In the UK, there are probably more adults that drive than do not.

Whilst car insurance premiums tend to lower as one gets older, there comes a stage when age starts to have a negative impact on premiums, particularly when medical conditions start to manifest themselves, affecting our well-being.

As an aging nation, the proportion of older drivers that are likely to give up their licences either compulsorily or voluntarily, whilst upsetting for the drivers is inevitable and it is important to understand their reasons for making such decisions.

Medical professionals have guidelines which must be followed and if a newly presented condition or a change to an existing illness/disability or its treatment, in particular with medication, is likely to impair driving either temporarily or in the longer term, you need to be informed.

Deciding whether a driver needs advice about fitness to drive requires the health professional to understand the capability requirements for driving, and the conditions and treatments that may impair it.

Health professionals need to be just that, professional and unbiased when considering fitness to drive and therefore need to avoid making vague or insecure recommendations about fitness to drive. Such decisions will be for your protection as well as other drivers and 3rd parties as if too lenient, could lead to a crash where their advice may be questioned, particularly when issues of liability for injury or damages arise.

It is of course, not an exact science as medical conditions can manifest themselves in many different ways but some groups of medical professionals, such as those treating diabetes or epilepsy, and optometrists are reported to have a more consistent approach give advice more consistently.

You are looking at buying that tidy little motor but have a tidy little problem – the cost of your insurance premium.

The reason is that your car insurance is due for renewal just before your birthday!

Consider waiting to renew your policy until after your birthday. For drivers under the age of 25 years old this can save you quite a bit of money.

Basically, the younger you are, the better the chance of saving more money.

So when your policy is next coming up for renewal or you are buying your first car, check out some of the aggregator websites. Have a look at comparethemarket/beatthatquote or moneysupermarket and get some insurance premium quotes based on your current age and another based on your age after you have had your birthday.

That said however, it is important to remember that it is illegal to drive a car on the public highway without a valid insurance certificate and anyone caught breaking the law can look forward to getting some penalty points on their licence, so please do not be tempted to drive your car whilst it is uninsured.

If need be, lay your car up from the date your current policy expires but remain disciplined and don’t use the car. If you are caught driving it without insurance, the loading your insurers will impose on your policy will, in all likelihood, absorb any saving you were expecting to make.

A new study by Admiral has revealed that men are likely to spend up to three times more time in their cars than in their homes.
It is not clear whether this has any impact on car insurance premiums for men but however unlikely, it could well be a contributory factor as roads become more congested and commuting takes longer.
This seems to be more of an issue for men in London than in other parts of the country with as many as one in five men in London are having to endure this but in Wales the ratio drops right down to one in twenty five men.
Admiral managing director, Sue Longthorn, said: “Perhaps men are taking some time out on the road to relax and get away from pressures at home. However, overall it’s a sad reflection that people are spending so much time away from their friends and family, whether by choice or not.”
The report polled 3,000 individuals and further suggested that nearly two thirds of people would rather drive on their own than travel with a passenger.
With the ever increasing demands of work related activities, it is important to remember that tiredness can kill so drivers are asked to ensure they take sufficient breaks whilst driving.

Car insurance is becoming a major in factor in determining what car to buy, according to Swinton, the UK’s leading high street car insurance retailer.
New cars valued at more than £1 billion are sitting idle in parking lots around the country as sales slump. Sales are so bad in fact that next years motor show in London’s Docklands has been cancelled.
As sales of those expensive sports cars and 4 x 4 gas guzzlers drop due to the current financial climate, motorists are searching for more economical cars, and this includes those cars attracting lower insurance premiums.
A recent survey of 1,000 Swinton customers found car insurance premiums was their second highest consideration when looking at buying a new car.
There are many things to consider before buying any motor, and being able to find cheap car insurance which meets your requirements and offers the benefits you are looking for is not always easy.
It’s always wise therefore to ensure you obtain a quote before entering into any agreement to buy.
Don’t simply accept the premium your current insurer quotes. Have a little shop around, make sure you know what your current insurer would charge you if you cancelled your existing policy before the next renewal date and take this into consideration when deciding whether it is worth your while to switch immediately, or wait until your policy is next due for renewal.

With everything else going on in our lives it is very easy to forget the MOTs for our cars.
Whilst it may not be considered much of an issue for most, driving a car without a valid MOT certificate in force is an offence under the Road Traffic Act and attracts prosecution, fines and points on licences if caught.
It is said that as many as one in five motorists renew their MOT more than 1 month after it last expired and with as many as six million drivers having admitted to driving their car without a valid MOT certificate because they simply forgot their MOT renewal date, the problem is significant.
A car with an expired MOT is fine if it is laid up and kept off the public highways/roads but use it and you face the possibility of invalidating your insurance. Have an accident and be found to be at fault and your problems really start to mount and have some serious consequences.
You will find yourself having to settle the other person’s costs personally, face the fine, have your licence endorsed with penalty points and expect to see an increase in your next insurance renewal premium.
In an effort to help people remember, Kwik-Fit has announced the launch of a new service that could help drivers in the UK their renewal date by sending their customers email reminders when their test are due.

Tesco is hunting for an insurance expert to help expand its financial services division.

Tesco Personal Finance (TPF) is already well established in the insurance field, offering personal lines insurance products as well as it’s credit card and other financial services.

The majority of their marketing for their personal lines products has so far been through the leaflets found at their sales points near check out counters, but following a pilot in Glasgow, it now plans to open 30 “walk-in” branches of Tesco Personal Finance in some of it’s stores around the UK by the end of 2009.

The first stores to introduce the service are due to those in Coventry, Blackpool and Bristol.
Tesco also plans to extend it’s finacial services further by launching a current account within the next couple of years as soon as they have the relevant technology in place. 200 new jobs are expected to be created in Edinburgh to support the roll out.

A Tesco spokesman denies that the creation of these walk-in financial centres has any connection to the current turmoil in retail banking sector.

Tesco Personal Finance secured authorisation from the Financial Services Authority in 2001 and has since developed successful insurance products protecting the home, pets, travel, dental, life and health insurance as well as their well known competitively priced motor insurance policies.

The car insurance market is tough, and whilst motor insurance premiums may be rising, insurers still have to maintain their market position.

As a customer, you may well be asking how on earth these insurance companies continue to need to increase their premiums.

Well, there could be a number of reasons for this, one of which is extremely likely to be the heightened awareness of consumer price comparison sites.

With so many households now having access to the internet and TV’s being literally saturated by aggregators promoting their comparison websites, the previous onerous task of shopping around by making numerous telephone calls to insurance companies and brokers is pretty much obsolete. A few clicks on your PC or laptop and in a few minutes, you have access to quotes from up to 100 insurance providers.

The internet has in fact been deemed to be a major contributory cause for a lot of the insurance industry’s difficulties. The web’s impact has been such that some underwriters are even reviewing how they price and underwrite policies purchased over the internet.

Those providers keeping pace with technological advancements and listening to what their customers want, have a good chance of maintaining their market profile and continuing to prosper.

For the others, there is a good chance they will either fall by the wayside or be absorbed by the bigger companies at some stage.

The illegal activities of car accident fraudsters continues to attract the attentions of police forces across the UK.

Two men were recently jailed for more than three years each following their part in attempting to defraud more than 20 motor insurance companies out of an estimated £3 million.

18 months of investigation conducted by the City of London Police, Insurance Fraud Bureau have linked the two and their gang to more than 300 suspicious car accidents, most of which were thought to be staged accidents in London during 2005 – 2007.

It’s never nice to be involved in any accident and a drivers emotions take a while to recover, particularly if someone was injured in an accident, no matter how serious the injury.

If you however, find yourself involved in what you consider to be a suspicious accident, contact your local police authority with your suspicions as soon as possible.

Remember, unless you have protected your no claims bonus, any fault accident is going to affect your no claims bonus by a minimum of 20% and result in a significantly increased premium at next renewal. For younger drivers, this could equate to literally hundreds of £s.

Something that no one wants at any time, let alone during this economic downturn.

Patrick Smith is stepping down from the post of Chief Executive at Swinton in order to become chairman.

Peter Halpin, the current deputy chief executive is taking over the reins.

From humble beginnings back in the late 50s, when Swinton opened its first branch in Salford, introducing a new way to buy insurance, the company grew rapidly throughout the 1960s.
They were also the first insurance broker to advertise on TV.

Profits were up 4% over 2007’s performance with profits for 2008 coming in at £50 million and premium income rising 15% to £763.9m.

Even though Swinton are now the largest high street insurer, they continue to grow from strength to strength.

Peter Halpin, Swinton’s new chief executive, says:

“The company as a whole has an ethos which sets us apart from others in the financial services sector. That ethos is one centred around a strongly-held belief that consumers appreciate having a clear and fair choice with regard to how and where they purchase their insurance. Customers will always be able to pick up the phone and discuss their insurance matters with our advisers”.

Swinton continue to look to build on their success of being named “Personal Lines Broker of the Year in 2008” receiving praise for it’s personal approach to customer service and their strategy of integrating online growth and call centres supporting it’s extensive network of high street branches.

The trend continues as Insurance giant, Aviva plans to axe over 1,000 jobs following improvements in operational efficiency.

Another nice thank you from an employer for the workers that helped them achieve what was probably thought not possible, and considered it more aspirational than achievable, when the improvement strategy was announced.

Union officials advise that they have been told that offices in York and Norwich will be worst hit by the cuts, but other sites across the country will not be exempt for cuts in their workforce.

This announcement follows closely on the heels of RSA’s recent announcement to cut 1,200 employees in an effort to help shave £70m off of their operating costs.

This constant hammering of financial and insurance industry workers must be leaving everyone employed in those industries on edge.

Mark Hodges, chief executive at Norwich Union Life, said: “Our strategy over the last three years has seen us transform and simplify our business, leaving us well placed to face the challenges ahead.
Most of the job cuts are said to be in the areas of “business change” and IT and not related to the current economic downturn.

There is no clue as yet how this will affect actual insurance premiums. Hopefully, some good will come out of this and Aviva will bring premiums down.