Car insurance and speed awareness course

Traceyg

Mr got caught speeding in April and went on a speed awareness course in August.

When insurance renewal came through (with AXA) I phoned them and asked if they needed to know that he got caught speeding and was going on speed awareness course and they said no, they only needed to know if he had got points on his licence.

Other insurance companies may be different, be best to ring and check.

GingerBob_3

Traceyg wrote: »

Mr got caught speeding in April and went on a speed awareness course in August.

When insurance renewal came through (with AXA) I phoned them and asked if they needed to know that he got caught speeding and was going on speed awareness course and they said no, they only needed to know if he had got points on his licence.

Other insurance companies may be different, be best to ring and check.

Yes, but don't tell them who you are before you ask! That's assuming they'll enter into any dialogue whatsoever with you until they've verified that "you are who you say you are".

GabbaGabbaHey

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but according to an article in The Telegraph:

Tim Ryan, deputy chairman of the British Insurance Brokers' Association, has confirmed insurers are “perfectly entitled” to hike the premiums of drivers who have attended a course.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11980318/Speed-awareness-courses-could-invalidate-insurance.html

AdrianC

GabbaGabbaHey wrote: »

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but according to an article in The Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11980318/Speed-awareness-courses-could-invalidate-insurance.html

Yes, but read the actual article.

Basically, it's all spun out of an anti-speed camera campaigner's press release - with a "case study" that's a bloke who's blindly renewing with Admiral.

The Telegraph continues on its inexorable slide to become a larger-format Daily Mail.

GabbaGabbaHey

I think that what has changed (certainly according to recent posts on a number of car forums) is that more insurance companies are now explicitly asking about awareness courses at quote/renewal time - and the likelihood has to be that all the insurance companies will end up doing so.

dannyrst

GabbaGabbaHey wrote: »

I think that what has changed (certainly according to recent posts on a number of car forums) is that more insurance companies are now explicitly asking about awareness courses at quote/renewal time - and the likelihood has to be that all the insurance companies will end up doing so.

And rightly so IMO. If you are speeding, you are (broadly speaking) at greater risk of an accident and therefore a greater risk to insure.

AdrianC

dannyrst wrote: »

And rightly so IMO. If you are speeding, you are (broadly speaking) at greater risk of an accident and therefore a greater risk to insure.

Strange, then, that insurance companies employ all those actuaries to go through statistics - and they broadly regard points for speeding as offering negligible extra risk - and, Admiral excepted, are so unbothered by awareness course attendance that they don't even ask.

Perhaps it isn't as simple as you think?

After all, there were Dept of Transport /Police accident statistics a few years back that found speed in excess of the limit was not a factor in somewhere around 90% of all collisions. Excessive speed for the conditions, but inside the limit, and simple inattention were FAR higher factors.

dannyrst

AdrianC wrote: »

Strange, then, that insurance companies employ all those actuaries to go through statistics - and they broadly regard points for speeding as offering negligible extra risk - and, Admiral excepted, are so unbothered by awareness course attendance that they don't even ask.

Perhaps it isn't as simple as you think?

After all, there were Dept of Transport /Police accident statistics a few years back that found speed in excess of the limit was not a factor in somewhere around 90% of all collisions. Excessive speed for the conditions, but inside the limit, and simple inattention were FAR higher factors.

But it's common sense. If I drive the same 30mph road twice, once at 30mph and once at 40mph, I'm more likely to crash at 40mph than at 30mph. Do you agree? (Assuming all other factors are identical).

Yes, there are other things that cause accidents, such as people driving within the speed limit but too fast for the road conditions, people being distracted by gadgets etc. But that is irrelevant in an argument that says if you speed, you are more likely to have an accident.

AdrianC

dannyrst wrote: »

But it's common sense. If I drive the same 30mph road twice, once at 30mph and once at 40mph, I'm more likely to crash at 40mph than at 30mph. Do you agree? (Assuming all other factors are identical).

How about if that little situation is compared to an identical scenario a week earlier, before that road was downgraded from a 50mph limit to a 30mph limit?

dannyrst

AdrianC wrote: »

How about if that little situation is compared to an identical scenario a week earlier, before that road was downgraded from a 50mph limit to a 30mph limit?

Then you were more likely to crash a week earlier at 50mph than 30mph?