Car Insurance Rates Can You Lower Them ?

Car insurance: no-fault claims are the Elephant in the room

If someone drives into the back of your car while you are stationary, you wouldn't expect to be penalized by your insurer would you? At least, I didn't – but that's exactly what happened to me.

The incident happened last summer when a van driver turned into the entrance to the car park I was parked just outside of (in a marked bay), damaging the rear bumper and paintwork of my VW Golf. The van driver admitted fault and we swapped insurance details.

I contacted my insurer,  which is part of the Admiral group, and it swiftly sorted out repairs to my car and, sometime later, claimed successfully from the van driver's insurer. I asked before I made the claim whether it would affect my premium – although I assumed it wouldn't as I wasn't at fault – and was assured it wouldn't.

Yesterday I was given a renewal quote and it has risen from approximately Car insurance renewal has been rising steadily, but I hadn't expected an increase of quite that much. In fact, I had assumed that my six years no-claims bonus would ensure I was paying roughly the same, which had been the case for the past five years.

So I asked Elephant: why the hefty rise? The lady I spoke to in the renewals department told me it was because of the incident last summer. Although it had been resolved and registered as a no-fault claim, the Admiral group charges higher premiums whether drivers are at fault or not. Apparently, now I have made a claim Admiral considers that statistically I am more likely to make another claim in the future.

And the increased insurance premium is not confined to the damaged vehicle: one of my colleagues, whose car was damaged by vandals last autumn while parked in London (the wing mirror on the pavement side was smashed off), found that although her car insurance premium was unaffected, when she came to insure a horsebox that will never be parked in London the insurer insisted on taking this previous – and in 30 years of driving, only – claim into account.

I suggested to Admiral that maybe I shouldn't have claimed at all and paid for the damage myself, but was I informed that I am legally obliged to report any incident to my insurer, whether I pursue the claim or not. So damned if I do or damned if I don't.

Apparently, the member of staff in the insurance claims department who told me my premium would be unaffected must have meant my existing premium, not my renewal premium. 

[Source: https://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2012/feb/15/car-insurance-no-fault-claims-elephant]

Can I Transfer My Insurance To My New Car?

Your car insurance is critically important

Insurance in the United States is a big affair. The insurance companies that do business in this country cover almost everything. It is needless to say that car insurance is one of the most important types of insurance covers in the country. Apart from Virginia, New Hampshire and Mississippi, every other state in the country requires car owners to carry some auto insurance cover. And no matter how much you hate insurance companies and their agents, deep within your heart you know how important it is to be insured.

You just have to imagine what all can happen when you are driving. You could get into a collision that damages your car. Or you could get involved in an accident where you or someone else gets physically injured. Car accidents often have this tendency to turn fatal, where someone loses their life. The stupidest cases are those where a car is stolen. In all such cases, you stand to lose a lot of money if you don’t have car insurance cover.

It is important to know the kind of auto insurance you need. And here is where a professional insurance agent plays a big role. One of the primary reasons why people hate the concept of insurance is because they don’t understand most of it. They get fooled into buying something that they don’t need and end up paying more for cover that they don’t require. And when it comes to claiming for insurance, they end up paying more from their own pocket, something no one wants to do when they have insurance cover. A professional car insurance agent can offer need based cover.

Many consumers think that they need full auto insurance cover. The idea is not bad because then an individual covered under comprehensive cover doesn’t need to worry about any situation involving their vehicle. However, not everyone requires insurance cover. Someone may just require collision insurance or theft insurance, but they need an agent to let them know about their requirement.

As you can fairly clearly understand, a car insurance agent plays an important role in someone choosing cover for their vehicle. And because there are so many insurance agents around, it is critical to choose someone who has the reputation of being honest. Because many insurance agents work on their own, one has to find someone who knows what customer service is all about. In the domain of auto insurance, customer service would mean selling the correct policy and helping out when someone makes a claim. And the best insurance agents also stay in touch with their customers and also remind them about insurance premium payments and so on. This is the kind of service available from a very few agents and one needs to know who that person is close to them. Car insurance cover is important for any driver because accidents or thefts or other car related issues don’t announce their arrival. It is an experienced auto insurance agent that helps their customers to make the best choices.

[Source: http://articles.abilogic.com/40670/your-car-insurance-critically-important.html]

Car Insurance how is The Premium Calculated

The Role of Car Insurance Brokers

The role of a car insurance broker is to act as an intermediary between the customer and the underwriting Insurance Company. Within this role there are various functions that they carry out in interaction both with the car insurance buying public and the Insurer with who they place the business.

When a broker places car and motor insurance risks on cover, their role has a major difference to other types of insurance in that the spread of risk is smaller. This is because a very high proportion of motor business is eventually placed on the basis of 'one risk, one underwriter' - that is to say, a Lloyd's underwriter or Motor Insurance company.

When a member of the public goes to a motor insurance broker they expect that the broker should be fully aware of all the covers available and offered in a standard car insurance policy and a commercial motor policy. A broker also should be knowledgeable about the differences in policies and prices offered by the various Insurance Companies and underwriters with which his brokerage does business.

The Car Insurance Brokers role does not just stop with the supplying and purchasing of the insurance. They should be available to act as an intermediary with the Insurer at any time, acting upon the client's behalf should there be any changes to the policy mid-term of the contract period, or to deal with any claims that need to be made.

The two main insurance areas dealt with by the car insurance broker are the private individual's motor policy and the commercial fleet motor policy.

A marked tendency in the large broking house during recent years has been to concentrate more and more on the commercial motor insurance fleet placings, and less and less on the private sector of the market.

Many large international insurance brokers view the private motor insurance as uneconomic for a fully sustainable business, and so specialist sub-brokers or large provincial and regional brokers are dealing with a greater proportion of this class of motor business.

Car Insurance Brokers receive commissions for their role as intermediaries which are received from the Insurance companies with which the business is placed. The commissions available in the motor market varies somewhat and the recent 'soft market' where premiums and commissions are low, have also led the high street insurance broker to seek more profitable business in insurance classes other than Motor. Commissions for a car insurance policy may range from 7½ per cent to 20 per cent although with commercial vehicle contracts and large fleet business, brokerage may be agreed on a fee basis which is often charged over the whole portfolio for that particular client. In the past a standard rate or tariff which was agreed and reviewed by the Association of British Insurers professional body (ABI) was used in the UK car insurance market. This is no longer the case, but this approach still influences some underwriters in some specialist car insurance areas.

In recent years, however, many larger brokers have developed what is known as a 'direct dealing account'. This is where the broker introduces a sub-broker to underwriters and then permits him to deal directly with them under a fronting agreement with their own marketing. The accounts, however, will still pass through the main broker. The commission is split between the main broker and the sub-broker, with the sub-broker usually commanding the higher percentage. An restriction applied to the sub-broker within the fronting agreement is that he must pass the premium on to the main broker within 30 days of inception of the risk.

The role of the motor broker has changed somewhat in recent years with the development of Internet based quotation systems.

In particular the insurance comparison websites who have taken over the role of the broker to some extent. These quotation systems have been used successfully however by some car insurance brokers who have adapted and embraced the technology and now offer full on-line comparison quotes from their panels of insurance providers. The benefits are a very quick service, although it may still be advantageous for the broker to 'shop around' for the best deal for one's client, particularly if the cover is for a non standard driver or car.

Whatever the changes in the technologies and methods of Car Insurance delivery there will always be clients who want a human face and to talk to someone directly about their insurance needs. The role of the broker is ultimately communication.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4753910

Things to consider during car insurance renewal