UK Car Insurance Industry Watch, December 2007

This regularly updated section of the HomeApproved web site will cover the latest trends, research, opinion and developments in the UK car insurance sector.

Christmas revellers told: think! don't drink and drive
More than 6,000 people were hurt in drink drive related accidents at weekends last year (2006), with more than a third of these injured between 10pm and 3am. To crack down on drinking and driving this Christmas, the Government and Police have once again joined forces to urge anyone hitting the party scene to leave their car keys at home.

The Christmas drink drive THINK! campaign - with brand new Internet and radio adverts - was launched recently by the Department for Transport (DfT) to remind drivers, and young men in particular, just how badly getting behind the wheel after a few drinks can affect their lives.

Alongside this, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) will coordinate a nationwide police operation to tackle drink and drug driving over the festive period. More than half a million drivers are stopped and breathalysed each year and with more breath tests carried out in December than other months the Department for Transport has again teamed up with the police to highlight the importance given to preventing drink driving.

• DfT Road Casualties data indicates that 6,323 drink drive related casualties, where a breath test has been failed, occurred on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in 2006.
• A total of 5,235 people were slightly injured, 1,007 were seriously injured and 81 were killed. There were 2,579 casualties between 10pm and 3am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights - 2,072 people slightly injured, 466 seriously injured and 41 killed. Source: DfT Road Casualty data.

ENDS

New laws relieve the headache of car accidents abroad
New laws have been welcomed by legal experts, which hope to make it easier for UK holiday makers to claim in the event of being involved in a road accident abroad.

As well as an increase in the level of compensation received, the process will be made simpler as English courts will be allowed to deal with any disputes following an accident in any country within the EU.

Managing partner of Manchester law firm Ralli, Martin Coyne, said, "Now a person living in England, who has been injured in a road traffic accident abroad, can issue proceedings against the person responsible in an English Court and will probably secure higher levels of compensation than they would have done before when relying on foreign courts.

Many people have accidents abroad that go unreported. I expect these developments to open the floodgates and we will see more UK nationals coming forward."

Source: Reuters Motoring News

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People dropping insurance in face of rising living costs
Sainsbury’s Finance has warned that the rising cost of living, which rose by an average of 4.2% between October and November this year alone, means many people are increasingly finding themselves without insurance.

New research from the bank reveals that at least 21.9 million people have opted out of purchasing at least one or more insurance products and 13% (2.9 million people) said that the main reason for not covering themselves was because they couldn't afford it or deemed it to be too expensive.

1.15 million people admitted to driving a car over the past 12 months without motor insurance cover.

Steve Johnson, head of insurance, Sainsbury’s Finance said: “Insurance is an absolute must, but our research suggests that millions of people are playing Russian roulette by opting to do without. Those people finding it difficult to afford insurance due to the rising cost in living need to ensure that they shop around for the best cover because this can dramatically reduce price.”

ENDS

Government loses the records of more than three million learner drivers
The records contained the L-driver's name, postal address, phone number, the test fee paid, their test centre, a code indicating how the test was paid for and an e-mail address. Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly told the Commons that the latest security breach did not include personal data such as credit card or bank details.

Ms Kelly was then forced to concede to MP's: "In May this year, Pearson Driving Assessments Ltd, a private contractor to the Driving Standards Agency, informed the agency that a hard disk drive had gone missing from its secure facility in Iowa City, Iowa. The hard disk drive contained the records of just over three million candidates for the driving theory test."

The records contained the L-driver's name, postal address, phone number, the test fee paid, their test centre, a code indicating how the test was paid for and an e-mail address. The Transport Secretary also said the disk was "formatted specifically to fit Pearson configuration" and was not easily read by third parties.

Because banking details were not included in the lost data, individuals are not being informed, she said.

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Driving Age Rising To 18
The driving age will effectively rise to 18 in a major overhaul of how young people are prepared for the road. Learners will be granted their provisional licence from 17, but will need a year to pass a beefed-up test.

The move follows a campaign headed by a national newspaper and is being backed by the insurance industry, road safety campaigners and motoring groups.

Road safety figures show that one in five new drivers aged between 17 to 19 crash within a year of passing their test. But for 17 year olds the risk reduces by 43 per cent after the first year of driving.

The new driving test will become harder than the current one, including elements such as driving on a dual carriageway and turning right at a busy junction. The learning process will also aim to give candidates experience of 'real world' driving on high-speed roads at night.

Leaner drivers will spend up to 500 hours mastering the key skills. Experts say candidates currently spend 100 hours behind the wheel before taking their test.

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