The largest decrease in insurance premiums since 1994, figures released by AA have highlighted this massive drop. Comprehensive car insurance has been dropped by 9.8% from on average £594.86 to £659.53, a welcomed drop for what seemed to be an endless increase of insurance premiums. Other types of insurance have also dropped however not as significantly, third party fire and theft saw a 4.8% decrease down to an average of £820.58. The insurance decreases couldn’t come at a more perfect time, with fuel prices increasing, the cost of repairs increasing and everything else just increasing in general this will be a well-deserved saving.

The main reason insurance premium prices where raising in cost was due almost solely to the amount of whiplash injury claims which were extremely costly and hard to challenge as the diagnosis is often subjective. Down to these claims approximately on average around £50 was added to yearly insurance premiums as it cost them more than £1 billion to settle these claims. The reason they can now lower this again is down to the newly improved fraud detection used by the insurance industry added with the tightening of the law to do with new whiplash claims.

Britain is the whiplash claim capital of Europe which is a truly shameful reputation. Further factors that are contributing to the fall is the brand new gender equality laws in regards to car insurance.

“The main insurance products are motor insurance, life insurance and retirement products such as annuities. The change will affect new insurance policies and renewals but existing annuities should not be affected.”

“Women, who tend to benefit from cheaper car insurance premiums than men due to lower accident rates, may see their costs go up, while men could see a slight decrease.” – The Telegraph

Due to this the drop in price will see men’s insurance decrease significantly more on top of the already decreasing price. The reason whiplash claims are going to decrease is down to the no win no fee lawyers now taking payment which now makes claims much more expensive to pursue which will hopefully see a huge decrease in claims resulting in an even further decrease in insurance and perhaps most importantly it will repair Britain’s reputation within the EU as the whiplash claim capital.

Should the minimum driving age be raised? Currently in the UK the minimum driving age is 17, you can pass your test and legally drive by this age. Many experienced drivers feel that this is too young to be let loose on the British roads in fact 35% of motorists claim that the minimum age for driving should be raised and quite significantly so, even a large percentage of youngsters agree with 40% of them saying that they should be excluded from driving until they reach the age of 21. (more…)

Laws around child seats have often been a bit hazy and it’s been revealed that around three quarters of parents do not know the correct laws when it comes to child seats in cars according to a survey. This can be a danger as there are specific rules and guidelines for the reason of safety, having an incorrect car seat can end lives of children. It’s up to the driver to know the correct laws and precautions that are needed when it comes to having a car seat in the vehicle.
UK law states that children under the age of 12 or under the height of 4ft and 5in should use a child seat when travelling in a car although safety experts recommend that the UK law should be raised to 4ft and 11in a significant 6in difference they believe will improve safety. So how many people know of that rule? According to surveys not many, it has been found by the road safety charity Brake that only 26% of parents are familiar with the law and 5% of people have also admitted to never using a child or booster seat for their children which isn’t only against the law it’s extremely dangerous.

It is stated that every year more than 700 young children are killed or seriously injured on British roads, this is a serious figure which the government are wanting to tackle. Also another notable thing is that if a car seat is involved in a road accident no matter what it should be replaced as there may be unseen damage causing further risk if there is another serious accident.

The study also found that 27% of parents defy advice from the safety expert by buying and using a second hand booster seat and almost half of parents don’t even check if their child is using the appropriate seat for their size when travelling in a taxi or someone else’s car, these figures are scary as you never know if an accident will happen and young children are the most prone to death when it comes to such incidents. All deaths and serious injuries on the roads are preventable and as a parent you should take every necessary step in order to ensure your child’s safety.