The UK Insurance Blog

People want to buy their insurance online, according to this informative article “New online tool proves price isn’t everything!”.

While we prefer to shop for our insurance online, a leading home insurance provider is enjoying the benefits of providing an online comparison device. Hunting round for the best policy is much more easily achieved on the Internet and more people are catching on to this fact. Defaqto provides independent information taken from market research so you can be sure there is no favouritism going on.

Changes are afoot it would seem. In a recent survey, it was discovered that 34% of insurance buying customers prefer to shop for their policies online. New insurance products being arranged online account for 25% of the insurance buying public as opposed to six years ago when the figure was only 6%.

A lot of people are influenced greatly by the price of insurance quotes rather than taking into account other considerations. While not always top on price, the group are confident future customers will be influenced by quality of service and level of cover. By providing a comparison tool link on their website, Halifax Insurance are confident their products will stand up to competition as long as the customer isn’t only interested in the price. If this fails, a cash incentive is in operation for customers booking their home insurance over the phone as well as up to a thirty five per cent discount if you book online. Food for thought indeed!

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In an interesting article called “Cut this and you could be struck by lightning!” about how household insurance can save your life, a few myths have been finally laid to rest.

Just say a big thunderstorm happens and your house has been struck by lightning, would your insurance cover the damage or not? Popular opinion is that no, you wouldn’t be covered. Why is this? A common misperception is that we are not protected against so called ‘acts of God’. Not a comforting thought in the light of the crazy weather we are all experiencing in the UK.

Here and now, this is to confirm that insurance companies do protect against extremes of nature such as earthquakes, floods and gale force winds.

The article states that anyone leaving their house uninsured during this time of extreme weather is neglecting their most valuable asset. Insanity! Insurance companies appreciate we are living in times of extreme weather and offer packages taking this into account.

Sadly one in ten homeowners (about 2 million people) do not have buildings insurance and nearly five million take the risk of not taking out contents insurance.

During the aftermath of last year’s floods across parts of the UK, over a quarter of homes flooded were not covered by insurance. Sadly, it is a sign of the times that people are willing to fore-sake insurance to save money. Those floods, if nothing else, helped us to realise how vital and fundamental insurance is. If you do some shopping around, buildings and contents insurance can cost as little as 50p a day, just over the price of a Mars bar.

When on holiday, anything can happen to your luggage. According to an interesting article in the telegraph online, you may after all, be able to control to some extent, what happens to your worldly travel goods.

Rule number one is to never be tempted to put anything you can’t bear to lose in your checked in hold luggage! Keep that special something close to you at all times! One thing is for sure, the owners of over forty million missing luggage items will not need convincing of that suggestion!

Another holiday tip is to ensure your luggage has a good label firmly attached. Write on the tag your flight number as well as your destination. As a caution, you should never ever check in for your flight late as this could attract luggage confusion by the baggage handlers.

The days of tying a piece of string around your suitcase have long gone! In an effort to avoid your insurance being invalidated, always lock your suitcase. In the US, you will need a TSA-approved lock so that airport officials only are able to inspect your luggage. Before you leave, inquire about attaching a tracking device to your luggage. This is not as expensive as it sounds, provided by CallUma, the service is officially known as Tag ‘n’ Traq and will only set you back from £19.50 annually.

Another way to avoid losing your luggage when travelling, is to not take any! Send it all beforehand with First Luggage. This service costs about £85 but involves the transportation of your luggage by FedEx. With FedEx your luggage is tracked with the latest technology.

If all these useful tips come to you too late! Don’t give up, nearly 85% of all lost luggage is found again with two days! It could still show!

In the event of your luggage being lost, prior to leaving the airport, you will need to complete a PIR (Property Irregularity Report). If you choose to claim on your insurance, you need to provide a copy of your PIR but first check the small print as some policies won’t cover checked-in luggage.

Remember, when your luggage fails to turn up, to request an advance for emergency supplies, all airlines are equipped to do this. Failing to show up after 48 hours, you should put in a claim with your airline for compensation (maximum of £300 per bag regardless of value) within seven days of the event.

Should your luggage never turn up, your last port of call could be the auction house at Tooting. In the United Kingdom, luggage not reclaimed is all auctioned off at Greasby’s in London.

In these trying times of soaring oil prices there are likely to be some business casualties according to Richard Branson in the article ‘Britons left at risk if airlines collapse!’.

Why we are not protecting ourselves in the event of an airline going bust is not as straightforward as it may seem! There is at the moment, a great risk of airlines going bust and we desperately need to protect ourselves.

In the last six months, over twelve carriers have lost the battle to stay afloat through these difficult times including Eos the business travel airline. This virus of airline insolvency is not something that is going to go away and passengers need to look into protecting themselves against being stranded without a flight as well as losing money.

Passengers need to be aware their insurance will not always bail them out of trouble should they get caught in the crossfire of a collapsed airline. This is not the case. The people most at risk are those who arrange their own holidays without going through an agent or if buying flights direct from an airline instead of through a tour operator.

When the UK business airline Silverjet ceased flying in May, passengers who booked their flights directly through the airline were not able to get compensation as well as having to pay out for an additional ticket to fly home.

In a comprehensive report, TravelMail inform passengers of their rights when an airline collapses. The report reveals how a thirty percent of travellers falsely believe their travel insurance policy will cover every eventuality. The report goes on to state that many insurance policies do not protect passengers from airline insolvency as standard. Not only this but worryingly report how difficult it is to get an insurance company to commit to protection against airline insolvency. The report even goes on to suggest that while customers are in the dark, the insurance companies too are ‘ignorant’ of their policies in the event of an airline collapse. We need to assert ourselves and our concerns to our insurers until they provide us the paying customer with the assurances we need.

According to an interesting article in easier.com  about student thefts, nearly two million students will soon unwittingly become targets of thieves. This is a message going out to students as well as their parents.

Autumn, this year, universities in the United Kingdom will welcome one million six hundred thousand new students to their halls of residences. These students will have with them items with a collective value of at least one and a half thousand pounds which ought to be covered by an adequate insurance plan. If the unthinkable was to occur, insurance reimbursement will soften the blow.

According to esure, students are expected to bring with them favourite gadgets and toys of a considerable value. The message of the article was essentially to get adequate insurance cover in case of theft or loss.

I would think it extremely rare that any students out there do not possess at least an expensive mobile phone and a laptop. According to esure, at least 81 per cent of students will take with them to uni a mobile phone while 74% will be taking a laptop. With all the latest hi-tec valuables in your possession, it makes sense to exercise extra care especially when changing to some less familiar surroundings.

When packing for university, if you plan to include a laptop, a mobile, a games console, a camera or a DVD player because you can’t imagine life without them, you had better check out where you stand with your insurance.

The value of new clothes and jewellery can mount up too, especially if, according to demographic statistics by esure, you are a fashionable northerner. They anticipate that trendy students from the north will have packed a suitcase with an average of £600 worth of fashion items. Get it all insured!

If you are a parent of a ‘student-to-be’ and you haven’t even thought of getting insurance cover for your child’s valuables, don’t worry, you are not on your own. Twenty four percent of parents never even consider taking out insurance for their child’s possessions when they head off for university.

I guess, the overlying message is simple enough, that of to ‘be-ware and be sensible’. The trouble with high value gadgets, is that they tend to be small and pocket-sized. They can be stolen really easily and efficiently. For this reason, watch out who you let into your rooms, especially if a new friend has brought company in the shape of a complete stranger. You can’t have eyes everywhere so ensure your valuables are hidden well away from opportunistic attention. Or leave the really expensive valuables behind, at home, at least until you get to know your way round a bit better.

In the article “The one that got away”  fishermen are being warned they need to protect their tackle kit.

A fact that has been recently highlighted during National Fishing Week was that fishermen are easy targets for thieves. The UK’s beloved and most favourite of all participatory sporting activities, fishing, a hobby or pastime that is often spent in seclusion, has come to the recent attention of thieves. Seeing nothing in their way to prevent them from helping themselves to valuable fishing gear, they are taking advantage of the fact that fishing gear is expensive and valuable gear. A fishing rod can cost anywhere between £100 and £2000 while specialist carp fishing reels, nets and lines can cost up to £3,000.

A fact that was highlighted during the recent National Fishing Week was that fishermen are being targeted for their valuable fishing gear, totalling a ‘net’ worth of thousands.

Night fishing, increasing in popularity all the time is providing thieves and muggers with ample opportunity to take advantage of lone fishermen. As a result this kind of crime appears to be increasing alongside the sport’s rate of popularity. Crime related to fishing, in fact, has increased by 17% with the most frequent type of crime being theft of fishing tackle.

As a response to this increase in fishing crime, one of the UK’s leading insurance providers suggests we check our policies and ensure there is a personal possessions extension (all risks) which will cover us for any personal effects or sporting equipment we carry or wear.

I have just finished reading an article about pet travel by Liz King. It is called “Pet Owners - Give owners something to chew over”  and reveals the many complications and costs that are involved when planning a trip away with our beloved pets. One thing is for sure, there is a lot more planning involved all round.

Thanks to the Pet Travel Scheme, which was introduced about eight years ago, pets have been travelling the world ‘willy – nilly’. No more hanging about in airport quarantines, pets can now enjoy the holiday with you from day one. In one month alone this year, over ten thousand cats and dogs entered Great Britain.

Sadly, the Pets Travel Scheme (PETS) is not for everyone. It can cost a fortune and there are number of strict regulations you have to take into consideration. Under the scheme, your pet is provided with a passport but to acquire one of these, your pet will have to undergo rabies vaccination and testing as well as be subjected to micro-chipping. While the Pet Passport costs about £200, paying this doesn’t mean that is all there is to it because you will still not be able to travel until six months have passed since vaccination testing. Travelling with your pet means impulse holidaying becomes a thing of the past.

After that, according to this article, there are the costs involving the transportation of your pet on holiday. This can vary from £22.50 for a return by ferry to over seven hundred pounds for flying. If you decide to travel by Eurotunnel, the cost for your pet will be about £30 as long as your pet remains in the car.

So far so good, you and your beloved pet are enjoying the south of France scenery but, there is a hiccup, the unthinkable happens and your furry friend has fallen ill. What do you need to do? You are well organised and have pet insurance. But pet insurance policies do vary and need to be read carefully and fully. The amount paid towards vets bills varies but £250 a trip is what you can expect. Ensure you have your pet insurance documents (as well as all your other insurance policy details) and its good to ensure you have local veterinary phone numbers with you too. On this subject, bear in mind that the hygiene factor and techniques employed in veterinary practices can vary from country to country. You could find certain veterinary practices across Europe of a lower standard than you would find in the UK. You may find yourself not entirely happy with how your pet is being cared for. Is it all worth it?

Essentially, you need to plan an awful lot in advance when taking your pet abroad. The article suggests we consider how our plans could be altered while accompanied by a pet. Many restaurants will not allow pets, so you need to think about how to work around this. Some hotels charge an additional amount to allow you to bring your pet.

Do you love your pet too much to take it abroad with you? There is a lot to consider when travelling with your pet. The bottom line, basically, is to consider whether or not your holiday will be more stressful with your pet around than if you were to leave it behind.

The article “Brits leave personal goods unattended in holiday homes” highlights the fact that holiday home owners are leaving valuable belongings unattended at their own risk.

Our holiday homes are not secure! Containing collectively, over £6.3 billion worth of personal possessions and valuables, it comes as a surprise to learn that holiday home protection is not adequately provided for.

The company Zurich Private Clients are observing a pattern where their affluent clients are being targeted for burglary even when they are occupying their second homes. It seems a popular trick is to release gas into the air con system so that they can steal valuables without the victims resisting.

People with second homes are not paying attention to insurance. About one in ten have no contents insurance for their holiday home and eleven percent have claimed they have no idea if their insurance is adequate.

Holiday home owners, for some reason, seem to be a little cavalier about their security arrangements. Basic practices like fitting locks on the windows are being ignored. Don’t tell anyone, but 6% have admitted to no security at all. The message the insurance companies want to put out is that even though a holiday home is secondary their security protection should be afforded just as much attention as their first home.

They are left empty for the majority of the year, sometimes for months at a time. Two thirds of people with holiday homes claim to visit them no more often than every three months. Although offering out the holiday home to friends and relatives, many of these holiday-homers admit their homes quite often remain empty for at least a month at a time. When holiday homes in Britain have contents to the average value of £15,200, it comes as a big surprise that they have such a slap dash attitude to their belongings. Despite this however, when quizzed they claimed they were worried about the security of their holiday home, particularly of local crime and their empty house being targeted by criminals.

Never before has property been at a premium for the buyers of the UK holiday home market. Apparently, we can’t get enough! Even if we haven’t the time to enjoy our second properties for more than twice a year, we still can’t resist investing in them!

These holiday-homers – they just don’t seem to get enough! Around 18% of holiday home owners are actively seeking more properties and forty seven per cent of these are ready to purchase in 2008.

Countries that are the most popular with purchasers of holiday homes are France and Spain (24% and 26% respectively). Other destinations moving up the ranks include Cyprus and Bulgaria. Twenty five per cent of people who are hoping to buy a holiday home in the near future are thinking about purchasing somewhere in the United Kingdom. Half the holiday home buyers are hoping to find their dream home on the continent while twenty five per cent want to find somewhere outside of Europe.

The article “Careless drivers hit by long-term financial penalties” observes how we have to pay up in the long run for driving without due care.

The UK comparison site for car insurance, Confused.com warns that anyone with a licence stacked up with penalty points will have to pay up to £370 more for their car insurance than a driver with a clean licence. This is an increase of about 60%. If you are a young driver, you can expect to be severely penalised for gaining penalty points.

The article observes that a 21 year old woman in Manchester who has a 1.3 Fiesta could have her car insurance premium increased by a horrendous 92% due to receiving 6 penalty points on her licence. In monetary terms, this could be as much as £895. If she were to get herself further weighted down with another three points, her insurance could increase by 210%.

But it is not just the young drivers who are penalised, women aged fifty and above suffer higher insurance premiums than men when they get penalty points. A 55 year old woman with a 3 litre BMW M5 receiving 6 points on her licence would expect her insurance to rise by 81%, while a man with similar credentials would expect to get only an 49% rise in his insurance payments.

Insurance companies are additionally interested in whether you have received points on your licence in the previous five years. This means that your premiums could be affected long after your points have expired.

It doesn’t appear as though tough premiums are much of a deterrent for bad driving with over 3.2 million motoring convictions levied in the last year. Despite this, the insurance companies are keen to remind us that our premiums will be affected if we continue to make bad decisions while on the roads.

According to the article “Car thieves getting away with everything” nothing is sacred from those nasty little car criminals!

Isn’t it surprising the lengths some people will go to for a set of furry dice or a stick of celery?! Admiral recently compiled a list of the stolen property claims they had received in the last twelve months. The results were surprising. People were getting the most unusual and mundane items stolen from their cars!

Out of the 8,000 or so items that people have reported stolen, some of the most unusual included a Power Rangers costume for a 6ft person, a pair of pants, some furry dice, £10,000, some school homework, a stick of celery and a pair of leather shorts. All these things were left lying around in people’s cars before they were stolen.

Similarly a list was drawn up of the most common items that were illegally removed from people’s cars. These articles include Sat-Nav systems, cameras, handbags, laptops, CDs and car stereos.

Hard to imagine, the average family is likely to have goods to the value of about £2,800 lying around in their cars. This is amounts to a juicy £28 billion treasure trove for the slippery fingered car criminal.

If we’re ever going to force car insurance premiums down to sensible levels then we’ve got to all wise up and stop leaving things lying around in the car! While we are at it, we should invest in our car’s security with things like steering wheel locks, immobilisers, getting locks for our glove boxes, shutting our sun roofs and removing the suction mark giveaway sign that you have a Sat-Nav sitting around somewhere (probably in your unlocked glove box). Last but not least, never leave anything on display in your car.