Telematics, Apps, Speed.

I’ve mentioned before the new idea of Telematics, in short it’s a spy in the car and it works on GPS. It’s being sold as a way to reduce the cost of motor insurance. Maybe it will, but the box installed will be unique to the insurance company and costs to install (that cost is non refundable) and it’s not interchangeable if you decide to move to another insurer. So who will it benefit? They say that with the cost of car insurance for 17 -22 year olds hovering between £2k - £3.5k clearly there is scope for serious benefits there IF the young driver is prepared to do exactly as he/she is meant to behind the wheel.

We’ve all been there, got the T shirt and taken chances, but if you do a U turn when the signals say no, the GPS will spot that and the Insurer may up you premium. The system will not miss a trick!  Don’t get me wrong in principle it’s a great idea but personally I feel pretty awful with a back seat driver in my car let alone having a GPS spy!

My recent tedious reading has been observations about Insurance being sold via the net and now by apps. I think it’s clear this is a generational thing, with most now being prepared to look at the net in year one and paying all the way through but finding in year two they get stung with an increase in premium they could see no reason for.

Apps rely on familiarity and navigating some clearly requires the pre-requisite of a degree in rocket science. Irrespective of my cynicism, technology is not going backwards and more will become familiar. But somehow, and call me old fashioned, it’s a shed load easier talking to someone  and getting all their information first time than going through endless correspondence or explaining what a  question means.

I don’t think anyone has run a contest between applying for insurance on the net or calling a broker and seeing who delivers the best price and cover. But for all the speed of the net, the only way you are going to know what you are paying for is if you read, pages of terms and conditions and can spot where the exclusions are. Given, I would suggest 99% don’t read any more than their name, address and licence plate number and think all is ok, to me it’s a no brainer.  Yes it’s easy to buy on the net, but if you want to know what you’re paying for and what you aren’t covered for; I still reckon a broker will come out faster and on many occasions, positively cheaper, and Trident Insurance in particular of course !!

Help There's A Snake Coming Through My Window!

We get a lot of accident reports but some are sometimes that much harder to take as credible than others.  

Recently we had a report from a female driver who claimed, when she stopped at traffic lights  a man came up to her open window, pulled his trousers and shorts down and put  ‘a body part that looked like a snake-like object,  through her window’. This caused her to panic and take her foot of the brake and hit the car in front’

It’s hard to know how to respond, let alone keep a straight face on hearing that, but we put it down as a non-fault accident!! 

The Madness of Insurance.

An announcement from the High Court reversed an earlier decision against RSA Insurance, which paves the way for insurers to inflate repair charges by at least 25%.

In short it was initially deemed that the cost of repairs should be determined by what an individual would pay for their own repairs.

The madness is that because many Insurers use their own preferred repair shops who charge them discounted rates, these may stay the same but the cost of the claim will now rise because the repairs will be based as if someone had asked for them personally. 

In other words claims will not go down but up and though RSA has possibly secured its victory for the charges it levied for repairs, it may find itself with extra costs by parties claiming against RSA.

I hope you kept up with that, in short it means the idea of motor rates coming down after the large increases over the last two year looks less likely now than ever. 

For the life of me I can’t see what benefit RSA thinks they have secured, all I can feel is that it's somewhat hollow because it may well come back and kick them in the teeth.

What is important regardless is that if you are involved in an accident, and are obliged to use the Insurers repair shops, independently check what the repairs would cost and make a formal complaint if you’re not happy. I’m not saying it will work but it can’t hurt. Unfortunately there seems to be no directory of who is renowned for higher repair charges, because that is a factor that we would use when comparing prices before the policy is taken out. 

Yes, complaining to a big company is a nightmare but it’s your money paying the premium, so the lower the cost of an accident the less harsh the Insurer may be at the point of renewal.

The RSA result of the High Court case looks like (apologies for the pun) an accident waiting to happen, insofar as being picked up by MP’s and yet another occasion where Insurers may have unwittingly shot themselves in the foot.