VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 13 MARCH 2015:
Wondering why your van insurance or car insurance is so high? Around £93 worth of it is a result of the number of whiplash claims insurers have to deal with.
So why in the world is the amount of whiplash claims raising everyone’s insurance by an average of £93 lately? Well that’s just how many claims that car and commercial van insurance providers have had to deal with lately. Apparently there’s been an absolutely massive spike in volume recently, and insurers say the costs they incur in paying out for all these supposed whiplash injuries.
Insurers of course are pointing the finger at ambulance-chasing personal injury lawyers that are drumming up spurious claims in order to benefit from court costs and lawyer fees. If only there were some way to limit the impact of whiplash claims, insurance companies have been whinging – or at least that’s what they say whenever they’re not accusing the Government from doing enough to crack down on insurance fraud.
Meanwhile who loses out in the long run? We do, of course – every single one of us who has to keep their van or lorry insured. The so-called £2.5 billion a year that insurers say whiplash claims cost them gets passed on right to everyone who has to climb behind a wheel – and our personal share is £93. It’s enough to drive you absolutely mad – especially when there’s so much else to worry about.
Still, there’s not much we can do about it, is there? We have to make sure our vehicles stay insured at all times or we’re liable for all sorts of fixed penalties. And good luck getting cover from an insurer if they know you like motoring about without insurance! No, we’re all kind of over a barrel here – we’re stuck having to play by the industry’s rules. Honestly the best we can do is just shop around every year when it comes time to renew our cover and try our best to find a reasonably priced premium policy that doesn’t offer cut-rate cover or leave us with having to take out a mortgage on our flat to pay for it.
I wish I was exaggerating for comedic effect but sometimes I really wonder; don’t you?