Research from AA Insurance has found that around 22 percent of people in the UK are intending to take a holiday in Britain this year in order to cut down their costs of travel.
It appears that the rising costs in all aspects of travel are making people think about alternatives to try and reduce their expenditure. This has also driven more people to look at smaller vehicles to save money that way. There can also be insurance benefits in this, as well as better fuel economy said an AA Insurance representative.
As with all things the key is to find something that is suitable, so making sure there is enough room for people, that the engine can deliver the performance needed for regular long journeys and so on. AA Insurance see claims for all sorts of issues relating to unsuitable vehicles, so ensuring it is fit for the job it will have to do is paramount.
The largest insurer in the UK, Norwich Union, has suspended what had been described as a ground breaking form of car insurance that used a black box to track every journey.
The idea was to set premiums based on the risks faced by drivers. This would mean that drivers avoiding rush hour or late night driving would pay less for their car insurance. Norwich Union cited a slow take up of the idea and too few customers as the key factors for withdrawing the car insurance scheme.
There has also been a certain amount of mistrust from drivers regarding the black box. Having every journey monitored is not what Britain is about and there could be situations where a drivers Norwich Union car insurance policy could be negated if a vehicle was seen to be speeding at any time, or even have the data passed to the police. All in all most people feel the withdrawal of the black box idea is a good result and hope that it will not see the light of day again.
Hastings Direct has been fined GBP735,000 by the FSA (Financial Services Authority) for treating its customers unfairly. The car insurance company was found to have cancelled over 4,500 policies following a pricing error.
The problem was caused by the Hastings Direct car insurance quotation system, which generated quotes that were lower than the market rate. The insurer then decided to cancel these policies, a step that was not acceptable according to the FSA.
Although a cancellation clause was included within the policies the FSA felt that Hastings Direct should have considered other options first rather than invoking the cancellations. They believe that it is not acceptable to cancel cover because of what is simply a pricing error.
