Organised crime groups with Lithuanian and other eastern European connections are targeting UK rental companies. Up to 30 vehicles belonging to BVRLA members have been stolen by criminals using false or stolen IDs in recent weeks. The gangs appear to be made up of smartly dressed men in their late 30s with Lithuanian, Czech, Hungarian, Slovak and Romanian passports and driving licences. They usually provide UK addresses. They initially tended to rent as walk-ups from airports, especially Stansted and Gatwick, then targeted the cities of London and Birmingham, but now appear to be operating much farther afield, as far north as Leeds. They give contact telephone numbers for mobile phones, but these cease to be answered after initial assurances to the rental company that the rental vehicles will be returned. Most of the names and addresses used by these individuals have been added to the BVRLA's RISC Online database. For more information on how to protect your business through the RISC Online database, contact BVRLA head of member services Nora Leggett.
source: BVRLA Labels: BVRLA, Fraud, Insurance, Qualification Rules
Repairs to a supercar damaged when a test drive went wrong near Aberdeen are set to cost an insurance firm £300,000. The Pagani Zonda S, which would cost more than £500,000 to buy, was involved in a crash last September. The car has been sent for repair to Modena in Italy, where the vehicles are made. A spokesperson for insurers Aviva said: "This is the biggest insurance payout we have had for repairs to a private car in the UK." The spokesperson said: "This is out of the ordinary for an insurer." Although the vehicle was badly damaged, Aviva decided that the car may be repairable and set about making arrangements for the car to be shipped across to Modena, Italy, home of Pagani, the vehicle manufacturer. The insurance claim was lodged by the test driver, not the owner of the car.
source: BBC Labels: BBC, Insurance, News
Insurers paid out £650m from 335,000 claims made as a result of damage caused by the wintry weather in the UK, figures show. The biggest chunk of the payout was to motorists who damaged vehicles on the slippery roads, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said. January was the eighth coldest on record and the UK's worst since 1987. The bad weather hit businesses and consumers with sectors including retail and the housing market suffering. The ABI said that the winter weather cost insurers £650m for claims made in the UK from 18 December to 13 January. Specifically, £395m has been paid out to motorists. Many of the 268,400 motor insurance claims were for accidental damage caused to vehicles. source: BBC Labels: ABI, BBC, Insurance, News
Operation Catcher, a Metropolitan Police initiative, has been launched to identify criminals who deliberately induce vehicle collisions in order to defraud insurers.
According to the Metropolitan Police, there is a high incidence of such crimes in its area. In particular, it warns that "organised criminal groups" are targeting companies operating vehicle fleets within the M25.
source: BVRLA Labels: BVRLA, Fraud, Insurance
Credit hire firm Drive Assist is at the centre of allegations it falsified hire days to claim extra money from insurers. In a leaked email, released by a whistleblower and seen by Insurance Times, a Drive Assist employee explains to staff how to claim two extra hire days from insurers. The email has been sent to the ABI and insurers are currently considering their response. Drive Assist chief executive Steve Binch said the employee who sent the email has been 'disciplined' while a full investigation is being carried out. In a letter to the ABI, he said that following an initial investigation, he was: “Confident that the many other systems and procedures within Drive Assist have captured this unfortunate procedural error/misrepresentation.” He added: “The Board and I do not condone any process which artificially inflates hire invoice values and Drive Assist prides itself on being one of the lower cost operators in the sector.” source: Insurance Times Labels: Insurance, Money, News
Compensation culture is partly to blame for a record rise in car insurance premiums in the last year, the AA has said. Personal injury claims were becoming "increasingly embedded in British culture" often as a result of lawyers' adverts, it claimed. The typical annual comprehensive car insurance premium rose 18.7% in 2009 to above £1,000, the AA's figures show. That was the biggest jump since the index started in 1994. Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance, said that insurers had been struggling to deal with disappearing reserves at a time when settlement costs and personal injury claims had risen.
"Many people seem willing to pursue claims for even minor injuries, such as mild whiplash pain that in the past they would not have bothered claiming for," he said. "This is encouraged by personal injury claims lawyers whose marketing urges people to make claims and whose costs, as well as compensation for the claim, are met by the third party insurer. This is becoming increasingly embedded in British culture and, ultimately, feeds back to premiums." source: BBC Labels: BBC, Insurance, News
Barclays has announced that it is buying Standard Life Bank, the offshoot of Edinburgh-based life insurance company Standard Life, for £226m. Barclays is one of the biggest banks in the world, with millions of customers, whereas Standard Life Bank is a relative minnow. It has just 287,000 savings accounts and 78,000 mortgage accounts. Standard Life Bank has been operating only since 1998, and the insurer said the sale was in its best interests.
source: BBC Labels: BBC, Insurance, Money, News
A 24-year-old man has been jailed for four-and-a-half years after admitting his part in a £1.6m "crash for cash" conspiracy in Greater Manchester.
Mohammed Patel deliberately caused at least 93 car crashes in three years, each costing insurers about £17,000. Patel, of Nottingham Drive, Bolton, admitted a number of charges at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
He charged £500 a time to stage accidents, which enabled car owners to claim for bogus damages from insurers. Patel forced a number of low speed crashes by braking suddenly, often at roundabouts, so the driver behind would crash into the back of him. Claimants - who owned the cars Patel was driving - demanded compensation for personal injury, courtesy cars and legal fees at the expense of the other party's insurers. source: BBC Labels: BBC, Insurance, News
The economic climate is promoting spending online, with 63% of adult Britons who conducted an insurance transaction online last year saying they have increased their online spending habits due to ease of comparison and prices.
The 2009 Survey of Online Consumer Behaviour, conducted by Harris Interactive®, commissioned by Tealeaf®, also finds that insurers are not taking the chance to seize this opportunity. A high proportion (79%) of those who conducted an insurance transaction online reported problems doing so. Error messages, navigational issues and getting stuck in a loop were all common problems revealed by the research, which also discovered that consumers were more affected by positive remarks on blogs and social networks rather than negative ones, which could provide additional business for insurers with good websites. source: Insurance Daily Labels: Insurance, News, Technology
People aged 17-21 are being killed in car accidents due to peer pressure, inadequate training and not wearing seatbelts, according to research commissioned by Aviva.
The research reveals that one in three young drivers alter the way they drive when there is more than one friend in the car, with one in five paying less attention to the road and one in four taking their hands off the wheel.
Surprisingly, 9% of those surveyed said they would not have awarded themselves a licence when they successfully passed their driving test. source: Insurance Daily Labels: Insurance, News
American International Group agreed to sell its Taiwan insurance unit to a consortium led by Hong Kong's Primus Financial for $2.15bn, the companies announced on Tuesday. source: FT.com Labels: Insurance, Money, News
Aviva has named and shamed the ten worst parking spaces in the UK. The motor insurance provider asked drivers across the country to nominate their nightmare parking spaces where they feel most likely to end up denting their car. For the full story click here...
source: Insurance Daily Labels: Insurance, News
Parts of England with the largest number of uninsured drivers have been revealed in new research. The worst offenders were in Greater London, Merseyside and Greater Manchester, with 13%, 12% and 10% of vehicles uninsured, the research found. The Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB), which compensates people in accidents with uninsured drivers, estimates over 1.7m people drove without cover in 2008. Philip Gomm, of the RAC Foundation, said the situation seemed to be out of hand and had been for a long time. "That might be linked to economic factors. We know that during a downturn a lot of people are finding financial pressure, they are suffering financial hardship and they think that some of their motoring costs are those that they can drive down, but insurance is not an option. You have to have it if you take a vehicle on to the road" he said. Meanwhile, research carried out by moneysupermarket.com found that 62% of the 1,800 people questioned think motorists caught driving without insurance should face heftier penalties. For the full story from the BBC click here...
source: BBC
Labels: BBC, Insurance, News
Rogue drivers getting behind the wheel without insurance are not being deterred because the penalties if they’re caught are too lenient, Direct Line claimed this week.
Under new government proposals, motorists caught driving an uninsured vehicle will be fined as little as £50 - less than fine given out to people who overfill their bin, Direct Line said.
“The fact that the new proposed fine for driving uninsured is less than if you were to overfill your bin is alarming,” said Andy Goldby, Direct Line’s director of motor underwriting. source: Insurance Daily Labels: Insurance, News
Aviva has announced that John Kitson, UK general insurance sales & marketing director, is to leave the firm in March 2010.
Kitson joined the firm 14 years ago, when it was known as Norwich Union, as head of brand and marketing. No successor has yet been named, but Aviva has indicated a replacement will be announced in due course. source: Insurance Daily Labels: Insurance, News
The Law Commission is dissatisfied with current insurance law, The Daily Telegraph has reported.
The independent body, which keeps the law under review and recommends reform where needed, is due to report on insurance law this autumn.
According to the newspaper, it will say that current insurance law is unsuited to mass-market consumer insurance policies because it is based on commercial insurance practices. In addition, consumer bodies are lobbying the Government to include proposed changes in the Queen’s Speech that could re-orientate current insurance law towards to the Association of British Insurers’ voluntary code of practice and the best practice guidelines laid down by the Financial Ombudsman Services. source: Insurance Daily Labels: Insurance, News
One in ten young drivers aren’t aware that car insurance is a legal requirement, while one in five are taking to the roads without insurance.
A quarter of a million 17-20 year olds are getting behind the wheel without insurance cover, according to new figures from the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB).
Drivers in this age group are four times more likely to be involved in uninsured accidents, said the MIB, which pays compensation to people whose cars are hit by uninsured drivers.
For the full story click here...Labels: Insurance, News
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Len Jones Managing Director Labels: Insurance, RIVAL
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