UK Insurance News

The UK Government is considering making it compulsory for dog owners to take out insurance against injuries to third parties and damage that their pet may cause, as the number of dangerous breeds continues to escalate across the country.

Under the proposed law changes owners will also be required to micro-chip their dogs and are considering plans to keep the most dangerous varieties muzzled-even in their own property as well as issuing ‘DOGBOs’, the canine equivalent of ‘ASBOS’ against dogs displaying signs of anti social behaviour.

Figures released by the Conservative party suggest that there are 100 people every week treated in hospital after being bitten by dogs.

In a survey by the Dog Trust it was found that the majority of dog owners questioned, 88%, would support such legislation.

Other measures being considered are an outright ban on some breeds of dog in the UK.

vw golf gti

Research by insurance company SwiftCover.com has revealed that motorists are paying over the odds for motor insurance when choosing flashy hot hatch GTI style cars over similar standard versions of the same make and model.

This is no real surprise and has always been the case particularly as the high end versions offer better performance and generally all round better specifications. Indeed it could be argued that the sporty versions often offer better safety systems than the standard model.

None the less the report points out that in the example of a 30 year old male with five years no claims discount, it would cost £1,000 to purchase cover on a VW Golf GTi, compared to less than half of that cost to insure the VW Golf S model.

The study says that on average motorists would save themselves £513 per year on insurance by choosing standard model cars over the much more tempting sporty versions.

You pays your money, you takes your choice!

One of the UK’s leading motor insurers are to set up an Anti Fraud Team that plans to reduce premiums being paid by honest customers by weeding out customers who are likely to make fraudulent claims.

Hastings Direct and sister brands, Renew, Insure and Likewise are investing in state of the art technology that will help them to seek out and reject the customers who are likely to make a fraudulent claims at point of sale.

Fraudulent claims are said to cost the motor insurance industry £1.9 billion each year and cost the innocent motorist an extra £100 per year on their insurance premium.

A pilot scheme that was set up a couple of months ago by the group, revealed that 15% of potential clients had given incorrect driving licence details, such as using old licences to get around speeding convictions and the like.

Chief executive of Hastings Direct,  Edward Fitzmaurice, says:

“We feel strongly about the fact that honest drivers, who have built up their no-claims bonuses, should not be forced to ‘bail out’ those who are intent on trying to defraud the system.”

The recession is being blamed for an alarming increase in the number of arson attacks in the UK, causing a record level of insurance payouts for fire damage during the first half of this year.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) say that £639 million was paid out over the course of the first six months of 2009, a staggering £3.6 million each day for damage caused by fires.

The plague continues to grow and looks set to exceed the twelve month record set in 2008 when insurers recorded £1.3 billion losses to fire damage in the UK.

The ABI claim in their report ‘Tackling Fire: A Call For Action’ that arson accounts for over half of all commercial fires and tends to increase in times of recession. They say that socially deprived areas and schools are particularly vulnerable, with twenty schools a week currently suffering from some form of arson attack.

The report suggests that while the number of fires reported are falling the increase in large scale fires is increasingly putting lives at risk as well as the incredible financial burden on owners and insurance companies in these difficult times.

Letting insurance specialist HomeLet have launched a brand new product aimed specifically at the UK letting industry, called Landlord’s Insurance +.

The new product developed by HomeLet is launched this month and includes buildings and contents insurance and offers an unparalleled level of cover including Emergency Assistance and up to £500,000 of buildings cover as standard.

Key areas of cover include loss of rent or re-letting costs following a claim, enabling the landlord to recover rent for up to two years (up to £50,000) if something serious happens and the tenant is forced to move out.

HomeLet Managing Director John Boyle said;

“Landlords, particularly in today’s economy when unemployment and crime are both on the increase, are exposed to more risks than ever before. There’s a real need for a specialist insurance policy that covers landlords against the potential risk that they face. HomeLet’s Landlord’s Insurance+ is our most comprehensive and competitively priced landlord’s product to date.

It’s unlike anything else currently available on the market. One of the many benefits for example is automatic cover for kitchen fixtures and fittings and bathroom sanitaryware in leasehold properties within the contents section of cover.

When it comes to taking risk out of property rental, HomeLet is the specialist. We’ve been in the industry since the birth of buy-to-let, which means we have more experience than anyone else. We’ve used our specialist knowledge of the residential lettings industry to develop some of the most comprehensive and cost-effective products on the market today which is why we’re number one.”