In recent years car insurance has increased in cost by as much as 20% a year. These costs are due to a number of factors: more powerful cars, more congested roads leading to higher accidents, and greater numbers of uninsured drivers which forces insurance companies to raise the cost of premiums to cover themselves for the risk that these uninsured drivers pose.
One of the groups hit most severely by these raises have been young and newly qualified drivers, and young men in particular. Last summer, for the first time, the average cost of a third party insurance policy became more expensive than the average cost of a comprehensive policy for the first time, reflective of the fact that it’s cheaper for young drivers to get third party coverage.
That average cost for third party coverage was £1,300, and for a lot of newly qualified drivers it’s a lot more expensive than that.
Research conducted by Co-Operative car insurance recently found that hundreds of thousands of parents are willing to lie in order to save their children money. Through a practice known as ‘fronting’ parents name themselves as the main drivers, thus benefiting from reduced premiums even though their children are actually the ones driving the car.
A surprising 41% of parents revealed that they are currently fronting and 61% said they would consider it in the future.
These numbers are of great concern to the insurance industry, not least because it places them at greater risk should the child of a parent who has fronted be involved in an accident. The insurance industry argues that the cost of insurance policies accurately reflects the risk of young drivers, and if the young drivers are not paying those costs themselves, then the insurance companies are the ones losing out.
Fronting is, also, illegal. Some industry experts have compared it to stealing, but whilst this might be going slightly too far it is fraud. The repercussions can be serious, not only if the insurance company discovers that you have fronted a policy (because they won’t pay out if there’s an accident) but because you may find yourself incapable of getting insurance in the future.
At the end of the day everyone should do their best to find the cheapest deal they can, but the costs of insurance accurately reflect the risks that young drivers pose. So, if you do your research and look around you can find some great deals, but they’ll still be quite expensive when compared to a policy for an experienced driver. If you’re looking for a good deal on your car insurance take a look at some of the deals that Co-operative Insurance is offering at the moment.
Tags: Accidents, Co Operative Car Insurance, Fraud, Hundreds Of Thousands, Industry Experts, Insurance Companies, Insurance Company, Insurance Industry, Insurance Policies, Insurance Policy, Parents, Party Coverage, Powerful Cars, Premiums, Repercussions, Risk, Third Party Insurance, Uninsured Drivers, Young Drivers, Young MenRelated posts
When seeing advertisements involving cars for sale by the owner, you dont have to automatically suspect. If youre a smart customer, youll read the whole advertisement and decide for yourself whether or not the owner is a legitimate seller selling a viable vehicle. Some advertisements will reveal themselves as just nonsense; others will involve the sale of used automobiles by dealers. Still others will be legitimate advertisements for cars offered by owners who are giving you a great deal for their used vehicle. Again, reading carefully makes all the difference.
For example, I recently was in the market for a used automobile and decided to go for one that was for sale by an owner, feeling this to be the most effective way to get a used car at a reasonable price. I found a selection of advertisements on Craigs List, an online community bulletin board. Amazingly, there were many choices for me, some of which looked great but werent in my budget, some of which were very affordable but lacked all the necessary parts (like the engine) and some that looked great enough to actually contact the owners and test drive the vehicles. Unfortunately, I was unable to get any response back from the owners, even after I called back and left an offer.
Unfortunately, I found ads on that site that really werent those for cars selling by owner but were ads that clearly came from dealers. Even the dealers information was listed in the ad. I didnt think this would be a problem, however, the information listed four contact numbers, misspelled information and the same information showed up in ads for more than one vehicle. I was looking for a 1970s Chevy truck and, in a search of over 1000 vehicles, it became obvious that the same dealer was selling many more than just one car. The same contact phone numbers and misspelled words were in each and every ad.
Personally, I think that dealer was a fraud. While the vehicles probably really existed the photos and information were in the ad but I could tell from the background in the photos in which the cars were shown were taken in the same place and that, unless this was a guy with a lot of vehicles, I was looking at a dealer and not just an owner trying to sell a car. This was more likely a person trying to avoid paying dealers taxes by passing himself off as an owner. The guy wasnt going about it in a terribly sneaky way using the same contact information and putting all the vehicles in the same category where they would likely get picked up by skilled and attentive buyers. As one of those buyers, I felt like he was wasting not only my time, but the time of serious buyers out there, trying to get a good deal on a car. Such behavior only serves to make the whole used car business look bad and its not good for those legitimate sellers out there just trying to sell a decent car.
Tags: 1970s, Ads, Advertisement, Advertisements, Automobile, Automobiles, Budget, Buying Cars, Buying Used Cars, Cars For Sale, Cars Sale, Chevy Truck, Choices, Community Bulletin Board, Contact Numbers, Fraud, Misspelled Words, Phone Numbers, Smart Customer, Viable Vehicle