Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 1 Nov 2013:

With one of the largest van insurance providers in the UK posting record dividends and premium prices dropping, is our long national nightmare finally over?

I wouldn’t believe it unless I’d read it myself, but apparently it’s true. Autonet, one of the largest commercial van insurance providers in the UK, has posted enough profits this year that it will issue a massive dividend of £11 million.

Of course, 78 per cent of that cash will go straight to Glynn Keeling, who owns a massive controlling share of Autonet. That’s largely irrelevant, though – what’s really important is that the insurance provider turned an amazing profit of £8.6 million before tax, up from £7.6 million last year. That’s some increase!

It looks like this performance really gives the lie to the whole complaint put forth by insurers that they’re barely turning a profit. Car insurance companies have been using that little nugget for years to justify their high premiums, but it’s obviously untrue for Autonet at least.

So massive profits are good for the industry, right? You would think that this means insurers don’t need to charge as much. Normally I’d dismiss that as the kind of dewy-eyed optimism that gets you taken advantage of, but lo and behold another news story breaking this week confirmed it – insurance costs are down by an impressive margin.

In fact, average costs for an insurance policy have plummeted to their lowest point in more than twenty years. Not for nothing but that’s incredible, especially in this market where insurers love charging as much as they can get away with.

So what’s behind the drop in costs? Most experts point to new blood flowing into the industry in the form of high levels of competition, which I can only hope will be here to stay. It’s obviously working, especially if insurers like Autonet are performing so amazingly well that they’re issuing huge dividends.

Let’s hope this situation lasts for a long, long time. Motorists have been suffering under high insurance costs for far too long, and this is a pleasant change. For what it’s worth, it seems like a win-win scenario to me: insurers are in the black and drivers aren’t out an arm and a limb when it comes to purchasing cover for their vehicles!

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 25 Oct 2013:

I may not know much, but I’m sure that it can’t be cheap to insure a whole fleet of vans if your drivers keep getting into costly road traffic accidents.

Well guess what? One of the biggest commercial van insurance providers out there agrees with me. In fact, AXA Business Insurance even released new research data that indicate how important it is to keep your van or commercial vehicle fleet in top shape, as failure to do so will make it much more likely that the vehicle will be involved in the kind fo accident that raises your van insurance rates.

AXA said that the vast majority of van owners do indeed service their vehicles at least annually, but for those that don’t bother to do so (around 6 per cent) nearly all of them have been in at least five accidents over the past five years. It’s obvious here that neglecting your vehicle is an absolutely poor choice, as faults and defects will develop and, if remained unchecked, will only make things messier for you in the long run. Sure you may be saving a few quid by not taking your van into the local garage to get tuned up, but when your insurance bill comes round after the inevitable accident you’re going to wish you took the time out to get your van checked out!

It’s more than just keeping your equipment in good nick, though. In fact more news this week detailed how you’ve got to spend time keeping your drivers trained if you want to maximise the potential for a safe and accident-free fleet of commercial vans.

Experts say that the best way to ensure your drivers act accordingly is to fit your vans with dashboard cameras, but it’s not just about spying on your employees or contractors; no, it’s more about providing valuable coaching to an otherwise good driver that makes an unfortunate mistake now and again. Not only that, but making sure your van is fitted with a dashboard camera will also protect your driver and your firm from other motorists – especially anyone trying to pull a fast one on you by staging an accident in order to undertake a car insurance scam! Your drivers might not like the idea of being surveilled, but they’ll change their tune once they realise that the obtrusive dashboard camera just cleared them of any wrongdoing in that next rear-end shunt.

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 7 Aug 2013:

It’s terribly expensive right now when it comes to securing car insurance or van insurance, but despite that drivers are finding ways around these limitations.

Commercial van insurance is a terribly expensive proposition, especially if you’ve a whole fleet of vehicles to deal with. Well, there are new products and services out there that focus specifically on fleets of vans or other commercial vehicles, and they’re using telematics as a way to save customers some cash.

Telematics is, let’s be honest – a fantastic use of satnav technology. If you’re not familiar, it goes a bit like this: you fit a vehicle with a telematics device and it keeps track of your motoring habits – when and where you drive, how aggressive you take corners, whether you brake excessively or in an unsafe manner, and whether you exceed the speed limit – and if your insurer finds you’re a crap driver it raises your rates, but if you’re a good driver you get your premiums reduced.

Sometimes telematics aren’t that cost-effective in that they cost quite a bit of dosh. This problem is minimised if you’re applying them across a fleet of vehicles, though – especially since many insurers may be willing to cut you a break on the initial price since you’re fitting several vans or cars at a time – and this has made telematics quite ideal for smart van companies looking to save some cash.

So van drivers are getting more intelligent at the choices they make, but did you know they’re also keeping more honest as well? Well, that’s what a recent research study discovered anyway.

An insurer tested the honesty of some 30,000 insurance claims over a period of two years and found that, even though there are more idiots perpetrating insurance fraud through ‘cash-for-crash’ accidents, the lion’s share of drivers are actually incredibly honest when it comes to owning up to their own mistakes.

This makes me happy, because I’m tired of always hearing from insurers how dishonest drivers have become. It’s especially tiresome to keep hear insurance companies complain how drivers are always trying to take them for a ride when it comes to making exaggerated or completely fabricated insurance claims, so it’s an absolute breath of fresh air to get some hard evidence that these insurers are probably just complaining for no good reason. Yes, I know fraud is a problem but let’s not lose sight of the fact that so many drivers actually aren’t compete bastards, shall we?

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 31 July  2013:

Anyone who drives a delivery van will know that the costs of keeping your vehicle are absolutely horrid – but now there’s some hope on the horizon!

It’s absolutely expensive to keep a van up and running nowadays, what with the costs of petrol and van insurance. Many a white van man has had to deal with the headaches of parking penalties as well, but I just discovered that there might finally be some help coming to all you van drivers out there – and from the Conservatives, believe it or not!

A new proposal could see drivers of all types given a 15 minute grace period when it comes to parking on double yellow lines in the future. The move is designed to breathe new life into the currently nearly-abandoned UK high street, since most people would rather just surf the internet and get their shop done online instead of going down to the corner and risking running afoul of parking enforcement.

Of course, couriers and delivery drivers don’t have the option of staying at home with their feet up; they’ve got a job to do. The knock-on effect of this new proposed plan could see the costs inherent in being a white van man go down, since there’ll be fewer parking penalties they’ll have to pay – so I think it’s a brilliant plan and I hope it gets pushed through quickly!

Even if it doesn’t though there’s still some hope for the lowly van owner, thanks to another story I read this week. Apparently the AA’s car insurance arm discovered that the cost of comprehensive insurance is dropping like a stone – in fact it’s going down at the fastest rate since 1994, when the AA started keeping track of such things.

Comprehensive quote averages hit £594.84 in July, the AA said, which is down 9.8 per cent from last year. This is fantastic news for everyone, whether they need car or commercial vehicle insurance, but we’re still not out of the woods yet.

Just remember, even though prices are falling they’re still too damn high when you think back to what you were paying back before the economic downturn in 2007. Still, if this keeps up maybe we’ll get back to a place where you don’t have to go down to your local pawnbroker and sell off a few body parts to afford annual cover; maybe we’ll get even luckier and the price of petrol will drop soon, as well!

That last one is probably not going to happen, but I can dream can’t I?

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 24 July 2013:

Now it might be too early to declare victory on this front, but signs are starting to emerge that van insurance is starting to become less costly. Fancy that!

I know it’s hard right now, what with motoring costs through the roof. If it isn’t the price of a litre of petrol making you pull your hair out you’re probably losing your mind trying to find the cheapest van insurance you can, but one major commercial van insurance broker recently said that it’s been tracking a welcome trend: premiums are starting to edge downwards.

Autonet said that, according to its own research (take that however you will), insurance costs are beginning to recede – especially for younger Brits who drive a van. Someone 21 years old or younger trying to secure van insurance today will pay an average of around £1260 to £1270 for a year’s worth of comprehensive cover, and while this seems a king’s fortune it’s decidedly much better than Autonet’s figure of £1646 from last year!

If these figures turn out to be accurate, this is some very welcome news. Of course you don’t need me to tell you that, considering how you’re down there in the trenches every day fighting tooth and nail, but it’s got to be good to read about this, right?

Well hold on to your hats because I’ve got a bit more good news – or potential good news, anyway. This will be of particular interest to van drivers who live in Northern Ireland, as there could finally be a review of the region’s insurance companies if the Consumer Council gets its way.

If you thought premium prices were bad in London, just be glad you don’t have an NI postcode – insurers are notorious for charging an absolute arm and a leg to anyone living in Northern Ireland that tries to get van or car insurance. Prices have gone up nearly 73 per cent on average from 2009, but again the young have borne the brunt of this, experiencing rate hikes well over double!

Well, if the Office of Fair Trading heeds the call of the Council, we could finally see the NI insurance market given some scrutiny – and if there’s any market that needs to be gone over very carefully, it’s there. I can’t believe how some insurers will simply try to squeeze every last bit of cash they can from people – don’t they care about how expensive it is for these poor bastards?

Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 26 june 2013:

It’s no secret that the younger generation today has plenty of obstacles in their way when it comes to car insurance or van insurance, what with the economy.

Thinking about the financial stability of the UK, the eurozone, and in fact the entire world is most definitely not for the fainthearted at the moment. It’s getting harder to make ends meet, but there is a bit of good news on the horizon in the form of some very interesting information I uncovered this past week.

First off, a new research study from a major comparison site discovered that you can significantly impact your rate quotes by simply not waiting until the very last moment when it comes to policy renewal. This top tip applies to both car owners and those looking for commercial van insurance cover, so listen carefully: leaving your renewal until the day of will leave you between a rock and a hard place, and any insurer you go to will know this and raise their rates accordingly, so plan ahead!

Seems like a clear case of price-gouging doesn’t it? Well it is and it isn’t – according to insurers, anyone who is scatterbrained enough to wait until the day of renewal before getting their policy sorted is most likely the kind of person that is easily distracted or inattentive behind the wheel, so waiting to the last minute is just giving your insurer an excuse to charge you even more.

This is especially difficult for younger motorists, considering premium prices are too damn high to begin with. Still, I did run across a bit of good news on that front as well: according to Autonet, younger van drivers are experiencing lowered rates on their vehicles when compared to 2012’s figures.

The insurance broker discovered that prices for the first half of 2013 have declined by around 23 per cent from last year’s figures, which is quite a pleasant change for cash-strapped younger Brits. Of course, this still means the average premium price is well over £1,250, so while it’s a bit less expensive than it was in 2012 it’s still well nigh unaffordable – and in many cases might be more expensive than the vehicle you’re trying to insure!