Personal injury legal costs at £2.7m a day
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has declared that it is time to put the brakes on the legal costs “gravy train” that is costing UK consumers £2.7 million every day.
Calling for a “root and branch” reform of Britain’s civil litigation system and the high legal costs connected to personal injury claims, the Association highlights that:
Every day UK consumers are paying the legal profession £2.7 million through their motor insurance premiums.
An estimated 10% of every motor premium goes to the lawyers – this equates to an extra £41 a year on the cost of every motor insurance policy.
For every £1 paid in compensation to motor accident victims, an additional 87 pence is paid out in legal costs.
The Ass
Staged car accidents at record high
New research from LV= suggests that staged car accidents are taking place in record high numbers.
Questioning motorists involved in accidents in the past two year, the insurer found that over one in 20 believed they had been a victim of a “crash-for-cash” scam, with “rear-ending” (when a fraudster brakes sharply causing the driver behind to hit them) the most common form of entrapment.
Other popular methods include signalling another driver to merge into traffic and then crashing into their vehicle (24%), or “side-swiping” other cars (17%).
In
Cheap Auto Insurance FL
Florida Auto Insurance premium rates averaged $1.00 in the year 2008 representing a difference of 4.4 % from the previous year. The premium rates figure in 2008 implies that the Comprehensive coverage averaged at $113.68, the collision averaged at $280.92 and the liability coverage averaged at $756.04. Apart from the shocking statistics, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners has recently conducted a survey that has found out that people living in the district of Florida, New Jersey and Columbia pay more on their auto insurance policies than the people of other states. Even with yearly changes, Florida has been a consistent state that charges high premium rates from the auto insurance policy holders. Read more…
Aviva private motor sales soar in Swinton tie-up
Aviva has reported that the successful roll-out of its personal lines pricing to Swinton’s 570 branches and three call centres has more than doubled sales of its private motor offering, year-on-year.
The integration of the firms’ systems has allowed Swinton brokers to offer Aviva’s private motor product at a price that is more in line with the direct marketplace, while customers continue to benefit from the guidance and expertise of a broker.
The insurer’s head of personal lines, Sam Hudson, comments: “With the personal lines market remaining highly competitive, our investment in technology means that we can provide brokers with access to more competitive private motor rates so they can react to market changes quickly.”
Swinton’s insurer development manager, Steve Foster, adds: “The integration of our motor quote engine with Aviva’s dynamic web-based rating engine has meant that we can access the real-time pricing system, creating a transparent alignment between direct and broker prices.”
According to Mr Foster, “there is a clear appetite amongst our customers for a competitively-priced offer, delivered through our brokers”.
Kiplinger Highlights Best Car Values in 2011 Car Buying Guide
It appears that the derailed auto industry is back on track following a long period of reorganizing, redesigning and rebuilding. So says Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, which today revealed the best car values in its new 2011 Car Buying Guide.
The publication named winners in 11 categories, ranked by price, performance, safety, roominess and driving impressions. Top picks this year in the car and SUV categories include some smaller, more fuel-efficient models, many of which retail at attractive, affordable prices.
Hyundai took the prize for best new car in both the under $20,000 and the $20,000 to $25,000 categories with its Elantra and Sonata, respectively. Th
Ford Launches Competitor to Mazda5 in C-MAX
Not content to let Mazda have the entire North American small van market to itself, Ford has entered the fray with the new C-MAX.
Don’t do what I did and assume from the name that this is a work van. When I saw the sleek green people-mover above, I was more than a little bit shocked by how cool it looked.
Fitting into Ford’s World Car program, the C-MAX is built on the new C-vehicle platform, which will eventually spawn 10 models worldwide. Unlike the Mazda5, which utilizes three rows of seats for a total of six passengers, the C-MAX uses a more traditional 2-3-2 configuration.
North American models will be powered by a choice of two engines. The