A worrying trend is accelerating with companies and employees' cars. New HMRC data shows a marked fall in company car numbers of up to 80,000 cars and it means that grey fleets are growing quite rapidly and suggests more drivers decided to take a cash option during the pandemic, said Fleet Check managing director Peter Golding (below). If they are now using their own cars for business purposes … [Read more...]
Insurance Features
Used parts cut costs and boost green targets
The head of one of Europe’s biggest insurers wants repaired and refurbished used parts replacing new equipment on electric vehicles as part of a wide ranging reform of ‘green’ working practices. Sustainable car insurance was the focus of the 10th Allianz Motor Day, an international event hosted by Allianz centred on electric mobility as a key lever for decarbonisation, as well as green claims … [Read more...]
Tradelines 19 October
The German car industry could grind to a halt over energy costs faced by component suppliers. The major motor manufacturers have taken steps to fix their energy costs but further down the supply chain the smaller parts makers are said to be struggling and facing cost increases they cannot manage so want to renegotiate terms with their customers or cease manufacturing, which could very soon stop … [Read more...]
Newslines 3 October
Churchill Motor Insurance reveals the most common ways in which having children in the car negatively affects parents driving, with more than 4.7 million parents blaming their children for bad driving. One in nine (11 per cent) parents takes their eyes off the road to tend to their children and the same proportion (11 per cent) find that looking in the rear-view mirror to check on their kids has … [Read more...]
Young drivers hit by rising costs
A new report from Go.Compare Car Insurance revealed that the cost of getting a young driver on the road has risen to £6,574 – the highest since 2019, representing a shift backwards to pre-pandemic costs. Costs for young drivers – those aged between 17- 21 - and their families dipped to £6,394 in 2021 and £6,071 in 2020, a sharp fall from £6,846 in 2019. The research shows that, in the … [Read more...]
Charger availability will be 98% worse in 2031
Finding an electric car charger in 2031 will be 98% harder than it is today, according to a GoCompare Car Insurance. This emerges despite the ban on new petrol and diesel car sales, which is set to come in from 2030, highlighting that the country’s infrastructure may struggle to accommodate electric vehicles. Last year, there were 266 electric vehicles (EVs) to each public charger in the UK, … [Read more...]
Car insurance fraudster jailed
A 37 year-old man has been jailed for fraud offences following an investigation by the South Wales Police Economic & Cyber Crime Unit. In early 2021, the ECCU was contacted by the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) with intel that they had received a number of fraudulent claim reports from car insurance companies. An investigation into the policies enabled police to link Osman Hamasharzad (below), … [Read more...]
Charger cables new target for scrap thieves
Experts at Leasing Options are warning UK drivers that electric car charger thefts could increase amongst the cost of living crisis. This increase in electric vehicles inevitably makes thefts more likely - but add in economic pressures from the cost of living crisis and you’ve got the potential for electric thefts to increase tenfold. Some cars can be discconnected, but others have locking … [Read more...]
A fifth of drivers risking insurance fraud
Go.Compare insurance has found that one in five parents with children who have a car could be risking a significant fine and a criminal record for ‘fronting’ their child’s insurance policy. ‘Fronting’ is when an older or more experienced driver - usually a parent - claims that they’re the main user of the car but it’s mostly driven by a young person, or other high-risk motorists, to reduce the … [Read more...]
Manual cars are dying out among learners
Practical driving tests will soon be conducted almost exclusively in automatic electric cars, according to one electromobility expert. Emma Loveday (below), EV Consultant at Volkswagen Financial Services UK, explained that young people learning to drive in automatic vehicles will ‘soon be the norm’ as consumers become more environmentally conscious and cost savings for green transport become more … [Read more...]