VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 23 JAN 2015:
Brace yourselves, blokes: the AA says drivers can see car insurance and van insurance premiums go up by around 10 per cent over the coming year.
The slow creep upwards for premium prices – even those found on insurance comparison sites – has already begun. In fact, the motoring organisation says that the last three months of 2014 saw an 0.2 per cent increase, with the price of the average motorist’s cover rising to a cost of £540.
On the one hand, this is around £200 lower than the high-water mark in 2011, certainly a bad year for more or less anyone and everyone who had to get behind the wheel. Still, the AA says that this year’s going to see some substantial price increases nevertheless, even with the mount of competition within the insurance provision sector
Meanwhile, to add insult to injury petrol prices keep coming down – something that makes it worse for motorists as insurers assume everyone will be driving about more. This means the number of accidents is likely to increase, which leads to more insurance payouts – so your favourite neighbourhood insurance company has been preparing to jack up its rates to counteract the supposed effect.
Is it fair? Of course not. At the same time, is there anything you can do about it? Well you can stop auto-renewing like a pillock every year, considering how much insurers hike up premiums on ‘loyal’ customers who hang about for more than 12 months. Of course doing that isn’t going to guarantee you get fantastic cut-rate insurance cover – just that you won’t be so buggered as the next bloke who just keeps renewing with one of the big insurers year in and year out.
Other than that? Well it’s pretty much suffer in silence. Switch to telematics, if you think it will help – unless you’re rubbish behind the wheel, as you’ll end up paying more instead of paying less. Or just sell the Astra and take public transport like the rest of us, you spoiled bastard. Think of the money you’ll save on petrol and insurance premiums! So what if you have to ride the bus with the rest of the unwashed masses?