When Driving Abroad will Sure You're Fully Insured

By Michael Challiner

Around three million British drivers head off abroad each summer to experience first hand the beautiful countries in Europe but regularly mistakenly assume that because they have fully comprehensive at home that they will outside the UK too.

Car insurance providers in the UK offer the minimal protection required by law in some EU countries, and that is road traffic accident cover. You may have fully comprehensive cover at home with top insurers like Admiral, Swiftcover, Direct Line, Barclays or Esure but your cover abroad is only third party, therefore any accidents costs will cover the third party not yours.

Head of insurance at Moneysupermarket.com, Peter Gerrard says that British motorists just presume they are covered. "Never assume you are covered abroad – always check your policy. It's very easy to think that because you have paid your premium, your insurance will be valid overseas."

All that is needed is a simple policy upgrade so that you have the same UK coverage whilst abroad. To cover a year, for all trips less than 90 days, Norwich Union charge £25, and Direct Line charge £19 for a 36 year old driving a Ford Fiesta. The RAC also charge £25 to increase cover per year.

Supermarket giant, Tesco, also do comprehensive add-on’s to UK insurance and also include legal advice and expenses, delivery of replacement parts, roadside assistance and recovery, a replacement vehicle while the car is off the road and help if the driver is ill. This costs £45 for up to 8 days, rising to £65 for up to 22 days. The larger insurers Barclays, Swiftcover, Direct Line and Esure will cover for up to 90 days for up to £23 and Admiral will do it for 30 days.

Other insurers, the AA, Churchill, Marks & Spencer, Endsleigh and the Post Office will all automatically upgrade your cover when you drive in Europe.

When you go on holiday you must always take your insurers details with you just in case you have an emergency and need to contact them.

You will need a green card from your insurer if your travels take you outside the EU. This is an internationally recognised document that proves that you are covered to comply with local legislation. There may be a nominal fee for issuing this card.

If you hire a car whilst abroad the cost will include fully comprehensive insurance cover but check the excess charge – it varies in all countries and can be as high as £1000. Insurance-4hire.com, specialists in this field, says that 4 out of 10 holidaymakers do not realise that they could be liable for these costs should they have an accident.

"If you rent a car you will automatically get insurance, but you should be wary of excesses. You might want to buy an excess waiver policy, where you pay a bit extra but then will not face an excess if you make a claim," says Mr Gerrard at Moneysupermarket.com.

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10.19  No comments

Marriage can Cut the Cost of Car Insurance

Author : Jennifer Scott 

With the average wedding now costing nearly £16,000*, tying the knot can lead to a big hole in your finances. However, getting married or entering into a civil partnership can actually save you money on your motor insurance!

According to online insurer swiftcover.com, adding your spouse to your car insurance policy can save you up to 20% compared to your singleton counterparts.

For example:

• A man adding his female spouse to his insurance policy could see his premium cut from over £388 to under £345 - if both drivers are male and in a civil partnership, the new premium would be around £348 because male drivers are considered a higher risk
• However, if a woman driver put her male spouse on her policy, the premium would fall from just over £341 to little more than £303 - the cost for two women in a civil partnership would also be around £303

Swiftcover says insurance premiums are cheaper because claims statistics show that married people are safer drivers. However, couples that aren't officially 'hitched' will also benefit from insurance savings, whether they are heterosexual or same-sex partners, although the savings won't be as high as drivers in a legally recognised partnership.

Tina Shortle, marketing director of swiftcover.com, says: "We're not suggesting that people say "I do" just to push down the cost of their car insurance, but many married couples may not realise that they can make significant savings by adding their spouses to their car insurance. It's also important to note that same sex couples in a civil partnership will also get lower insurance premiums and swiftcover.com's online quote system has been designed to enable drivers to add a spouse of either sex.

"The amount of savings will vary depending on individual circumstances such as the type of car, where you live, your job and your previous claims and motoring history. As long as your spouse is not particularly high risk you will see a saving - and although it may not help with the cost of the 'big day', over many years of wedded bliss it could amount to a substantial saving."

Shortle pointed out that insurance policies should always be in the name of the main driver - the person that drives the vehicle most often - with the spouse or partner as the named driver. Naming your spouse or partner, or indeed anyone else, as the main driver to bring the cost of premiums down further could invalidate your policy in the event of a claim if it is found that they are not actually the person that drives the vehicle most often. Likewise, incorrectly claiming that a named driver is your spouse could make your policy invalid if you need to claim.

As Swiftcover shows, adding your spouse as a named driver to your car insurance policy, whatever your gender or orientation can begin to save you money, with the following examples reducing annual premiums by an average of £38, which could add up to £380 over ten years.

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09.59  No comments

Motor insurance customers input false information when applying for cover online

Author : Victor Popescu

A study conducted by DVLA in collaboration with ABI revealed that  at least 17% of motor insurance customers produced false driving license information when applying for cover online. Their research concluded that 1% of those customers don't even hold  a valid driving license.

This fact influences other honest customers which have to pay higher premiums as a consequence. This research comes hand by hand with the initiative from regulatory bodies to grant insurers more access to their customer's driving licence data.

The new proposals will change significantly the on-line quote system as customers will no longer have to input their driving record details but will only provide their licence number instead. The insurers will then be able to obtain the customer's driving records,  prior to giving a quote , directly from DVLA database.

The move suppose to cut down fraud levels and as a result will lead to a decrease in insurance premiums.

Nigel Bartram, Aviva UK insurance motor underwriting manager , advises  that  it is crucial to keep the initiative moving faster as  the problem will become more acute when it becomes an offence to keep an uninsured vehicle next year.

According to the news of the initiative, around 10 % of applicants for Swiftcover insurance do not divulge all of their previous claims and that 60 % of the those customers do not renew their policies.

Because there was no real progress since the change of government in May, Trudgill will meet during this month with junior transport minister Mark Penning, who oversees DVLA, and will be trying to put pressure on him in order to be more dynamic in the project.

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All About Swiftcover Car Insurance Policies

Swift is associated with speed. And so, as the name suggests, Swiftcover insurance policy vows that you will get your insurance quote within a minute of of enquiry. Swiftcover is an online insurance company. They have a very comprehensive website that offers all and any information about the company. The details included in the Swiftcover website are to the point. They also provide a lot of flexibility in their policies that few other insurance companies may be able to match up to.

So, in effect you can save your time; you only need to save your quote and details, and then company will make arrangements to send you the actual insurance documents using a technology. You can obtain a printout then and there. Thus, the system of Swiftcover insurance cover is a hassle-free one. Their services and policy covers are comparatively cheap, allowing room for great discounts to the customers. This is because; they do not need to avail their operational costs at all. They also have a scheme where they are ready to offer your money back, if you happen to find a cheaper policy within a period of 14 days.

You might be expecting a lot from a company that keeps and maintains, and has access to a wide range of insurance market contacts; most of them which come with AXA Group. Similar to your expectations, Swiftcover is also capable of offering access to the travel insurance market, pet insurance market and breakdown cover. A point to be noted here is that all these services are offered at very competitive prices.

You may be aware of several websites that get things arranged and then start up with a big boom. However, they disappear within months of starting up. However, Swiftcover has been able to transfer their car insurance business model to several other areas and they have been very successful in their venture. These days, there is cut-throat competition among all insurance companies. Yet, as the markets become more and more competitive, Swiftcover has been able to advance one step ahead of the competition, with regards to their services and cost, both of which have been supreme.

It may seem very strange to you, but Swiftcover has already been able to stand up to a comparison very favorably to other major or popular car insurance companies such as the AA, the RAC and More Than. In spite of their low cost approach, they have been able to pay massive dividends also.

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18.48  1 comment

A Woman Loses Lizzie

Statistics have been released by car insurance provider Swiftcover, highlighting the need for female drivers to look beyond the policies that are advertised directly to them when shopping around for car insurance.

According to the provider's research, the UK's 18.9million women drivers could face car insurance premiums with differences of more than £600 a year. Its research found that a 35-year-old female living in Birmingham driving a Volkswagen Passat with one speeding conviction to their name could be charged as much as £944.45 a year through female car insurance specialist Diamond. The same driver however, could pick up a quote for just £331.76 through Swiftcover itself - a difference of £612.69.

This wasn't a one-off example either. The insurer quoted many similar differences including for a 55-year-old female in Southampton driving a Saab 9-5 who could pick up a premium for just £148.00 through Swiftcover and yet would be charged £246.94 through Sheila's Wheels and £589.55 with Diamond.

Cynics would argue that Swiftcover has hand-picked the examples to show off the savings made through its service. However, there is a clear message for female motorists to shop around - preferably by using a comparison service - to ensure they're getting the cheapest quote available.

It is important to look beyond price too and consider what you're getting for your money. To their credit, the likes of Diamond and Sheila's Wheels offer incentives such as handbag cover, female-friendly repairers and courtesy cars.

Once you've found a policy with the level of cover you need, look to save money where possible by enhancing the vehicle's security, parking in a garage overnight, driving at pre-agreed times and avoiding convictions.

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15.48  No comments

Women Gain a Great Deal On Car Insurance

Yet another car insurance provider has decided to offer exclusive policies for female drivers - but do these deals really offer better value?

More Than car insurance has launched women driver's insurance with special features designed for females including priority road assistance, a mobile phone locator, female friendly repairers, child car seat replacement and handbag cover. It is just the latest in a long line of car insurance providers that specifically target females with their policies including Diamond, Ladybird and Sheila's Wheels.

However, research from Swiftcover reveals that these specialist insurers do not necessarily offer females the best deals. Its research shows that 18.9 million women drivers in the UK face price differences on their insurance deals of as much as £600.

For example, a female aged 25 who lives in Milton Keynes and has a Ford Fiesta Style 1244cc with zero years no-claims could get a policy for as little as £273.60 with Swiftcover and yet would pay £512.90 with Diamond. Similarly, a 35-year-old in Birmingham driving a VW Passat would pay £331.76 through Swiftcover compared to £426.37 through Sheila's Wheels.

Women are generally offered more favourable car insurance quotes than men due to their superior driving record with Home Office statistics showing that men are involved in 97 per cent of dangerous driving convictions. However, just because an insurer claims it can offer cheaper quotes by dealing exclusively with females it does not mean that women drivers could not get a cheaper deal elsewhere.

The key is to do everything you can to save including taking advantage of online discounts, paying annually instead of monthly, parking a car in a garage overnight and enhancing security.

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01.48  1 comment

Car Insurance and Rock and Roll - How Your Occupation Can Affect Your Premium

Iggy Pop's recent foray into the financial services industry (taking the form of a Swiftcover advertising campaign) may have revealed something about the decline of rock and roll's cultural integrity. However it has also highlighted something else, the implications your job can have on your car insurance.

The advert in question involves Mr Pop cavorting around and generally revelling in having insurance with the company. But at the time the advert was originally aired they would not be able to cover him. Why? Because he's a musician.

As a result the ad didn't only cause raise eyebrows among Iggy's legion of fans, the Advertising Standards Authority also had to get involved, forbidding the company from showing it again in the existing format.

But this restriction against musicians is not an unusual one in the insurance industry. Being a musician is one the occupations that's placed fairly high on the insurer's risk scale.

There may not be an obvious connection between occupation and car insurance, but along with post-code, age and gender it is one of the rating factors on the car insurance risk assessment. An insurer typically gauges the risk of a driver in terms of where the car is likely to be parked, what times it is likely to be driven and how the car is likely to be used in regards to the driver's job.

In the case of musicians, they are deemed high-risk as they might have high claims for loss of future earnings if they are injured. Insurers would deem other high-risk occupations to be particularly stressful and involve a lot of time spent on mobile phones or behind the wheel. Premiership Footballers are another example of those who rank highly on the risk scale, since they are constantly in the public eye and could be targeted by rival fans on the way to training matches.

These are not the type of issues that most of us have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. So in what way can we expect our jobs to affect our premiums? The good news is that if any of the following apply to your job, the chances are your premium should be considerably lower than Iggy Pop and Stephen Gerrard's:

1) You have a low stress occupation. 

2) The safety of others is a key part of your job and training. 

3) Your occupation means you often take public transport. 

4) Your job is considered to be very meticulous, which is deemed to affect your driving habits. 

At the end of the day most people aren't going to change their job to lower their car insurance, so it's really a case of finding cover that adequately covers your needs and situation. And if you're a musician, like Iggy, finding it tough to get insurance? Well, he's proof that there are alternative ways to earn a living!

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21.48  1 comment