Car Insurance and the New 80mph Motorway Speed Limit
The government is expected to announce an increase in the motorway speed limit to 80mph, which could be implemented as soon as 2013.
At the moment, the speed limit on Britain’s roads is 70mph, but it’s estimated that 50% of drivers on motorways regularly drive faster than that.*
Some groups have already said that the number of car insurance claims would increase as a result of the new speed limit, as drivers have less time to react and avoid an accident at faster speeds. Meanwhile, government ministers are arguing that the 80mph speed limit could boost the economy, cutting journey times and making delivery times faster.
If the increase does go ahead, careful drivers will be looking at ways to stay safe and cut the risk of car insurance claims. So here are some tips to drive safely at high speeds:
Don’t tailgate:
It’s tempting to stick close to the car in front in poor driving conditions as visibility is limited, but this is one of the worst things you can do. Drop back, and leave a four-second gap between cars. Even if road conditions are good you should still leave a minimum gap of two seconds but this would be even more if you’re going above 80mph.
Indicate early:
If you’re going to change lanes at high speeds on the motorway, let other road users know in plenty of time. Use your indicators nice and early and they’ll have time to anticipate what you’re doing and make room if necessary.
Overtake safely:
It’s essential that you overtake carefully on a motorway as you might only be driving a few miles an hour faster than the car you’re passing. As well as checking it’s clear from behind, make sure you have somewhere to go once you’ve overtaken so you don’t have to ‘cut in’ or force another driver to slow down to make room for you.
Remember the speed limit is a guide:
Even if the government does go ahead and change the motorway speed limit to 80mph, it doesn’t mean you have to drive at that speed. It’s a maximum speed designed for when the driving conditions are ideal. Judge what’s comfortable for you, and bear in mind factors like the weather and amount of traffic around you. Driving at 80mph rather than 70mph means you’ll use 20% more fuel**, so if money-saving is important to you it’s better to maintain a steady, slower speed and avoid braking hard.
*Latest Department of Transport figures
** According to Greenpeace
Company Profile:
John Lewis Insurance offers a range of insurance services selected by the John Lewis Partnership. These include pet, life, travel, wedding, event, home and car insurance products.
For more information about John Lewis Car Insurance please visit the website here - http://www.johnlewis-insurance.com/homepage/car-insurance.html.
Is your car insurance sorted?
Car insurance may be something that we think about once a year when the reminder plops onto the doormat. But realistically, in order to the get the most suitable deal for your needs, you may wish to shop around for a competitive set of car insurance quotes.
Getting a quote
Getting a quote for motor insurance need not be a time-consuming exercise. Many of the financial institutions such as offer online car insurance quotes.
How do insurers price car policies?
Car insurance may be priced on the basis of the information that you supply to the insurers. For example, a typical application form for cover may ask for details of your:
- car’s make, model and registration number;
- own name, age and address;
- details of where the car will be kept (e.g. on the road, on a drive or in a garage);
- value of the car;
- what security features (e.g. special alarms, wheel locks etc) are fitted;
- details of who will be driving it;
- how many miles per year you estimate that you cover;
- whether you plan to leave the country with the car; and
- whether you have any no claims bonuses from any previous policies.
If you do have a no claims bonus, you may have to provide evidence of this by sending in your original insurance certificate when you take out a new policy.
While filling in these kinds of forms can seem dull, it is important that you take care to submit accurate information. If the insurer discovers that the insurance was given on the basis of information that was not accurate they may not pay out on any claims that are made on the policy.
What about the service that you receive?
Hopefully, you will not need to make a claim on your insurance policy. But if you do have to make a claim, what service can you expect to receive?
When you have got some quotes together, you may wish to check to see how the insurers compare from the point of view of customer service. Are the claims lines open as often as you would like? Will you be put through to a “real person” or to a glorified answering machine? These are issues that may be very important if you ever had to make a claim on your car insurance policy.
How to compare car insurance quotes
With car insurance, it can be tempting to let your current policy roll over for another year without investigating your other options. As the deadline approaches for renewing your cover, you may intend to do something about it but never quite get around to it. However, by taking a few moments to compare car insurance quotes, you may be able to save yourself some money.
How can you compare car insurance quotes?
When you have a number of quotes in front of you, you may wish to compare them on the basis of:
- price;
- how extensive is the cover; and
- the quality of service the provider gives.
The price
Once you have the prices in front of you, why not ask the insurance providers if a discount is available? If you have a number of years’ no claims bonus you may find that providers offer you a discounted price.
You may also want to bear in mind your cash flow. Will an insurer let you pay by monthly by direct debit, or do they accept payment by credit card to enable you to spread the cost of the cover?
The cover
Insurers may typically cover similar risks in car insurance quotes. You may be able to differentiate between quotes on the issue of whether a provider offers a number of named drivers to appear on the policy or not, and also whether the provider treats drivers differently who cover lots of mileage in a year.
The service
How can you judge the service that is given when you choose between car cover quotes? You may wish to check the insurer’s policy on courtesy and hire cars if yours is written off, how long they take to respond to claims and how accessible their claims procedure is.
Finally, the most important thing to remember when comparing car insurance quotes is that the policy you choose must suit your individual needs. Just because a policy turned out to be appropriate for a friend or neighbour, it does not necessarily mean that it is the right one for you.
Car insurance liabilities
It is a fact that car insurance can be cherished, yet there are few ways that can decrease its crash on your finances. Mostly when a person goes for a car insurance company they like to stick with it for a long period of time, unaware of the truth that they could have found something more cheaply if tried to look for it. Is it that the people hate to search around for car liability insurance and thus decide to go with what they have? Well, here is the news that each and every year, all of these people are wasting their hundreds of hard earned dollars.
One of the great methods of saving money on your car insurance is to make your insurance company is aware about all the safety measures that your car has got. Some of the qualifying features for this are the things like immobilizer, alarm system, abs, etc. Some of the car insurance companies provides discount to the people who don’t drive too far or do not drive at all i.e. if a person drives within the certain amount of fix millage per year then they will save.
Searching a policy online is the best way one can make significant saving on its car insurance liability. Nowadays, there are many websites available on the Internet which will help you in choosing the right policy for by letting you enter some piece of information about yourself, your driving history, and then present a variety of quotes from different companies. This will provide you a chance to compare a range of quotes presented by different companies and selecting the one which meets with your needs. Usually, all of these insurance quotes are similar to each other as every company tries to attract you towards them.
One more ways, which is rarely done by anyone and may be the easiest thing that you can do is to go ahead find your policy and then look at your policy and check out if you have overlooked any type of discount in the past. Because you might be working for a company or organization which has got unique deals for their employees in regards to insurance and the savings made by these deals can be quite a large sum.
In the end, these are some methods to use along with a little common sense which will save you a large sum of money on your car liability insurance. So, be wise and don’t rush for anything, just because you don’t want to take the time to search. Research the market and try to find the best deal which will suite your requirements and don’t go blindly without looking for the alternative. When you receive any quote just be patient and examine it carefully. Evaluate the disadvantages and advantages carefully and you will find the way towards the road that allows you to save lots and lots of money on your car insurance liability.
The importance of a car insurance quote
If you’ve just got your annual car insurance renewal form through and found yourself wincing, then perhaps it’s time to think about a new car insurance quote.
Unless, of course, you’ve got an awful lot of surplus cash available and things such as value for money don’t worry you too much!
Typical vehicle insurance cover
A typical car insurance policy covers you against a range of risks including:
- third-party liability – that’s the legal minimum required under UK law and it covers claims against you from others following an accident;
- fire and theft – often appended to third-party cover to provide the minimum policy provided by most insurers, this protects your vehicle against these two risks;
- fully comprehensive – this covers the above plus a range of other car damage related areas.
Some policies also provide additional benefits that may include things such as membership of motoring organisations, discounts on other insurance products and no-claims discount protection in certain circumstances etc.
Renewals versus quotes
There may be a tendency for all of us to be very diligent when checking out an initial car insurance quote.
We may study it carefully and compare it to a range of other policies and options. We may think closely about the cover provided, the terms and conditions plus the additional benefits (if any).
Eventually we make an informed decision and purchase the policy.
A job well done perhaps – but then we can all get a little complacent and perhaps even lazy.
That’s why, when it’s renewal time, it’s all too easy to just decide that we can’t be bothered to go through the whole car insurance quote process again and to renew what we have.
That may be a missed opportunity.
Things change – and fast
Getting a new quote for car insurance at the time you’re pondering your renewal might be a smart idea.
That’s because the market changes constantly. Since you took out your policy, things will typically have changed and there will be new policies offering new facilities and possibly at more advantageous prices.
Of course, it’s possible that your existing policy is still the most suitable for you and providing you with everything you need at a price you’re happy with.
If so, then all’s well and good.
However, the real issue is that it’s unlikely you’ll be able to know that unless you’ve found a little time to compare your policy with others available in the current marketplace.
That’s why periodically making the effort to get a new car insurance quote or two may make sense.
Car insurance renewals
So, it’s that time of year again when the renewal notice on your car insurance has just dropped through the letterbox. What are you going to do?
The easy option
There’s little doubt that it’s easy to do nothing other than just renew your insurance through your existing insurance provider.
If you’re not too worried about the quality of cover you can obtain elsewhere or the price you’re paying, then that approach may be fair enough and you’ll be content.
However, it might be a good idea to pause for just a second and consider what you’re getting for the money you’re paying out.
Markets and products evolve
Perhaps when you first took out your existing insurance, it was a cutting edge product offering excellent cover, terms and a good price.
Yet the vehicle insurance marketplace changes very rapidly. It’s always very competitive and insurance providers are constantly looking for new ways of adding value to their policies, providing additional benefits and keeping their prices keen.
Some of these things may be of significant interest to you and be things that your existing policy just isn’t offering.
Unfortunately, if you’re just renewing automatically, these are things you’re just not going to be aware of.
Finding time
It might be a good idea to try and find some time to sit down and look at what options you have for car insurance – before you make a decision to renew your existing policy.
Yes, it may take some time and a little bit of discipline but the rewards might make it all worthwhile.
What to look for
The basics of car insurance remain built around:
- the price;
- the cover provided;
- the cover that’s not provided (an area easily overlooked when evaluating policies);
- the terms and conditions – including any specific exclusions;
- the flexibility – in other words, what degree of control over things such as the premium does your policy give you through things such as the excess.
There remain three sorts of car cover providing protection for:
- third-party liability only (this is now becoming harder to find);
- third-party, fire and theft;
- fully comprehensive.
It might be prudent to think very carefully before using a policy that provides only limited cover.
Comparisons
Thinking about your policy in the above terms might help you compare it to alternatives.
That could prove to be a real eye-opener and something that results in you getting a new car insurance policy that’s a little more suitable for your current requirements.
Do women get cheaper car insurance?
Car insurance premiums are calculated based upon a number of factors. One of those factors is a risk profile. A risk profile is made up of things such as past driving history, location of car, how frequently you drive, how much mileage you do a year and surprisingly, until recent changes in EU legislation (March 2011), it also used to include what gender you are.
This was because statistics have shown that women are more careful drivers than men and therefore are less likely to claim on their insurance. This means that they were often rewarded with lower premiums than men.
- figures produced by the Government showed that over 90% of convictions for driving related offences are carried out by men;
- statistics also show that while women have as many accidents as men do, they tend to be less serious and there, insurance wise, less costly.
Being less likely to be involved in a serious accident, and those that have accidents costing less than their male counterparts, women motorists used to receive benefits by having their insurance premiums discounted.
With these factors taken into account, women used to receive more favourable insurance quotes than men.
Now, with these new laws, it looks like lady drivers could end up paying more than they used to for their car insurance in order to bring them in line with their male counterparts.
Go online for car insurance
If you’re looking to renew your car insurance, you might want to consider checking out the internet as a way of making the whole process quicker and easier, as well as maybe saving you a packet in the process. All you need is a computer with an internet connection, and you could have your insurance worries sorted out in no time at all.
So, why is going online for your car insurance such a smart move?
There’s a lot of free advice around
Gone are the days when a price comparison site was just that and nothing more. Now, many have taken to providing articles about their specialist subject in order to keep customers informed and let them know exactly what they’re getting into. While these might have a slight bias towards the company in question (as you’d expect; they are a form of advertising, after all), the advice they give can be quite useful, especially if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing, or if you’re new to buying online.
Internet shopping is one of the most important revolutions in retail ever. Why shouldn’t this ease of use be adopted for other purchases, such as car insurance? Buying online can make the whole process quicker, easier, and much less painful – and maybe even let you save some money along the way, as many sites offer online discounts.
Low emission zone
The low emission zone (LEZ) was a concept developed in London in early 2008. It has since been debated and discussed in London and in other parts of the UK and Europe. Like most cities, London is heavily polluted. Much of the blame for the poor air quality has been given to high emissions vehicles including diesel trucks and other large vehicles that operate within the high traffic areas of the cities.
In order to help reduce the traffic levels and improve the overall quality of the air in London, so-named congestion zones were established. These are areas within city limits that are restricted for vehicles that do not meet requirements for low emissions.
Congestion charges were established and are issued to any vehicles that go into the zones that are above the threshold for acceptable vehicle emissions.
The charges serve a few different purposes. Most importantly, they are designed to encourage motorists to either buy a hybrid vehicle or reduce the amount of time they spend in the zones with high emissions vehicles. Some motorists have opted to share the charges by car pooling as opposed to investing in a new vehicle. This effectively helps with the air quality movement as it also reduces the number of cars setting off emissions in the zones.
The low emission zone has worked effectively according to most analysts and government officials. The funds are placed in the transportation infrastructure programme and they will be used to expand and improve roadways. This also helps to benefit the quality of life for those who travel the roadways.
Another thing to consider related to the low emission zone is the potential impact your response can have on your car insurance. First, if you decide to purchase a hybrid car or another vehicle, you should look at the potential opportunity to get cheaper car insurance. Generally, a safer car leads to more affordable premiums. Because of the push for more environmentally friendly vehicles, many insurance providers do offer discounts for people who drive low emissions vehicles. This is a nice advantage and an extra reason to consider making a change if you currently drive a car that has high emissions. You can help the environment and improve your quality of life, while also potentially saving money on your car insurance.
Remember these main points about the low emission zones:
- The purpose is to reduce the amount of emissions in the cities to improve the air quality that we all breathe;
- Purchasing hybrid cars or car pooling are potential ways to adapt to the congestion zones;
- Car insurance companies may reward you if you operate a vehicle that has low emissions.
Car insurance premiums and car insurance companies
The reason some people may pay more than they need to for car insurance is because they just accept their current insurer’s quote and don’t shop around to see if they can get a better deal. Using a car insurance comparison website however is often an easy way to compare insurance premiums, policy features and benefits and find the deal that is most suitable for your needs.
What are the factors car insurance companies take in to account that you can’t easily change?
- Your age – there’s nothing you can do about that;
- Occupation – the best advice here is you have a job then keep it in these current times of financial hardship, even if it does affect your car insurance premium;
- Your gender – though new EU legislation is set to change this:
- Marital status – married people are said to be less of a risk than singles, but getting hitched is a pretty drastic way of saving a few pounds on your insurance premium;
- Driving history – what’s done is done and can’t be changed. If you have points on your licence or a history of claims, it’s just something you will have to live with.
That said and done, by comparing car insurance policies, you may be able to find a deal that suits your budget.