a deal that you will be more than happy with. It’s a buyers market at the moment.

Do your homework (just like you would with your insurance premium when it comes up for renewal). Don’t be afraid to play one dealer off against another.

Use the internet to research the prices on offer and extras that you may be able to get thrown in if you feel uncomfortable with negotiating the price.

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.”

The car insurance market is so competitive at the moment that many people, on shopping around at renewal time, can secure more competitive rates and associated benefits from alternative insurance providers.

Periodically however, particularly if a person has changed their vehicle near to their renewal date, been involved in an accident affecting their no claims bonus or in dispute with their insurer due to some kind of non disclosure of a material fact which may have affected their insurance premium of cover, there may be premiums outstanding due to the previous insurer.

If this is the case, beware that your previous insurer can legitimately withhold any evidence of no claims bonus until such time as they consider the matter to have been resolved to their satisfaction.

If you find yourself in this situation, whilst it may go against your principles, you are probably better advised to settle their bill now, and if the dispute is later resolved in your favour, request repayment of any overpayment made.

You also have the option of approaching the Financial Ombudsman Service for them to carry out an independent review of the dispute if you and your former insurer cannot negotiate a satisfactory settlement of the dispute.

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.

Personal injury claims cost the insurance industry an enormous amount of money year in, year out and the costs continue to rise.

Fradulent personal injury claims are so prevalent that personal injury investigation is one business that is bucking the trend and continuing to prosper as insurers look to assure monies paid out are appropriate and indeed legitimate.

In such economic climates as currently being experienced across the globe at the moment, insurers are bracing themselves for a steep climb in the number of claims, genuine and fraudulent, as the recession takes hold.

David Williams, claims director at AXA, says:

“Surveillance is highly sensitive but in the first 10 months of last year, private investigators saved AXA £39.86m. That’s 10 times the amount for the whole of 2004.”

The job is never going to be easy but it is clearly necessary and claims tend to be significantly reduced rather than rejected in their entirety.

There is of course the impression of shady characters, hidden cameras and tape recorders but in the main, investigators work on the theory that if people are not expecting to see it, they won’t, so it is unlikely you will even know they were watching you until the negotiations to settle the claim enter the final stages.

Remember, insurers will, in the end, pass all injury claim costs on to the customers, so the next time you hear a friend boasting about having conned an insurer by feigning injury, they have conned you really and you will end up paying for it.

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.”