If you live in London and are fortunate enough to be able to afford a new Range Rover you may find it difficult to find an insurance company prepared to offer you insurance cover unless you have secure parking and a category 5 tracker installed, some insurers are even insisting upon secure underground parking.
It appears that the new Range Rover has been specifically targeted by car thieves because of a security problem involving the keyless ignition system. Car thieves are able to buy hand held electronic devices on the internet, from web sites such as eBay for example, that will actually bypass or over ride the keyless ignition system, allowing the thief to simply drive away in the high end, luxury vehicle. Thatcham Research in Berkshire, the highly respected motor insurer’s automotive research centre which was established in 1969, is reported to have said that 294 Range Rover Sport and Range Rover Evoque vehicles were stolen in London between the months of January and July this year. These figures for just seven months of 2014 are quite staggering when compared to the number of BMW X5 vehicles stolen in the same time period, which was the much lower figure of 63.
Keith Dowley is a commercial property adviser from south west London and he bought a new Range Rover to replace his previous one that had been stolen from outside his home, Mr Dowley is among those refused cover by his insurance company because he does not have a secure parking facility. Mr Dowley said that AIG refused to cover his new Range Rover because he did not have underground parking; he asked “How many people living in London have that type of parking?” Mr Dowley contacted Range Rover about the matter and claims that they told him it was his problem to resolve, speaking to The Times he said “I had to tell them, ‘No, this is your problem, I have just bought a £100,000 car from you, if I can’t get insurance, I can’t drive it, and if I can’t drive it, I don’t want it” Fortunately Mr Dowley was able to secure insurance cover for his Range Rover from another insurance provider.
A Jaguar Land Rover spokesperson said “Our line-up continues to meet the insurance industry requirements as tested and agreed with relevant insurance bodies,” adding “Nevertheless we are taking this issue very seriously.” The company says it is actively working with insurance bodies and the police to resolve the problem.
Special Thanks Land Rover MENA for providing the image.
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Insurance companies are urging authorities to get tough on fraudsters as cases of “crash for cash” soared by 51 per cent in 2013. Insurance giant Aviva claim that half of the false motor vehicle injury claims that it has uncovered were arranged by organised criminal gangs. Aviva feels that the growing numbers of crash for cash instances may be due to the industry crack down on false whiplash claims where criminals invent accidents and injuries, even though no accident has actually taken place, a crash for cash incident allows the insurance fraudster to show physical evidence that a crash has occurred. Aviva uncovered around 820 staged accidents during 2013, resulting in around 2,200 personal injury claims made by fraudsters.
Unfortunately, as we have reported previously, it is the innocent motorist who suffers in crash for cash incidents, usually the kind of motorist who takes care to use the roads legally with full insurance cover. Crash for cash is nasty enough but even more sinister is the fact that the criminals who perpetuate this kind fraud often target those drivers who are less likely to kick up a fuss or make a scene, they won’t bother the young bloke who is built like a rugby player and looks like he can take care of himself, they will seek out the mother with her children on board or the frail looking, white haired senior couple. They will drive in front of these innocent victims and then slam on their brakes, leaving little to no time for the driver behind to stop. They often also tamper with the brake lights on their own car so the potential victim is given even less chance to stop before a collision.
The Aviva Head of Claims Fraud, Tom Gardiner said ”The fast growth of induced accidents on our roads is cause for serious concern.” He added ”Fraudsters are prepared to put the safety of innocent motorists and their families and passengers at risk for their own personal gain.” Calling for tougher penalties for this kind of insurance fraud Mr Gardiner said ”We believe that convictions for motor injury fraud resulting from induced accidents should result in more custodial sentences that recognise the unique physical harm that this form of insurance fraud poses to motorists, as well as the wider social costs.”
The insurance industry estimates that insurance fraud adds approximately £50 to the cost of our premiums, but of course the worst part of the crash for cash fraud is the risk of injury or death to any potential victim. To limit the risk of becoming an innocent victim of a crash for cash fraudster it is recommended that you maintain a good safe distance behind the vehicle in front of you, if you notice the driver in front is checking the rear view mirror more than is usual you should be extremely cautious as they may be preparing to slam on their brakes. If you see that the brake lights on the car in front are not working you should take particular care and even consider pulling over for a while until there are other cars between you and that car.
If you have been involved in an accident and suspect that you may be a crash for cash victim it is recommended that you call the police and request they attend before the suspected fraudster leaves the scene.
Special Thanks Josh Semans for providing the image.
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You may not be aware of it but when you contact your car insurance provider to ask about making a claim, you may find that the information is recorded on a database and could be used against you when you renew your insurance cover, even if you don’t decide to actually make that claim.
The database, called CUE, lists such “incidents” and it is shared by 60 insurance companies – as a member of the public you are entitled to make a data access request and view the database, although it will be at the cost of £10. A Surrey motorist found that his car insurance had increased by £100 after he reported an “incident” to his insurance company, despite them assuring him it would make no difference to his premium if he paid for a hire car after his vehicle was stolen – it was later recovered with no damage. It seems that if you have an “incident” you are more likely to suffer another, or it could be a sign that the risk of crime is increasing in your area, so some insurance companies increase premiums accordingly.
Insurance companies warn us that non disclosure of any accident, loss or claim may result in the cancellation of your policy so we have no choice but to report “incidents”, whether or not our insurance premium increases is down to how our insurance company interprets an “incident”.
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Motorists are being warned about the latest insurance scam in which criminals flash their lights to let unsuspecting drivers pull out of junctions and then deliberately drive into them.
This latest tactic has been labelled “flash for cash” and it can net criminal gangs tens of thousands of pounds in fake injury, fake loss of earnings, etc, etc, etc. It is already costing the insurance industry a fortune and, as always, it is the honest and fully insured motorist who will end up paying for it when their insurance premiums increase.
Similar to the existing “crash for cash” scam, this new version is particularly nasty as the criminals seem to be targeting vulnerable motorists such as women with children in the car and older people, these are drivers who are less likely to make a fuss at the scene. It is down to the innocent victim’s word against the criminal’s, very difficult to prove in court.
We have no doubt that it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or even killed by these nasty criminal gangs so watch out if you are invited to pull out of a junction by someone flashing their headlights at you, they may not be as generous as you think and you may end up with a damaged vehicle and expensive insurance claim – or worse!
Special Thanks to IMotorTrade and Benson Kua for providing the image.
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The cost of car insurance is still dropping with average quotes for annual comprehensive policies down to just under £595 – a whopping 9.8% fall from this time last year!
Prices for third party, fire and theft and third party have also dropped and the reductions apply across all age groups, although these percentage rates appear to be quite varied with the biggest drop of 12.8% for those aged 23 – 29 and the smallest drop of 3.9% for drivers aged over 70
Newly introduced legal reforms that change the way in which “no win – no fee” cases (also known as conditional fee arrangements) are funded – hopefully putting an end to spurious and exaggerated claims, the ban on claims management referral fees, insurance industry improvements in fraud detection and an increase in competition have all helped to bring about record breaking falls in UK car insurance costs. Gender equality has also made a difference in the price of car insurance, as we reported back in December 2012 The European Court of Justice ruled that it was discriminatory and illegal for insurance companies to charge different rates based on gender, this ruling meant that young male drivers have seen their premiums drop whilst young female drivers have seen their premiums rise slightly or remain the same
This is all very welcome news indeed but, considering that car insurance costs are still around double what they were in 2007, we hope this trend is set to continue.
Special thanks to The Truth About Insurance for providing the image
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At last we are beginning to see a reduction in the cost of our car insurance premiums, a very small reduction it has to be said, but any drop is a very welcome drop indeed.
The average cost of car insurance for the British motorist has actually doubled since 2008 so the latest report from the AA British Insurance Premium Index which shows the drop of 1.4% is extremely good news, particularly when you take into account the fact that this figure is for the first three months of 2013 and is part of an overall average reduction in prices of 4.1% over the past year.
It seems that the downward trend in car insurance premiums may be set to continue with the introduction of certain legal reforms designed to reduce the costs of claims and stop legal firms profiteering from personal injury claims. The initial parts of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) came into effect on 1st April 2012 with more due later in April and in July. These legal reforms include controls ensuring costs are proportionate to damages, the banning of referral fees for personal injury claims and the reduction of fixed legal fees from £1,200 to £500 for claims valued at under £10,000. From next year insurance companies will be able to access the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) database, this will allow them to check the driving history supplied at the time of an application for car insurance, so false or non declaration of information will no longer be possible.
The honest and law abiding road users in the UK have been paying for the fraudulent and litigious element for far too many years and these reforms are long overdue, it is no wonder that the majority of the British public have shown support for them.
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The price of car insurance for young women will rise today, thanks to a ruling by the European Court of Justice. Following a legal challenge by Belgian consumer group Test-Achats, the court ruled that it was illegal to charge different premiums based on gender, the European Court of Justice said “taking the gender of the insured individual into account as a risk factor in insurance contracts constitutes discrimination”.
Government figures show that women are statistically safer drivers than men, based on the fact that they make fewer claims on their car insurance, and this always meant that insurance companies offered cheaper car insurance to female motorists. From 21 December 2012 this will no longer be the case and young women are likely to see their insurance premiums rise by as much as 25% with men’s premiums possibly falling by about 10%. The ruling only applies to new policies started today with some insurance companies suggesting an increase of approximately £400 to the cost of a car insurance policy for a young women under the age of 25.
UK insurance industry representatives have been fighting against the gender ban for the last decade and expressed their disappointment at the ruling.
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