VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 18 JULY 2014:
The DVLA’s new database, which goes live next month, is rumoured to save every motorist as much as £15 on their insurance, but will it help the white van man?
When it comes to paying for car insurance or commercial van insurance, whatever drops premium prices is a good deal. Finding discount car insurance or cheap van insurance is always a challenge, and thanks to the new database linking to insurers directly, now a provider doesn’t have to take the word of drivers for granted when it comes to how many points they have on their licence – the information will be furnished to them directly. It will lead to more accurate premium pricing, and the average driver will save modestly on the cost of their cover.
However, whilst this new programme may have an overall positive effect on motorists’ wallets, cash for crash fraud is still a major problem in the UK – especially because van drivers are increasingly being targeted. New research released this week revealed how Birmingham is one of the worst places for car insurance fraud, and criminals have developed an insidious way to trick van drivers into getting into accidents deliberately.
The fraudsters are allegedly causing vehicles of all types to enter into a junction by flashing their headlights at them, ostensibly to give a silent signal to go ahead, only to then speed into them and orchestrate an accident they will then say was caused by the other driver. The scammer claims they never flashed their headlights, and when it’s one person’s word against another, most of those innocent drivers that end up getting tricked also end up getting the short end of the stick.
The result is a costly insurance claim against the innocent driver’s insurance company. This hikes rates for the van driver specifically and also ends up impacting all of us, as the more this fraud occurs the more insurers end up paying out to these criminals – and that leads to higher operating costs that need to be recuperated by raising rates across the board. Suddenly that £15 price drop from the new DVLA database seems less than useless doesn’t it?
At any rate, if you’re a van driver in Birmingham – or really anywhere, take it with a grain of salt if someone flashes their headlights at you whilst waiting at a junction. Like Admiral Ackbar likes to say, ‘it’s a trap!’