UK Insurance News

UK insurer MORE TH>N say that despite the media coverage relating to the ‘crash for cash’ scam, 41% of motorists have never heard of this form of gang crime.

While co-ordinated efforts by the police and insurance companies have seen a drop of 11% in incidents of the scam over the last two years, MORE TH>N claim that levels of awareness have not risen during that time.

They claim that two thirds of motorists would not know if they were a victim of a deliberate or staged accident, while almost a third would not know what to do if they found themselves victims of the scam.

For those unaware of the scam, MORE TH>N describe it as when a criminal gang deliberately cause an accident with an innocent motorist, with the intention of making a false or inflated claim. This is often achieved by shunting the victim from behind or braking late and hard to ensure the victim hits the rear of the offending vehicle. Fraudsters will often have disabled brake lights making it more likely to be hit by a following vehicle.

Motorists who suspect that they have been involved in a staged accident should say nothing at the scene and advise their insurance company of their suspicions. Photo’s of the accident scene, vehicle damage and occupants should be taken if possible.

A report by Which? Holiday says that four out of eleven European airlines are ignoring a EU ruling that says they cannot automatically add insurance at the time of booking.

The four airlines flouting the regulation which came into force last November have been named as EasyJet, Jet2, Monarch and Air Berlin. Which? Holiday notes that insurance is included automatically when booking flights through these airlines, leaving consumers having to untick the box to opt out of the insurance.

Which? Holiday also noted that while they are acting whithin regulations, airlines BA, Ryanair and Wizz single trip policies, offered at time of ticket purchase, do not give consumers the best cover for value.

In summing up customers are requested to check the insurance that they need and shop around for a policy that offers adequate cover. It is worth bearing in mind that insurance offered by airlines always has restrictions for pre-existing medical conditions and some policies will not cover passengers over 65 years old, so always check first before buying.

Which? Holiday editor Laura Cowan offers the following advice:

“Buying insurance at the same time as your flights may seem like an easy and convenient option. But if you’ve already got an insurance policy, or it doesn’t provide the right amount of cover for you, it’s as useless as no cover at all.”

Unsurprisingly The Pensions Advisory Service (TAPS) has said that complaints received by disgruntled Britons cashing in their individual pension plans have risen by 10% over the last twelve months.

Poor administration, mistakes and delays in obtaining quotes, often resulting in reduced entitlements are the main complaints received by TPAS over the last year.

From a personal perspective I cashed in a pension plan last year, the process took over three months from start to finish, but the main issue for me was that in the statutory thirty days between accepting a figure from the pension company and receiving the pension, the value had reduced by over 10%.

Obviously I am not alone as TPAS cheif executive Malcolm Mclean describes the current situation as having ‘a double whammy effect’, with many savers seeing the value of their plans fall because of the financial crisis and then experiencing delays in obtaining annuity quotes or awards that reduce their entitlement even further.

Lloyds of London have confirmed that concert promoters organising the Michael Jackson comeback tour had insured on the Lloyds market but ‘any losses are not likely to be significant.’

Earlier reports had suggested that Lloyds could face losses of up to $400million, but a spokesman said that the tour organisers AEG Live are likely to have taken insurance cover with several different policies with various insurers.

Chris Rackliffe from  Lloyds rivals Beazley says that the singer would have been a massive risk for any insurer and that very few companies would take the risk of a high profile artist with serious health problems.

Over £50 million worth of tickets had been sold for Jackson’s scheduled This is it tour, with the singer due to take up a fifty date residency at London’s O2 Arena starting on July 13th. All of the ticket agencies involved in the promotion have said that they will be making a full refund to ticket holders for the shows.

The Belgium based insurance company Fortis have emerged as favourites to tie up a partnership deal with Tesco, to manage the supermarkets Home and Motor insurance businesses. A report in the Telegraph suggests that talks between the two companies are at an  ‘advanced’ stage.

Tesco has enjoyed a long standing partnership with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), setting up a personal finance and home and travel insurance business in the late 1990’s in a deal that saw both parties sharing the profits on a 50/50 basis.

Tesco took full control of the personal finance business last year when it bought out the RBS share as the bank suffered it’s decline. This week the supermarket admitted that it was reviewing it’s long standing arrangements with RBS insurance arm.

The insurance business placed by Tesco is estimated to be worth £600million in premium value each year. Should an agreement be reached with Fortis it could create around 1000 jobs at Fortis UK.