You are in your garage and ask your wife to drive the car out of the garage. She accidentally puts the car into reverse instead of first gear and jams you up against the back wall, breaking your leg.

You are self employed and end up having to take 3 months off work recuperating.

Can you claim for injuries?

In short, yes! Accidents like this happen more often that you might think.

You are, in fact, entitled to claim against any person driving the car that caused your injuries or the accident, and this includes your wife as she was a named driver on your insurance policy.

As the accident was the fault of your wife, you are entitled to claim against her for the personal injury you have suffered. You need to remember however that as she is insured under your car insurance policy, indemnity will be paid by your insurer, and your no claims bonus at next renewal will be affected.

The fact that she was driving under your insurance policy is completely irrelevant.

However, as an alternative, if she also has her own insurance policy for another car which permits her to drive other vehicles under the Road Traffic Act, you also then have the option of claiming against her under that policy rather than under yours.

You may want to therefore explore that avenue as well to see which would have the least financial impact on insurance premiums at next renewal.

You have been involved in an accident and have been advised that it will be settled under a knock for knock agreement.

You are not happy about this as it infers that you were considered to be as much at fault as the other person and you consider yourself to be the completely innocent party on this occasion.

This is a scenario many people will have suffered under the hands of a Knock for Knock agreements, but what does it actually mean?

Well, don’t get too disappointed as the term Knock for Knock Agreement is actually an administrative term used by insurers.

To be succinct and lay it down in basic terms, what it actually means is that the two insurers have an agreement in place between themselves that they will each settle their own policyholder’s insurance claim.

Blame is not a contributory factor, it is simply an agreement between the two insurers which helps them save money by not arguing costs associated to the accident, negating any possible legal litigation.

Their correspondence and discussions will be restricted to the apportionment of blame.
That is not to say that they will still conclude that you were in fact partially at fault and your no claims bonus is to be affected as well as the other person’s but that is something that you will need to take up with them separately.

Just don’t think that if your insurer has elected to settle your claim on a Knock for Knock basis that you are immediately considered being partially at fault.

It’s really nice to be able to get your car repaired after an accident without incurring any further expense but it will not always be in your interest to submit that claim to your insurer and ask them to meet the repair costs.

That is not to say that you shouldn’t inform them of the accident, irrespective of fault.

In short, you need to consider the future financial implications of actually claiming from your insurer.

Unless you have protected your no claims bonus, your insurer will knock at least 20% off your no claims bonus when your policy next comes up for renewal. They may even load your premium or increase your excess for any future claims when it comes to renewal. You just never know as insurers change their underwriting strategies all the time.

Take a 25 year old male with an Astra Convertible. He is employed in an administrative job, enjoys maximum no claims bonus (not protected) and has no medical conditions. He has had a minor incident and damaged one of the headlights.

He has a policy with no excess or even £50 excess. The cost of the part may be say less than £100, and with fitting the total repair costs will be in the region of £150-£200.

The best insurance premium he managed to obtain at last renewal was £369 but if he claims via his insurers, that premium at next renewal would increase to £575, some £206 more than the previous year and that’s before taking account of any annual premium increases imposed by the insurer or possible premium loading for the incident.

The premium differential will increase further for younger drivers, particularly if they only had 2 years no claims bonus at the time of the incident. They risk losing up to 40% no claims bonus.

The recommendation therefore is to check with your insurer when you inform them of a very minor accident to establish how much your premium will increase by before instructing them to meet the costs.

Travel and car insurance customers will, in all likelihood have to endure higher insurance premiums if the Equality Bill affects the way insurers can use age to help them assess insurance risks.
This is the recent warning issued by the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

The bill, introduced in the Queen’s speech last last year is intended to prevent age discrimination but may have a negative impact for some, particularly the elderly.

It is highly possible that by restricting the use of age as an underwriting and risk aid for insurers, could lead to some deciding to pull out of the older customer insurance market, thereby restricting their choice.

Insurers remaining in the market, could well find themselves having no alternative but to increase their premiums accordingly, which completely contradicts that which was intended, namely ensuring that fair prices are available to all, including the elderly.

It is feared that restricting the use of age for underwiriting assessment would result in insurers being unable to take account of differences in risk among older customers.

Given we are an aging nation, insurers may need to change their approach, such as requiring individual medical assessments, the costs of which would ineveitably be passed onto the customer resulting in higher premiums in all probability.

It is possible that the reading of the Equality Bill could start shortly, but any regulations relating to financial services could be delayed for a little while yet.

Always check the small print, make sure you are comparing like with like!

Make sure you get the same benefits under each quote. It’s worth remembering that some insurers don’t offer a courtesy car under their comprehensive policies and this is quite a valuable add-on nowadays.

Think about increasing your policy excess in the event of a claim. £100 buys very little nowadays and mst people can absorb this amount of excess without any problem ata all. Think about increasing it to £150/£250 and see how much it saves you on your insurance premium,.

All these can help reduce premiums but what about premiums when you purchase a modfied car or even do the modifications after you have purchased the car.

Modifications to a car can prove costsly for insurance purposes. Even just fitting alloy wheels!

If you were a potential car thief, which car would you attempt to steal if there were 2 identical makes of car next to each other?

The first car being just a standard model but the second has been modified with alloy wheels, side skirts and a nice fancy paint job.

The chances are that the modified version would be the one you would have a crack at stealing.

The risk is increased, the cost of that risk is passed on to the policyholder.

Occupation has been mentioned previously as something that can affect insurance premiums.

Whilst it is extremely important to ensure you accurately describe your occupation in order to secure the best car insurance premium quote when it comes to renewal, there are many other factors or changes, some more significant than others, that can affect premiums.

If you are looking to help reduce insurance premiums costs, it is worth remembering the following when it comes to discussing renewal or reporting changes to your insurer.

In short, pretty much everything except your name can affect the premiums charged.

You may think that having access to other cars may increase your premium but if you are also on your parent’s or partner’s car insurance as a named driver with occasional use, with some insurers, it can actually reduce your premium.

When asked about previous accidents, ensure you disclose everything, including who was at fault. Remember, if it wasn’t your fault but your insurer was unable to recover costs from the other person, then it is likely that you will have lost your no claims bonus which many insurers will therefore record as a fault accident.

Its worth bearing in mind that if the out of pocket costs by your insurer was less than the increase in your insurance premum as a result of your no claims bonus being affected, it may be worth having a chat with them to see if they will let you reimburse them their costs so that they will give you your no claims bonus back.

Ever wondered whether insurance premiums are affected by the state of the roads around where you live?

Well, the answer is probably no, but we will never be able to confirm that.

Generally, whether we think it or not, UK roads are an awful lot better and safer than some of those roads around the globe.

Take the road to Hana in Hawaii - whilst not overly dangerous in itself, the bridges on which it runs in places are in serious need of repair. Hawaii is subject to earthquakes which have affected these bridges over the years.

In the Australian Outback such as the road to Adelaide, it can be lethal. Not because of the state of the road but because drivers don’t prepare properly. It is so, so hot.

The road to Nepal, leading from Katmandu to Everest Base Camp, is extremely rocky and scattered with loose boulders from the unsecured cliffs flanking a lot of the way and at 4000 feet above sea level, conditions can be tough.

Moving back to the UK, we have the A682 in Lancashire where a 15 mile stretch is now considered one of the most dangerous roads in the UK having seen nearly 100 deaths in the past 10 years.
This nasty notorious stretch of road that has seen so much tragedy is located between junction 13 of the M65 and Long Preston.

It is sometimes inevitable to avoid riskier stretches of road and you will probably know exactly which ones in your area are more dangerous than others.

You can help avoid risking your no claims bonus by simply taking that extra bit if care when driving on them.

British motorists continue to make more and more insurance claims and this is in turn, now absorbing up to £150 per person of their car insurance premiums.

For those that have not made a claim, this means that they are now subsidising claimants to the tune of £150 every year.

According to the recent studies, it is suggested that the main reason for the increased number of claims is simply fraud.

Factors such as damage caused by drivers who do not have valid insurance isn’t helping and causing some concern.

Up to £66 of this £150 is said to come from claims submitted by drivers claiming to have suffered whiplash injuries following an accident.

The important thing here is to ensure that if you are involved in an accident, fault or non-fault, ensure you document as much as you can remember about the accident and particularly any injuries sustained by you or the other people involved. Take photos, use your mobile if it has capability and most have nowadays.

Whilst accepting that injuries such as whiplash may not manifest themselves immediately, you will have a better indication of things and whether such claims are genuine if you have taken notes etc. that you can refer to later. Remember, if anyone sustains an injury, you are obliged to contact the police before leaving the scene.

Notify your insurer as soon as you can if there are injuries involved and if you suspect some potential fraudulent claim winging its way, tell them.

Swinton Car Insurance have revealed that some drivers are finding themselves having to submit insurance claims because of damage to their vehicles which could have been avoided.

According to their recent research findings, 36% of drivers do not know their vehicle.

Furthermore, 29% of these people did not know one of the most basic tasks; namely how to change a tyre.

Tyre conditions form part of the Road Traffic Act and if you drive around with your tyre treads which are less than the legal minimum, you could face prosecution, endorsements on your licence, and an increase in your next renewal premium.

Of even greater consequence is the risk of your car not stopping and sticking to the road as effectively thereby increasing the chances of you having an accident.

Tyre pressures are equally important, and Swintons research identified that 20% of people questioned didn’t know the correct tyre pressures for their vehicle or indeed, how to check them.

Drivers with a better understanding of their vehicles that regularly conduct routine maintenance checks are less likely to need to make unnecessary claims on their insurance.

If you are a parent, take the trouble to either show your kinsfolk how to undertake the checks or enrol them on a basic car maintenance course at your local school or college.

You will be doing them a big favour and helping them to keep their insurance premiums down.

Insurance companies use people’s occupation as one of their underwriting criterions when calculating an insurance premium.

Did you know that some insurers will view what is pretty much the same job in different ways? Would you consider the job of a reporter to be different to that of a journalist? Some insurers do!

How would you describe your occupation?

Whilst we are not in a position to question the technicalities of such insurance providers underwriting decisions, you can be sure that if they charge journalists higher insurance premiums than those working in a job described as a journalist, then they have, at some time, had their fingers burned and had to pay out more money and probably more often to policyholders that have declared their occupation as a journalist than they have for those declaring their occupation as a reporter.

Therefore, ensure you give as much information as possible about your occupation and you may even realise a saving on your insurance premium.

That is not to say you should lie, you simply need to honest and ensure you describe your job accurately.

There are always several ways to describe the same job but ensure you don’t mislead your insurer otherwise you could find you invalidate your cover.

Play around on those aggregator websites and you will see for yourself.