Insurance Premium with Points for Mobile Phone use

LGQ77

My mum was pulled over last night having answered the phone to me (ironically to tell me to stop calling her). She was given an automatic £200 fine and 6 points. I have said I will pay the fine as it was my fault (there's more the story there). However, I am worried about what this will do to her insirance premium next year. She has 2 claims within the last 3 years (both small bumps in supermarket carparks)  and now this. Her premium before this was about £200 a year and she has PNCD to about 9 years but I'm worried that won't matter, it's going to go up to £000s because of this and I don't think she'll be able to keep her car. Can anyone give me some insight or advice on this? 

Mildly_Miffed

All she can do really is ask the comparison engines and see what they come back with.

Look at it from an insurer's angle.
Somebody who has had two (at-fault?) collisions in the last three years AND six points for using a phone...

Is that somebody you'd want to cover?
Would you want to charge them a chunk more, on the grounds that they're more likely to cost you money in paying claims?

If she doesn't trust herself to be able to leave the phone alone, she needs to put it out of reach, on silent, or turn it off.

la531983

Or get a car that has Bluetooth.

Aretnap

A price comparison site will give you a better indication than anybody in here can add it will depend on any number of other factors.

But for what it's worth I had a look out of interest some time ago and it looked like a single mobile phone conviction would add about 25% to my own premium. It may be different if you also have other risk factors (such as two recent claims) on top of that - the might well be great insurers willing to quote than normal. But if she was only paying £200/year in spite of the accidents then it's unlikely to send it into the thousands range.

Not sure why it would be your fault that she answered the phone to tell you to stop calling rather than ignoring it until she had chance to stop, but ultimately it's up to you how you deal with it.

DullGreyGuy

Insurance tends to have a compounding impact so having a second accident has greater impact that the first one, having a conviction and accidents is worse than just a conviction etc. On the plus side most premiums are calculated as a percentages applied to a base premium.

If her premiums are £200 then the percentage increase would need to be massive to get her into the 000s  which would mean someone on a more average premium would be pushing towards the 0,000s and you'd certainly get a lot of complaints on here about that!

LGQ77

For a bit of context, my younger brother was having a rare episode (he's autistic) and she was driving home to get home to him. I kept calling as I was stressing out and she answered to tell me to stop as she was coming - it's out of character and not something she would consider in other circumstances. It was quite a high-stress moment. Her other accidents were at-fault but they were limited in terms of damage but she went through insurance as she thought that was what she was supposed to. She's a single mother and she's doing her best. 

TooManyPoints

She was given an automatic £200 fine and 6 points. 

Just for clarification, for a mobile phone offence there is no such thing as an "automatic fine". She will receive a "Conditional Offer of a Fixed Penalty". The conditions are that she has no more than five active points on her licence (if she had she would face a "totting up" ban) and that she submits her driving licence details. But she does not have to accept the offer. She is perfectly entitled to have the matter heard in court where she can explain the circumstances and her financial position. The chances of the court imposing a penalty less than £200 is next to zero. Unless they see fit to do otherwise, they will impose an income-related fine, a "Victim Surcharge" of 40% of the fine and prosecution costs, which are usually £85 (provided she pleads guilty). Six points are not negotiable, however, unless the court finds "Special Reasons" not to endorse her licence (which they won't in the circumstances you describe).

Bigwheels1111

About 15 years ago I got 6 points for speeding, At renewal it did not effect my policy at all.
I asked why not, the reply was we ignore the first infraction / points you get.
She might be lucky you never know.

Petriix

The obvious point is that there's no excuse for using a hand-held mobile while driving. There may be circumstances such as this where making or taking a phone call is necessary but, in preparation for these, every driver should ensure they are equipped to take calls hands free or at least with the phone mounted.

The law exists and the punishment is harsh because the consequences can be severe. Better to face a £200 fine and higher premiums than killing someone. 

It's a slight grey area because it could constitute 'driving without due care and attention' but touching a mounted mobile phone for simple tasks like pressing the big green button to answer a call are perfectly legal, as long as you're not 'distracted' and don't 'hold' the phone at any point.

I use a magnetic mount with a metal disc stuck to the back of the case so it takes a second to place my phone right next to the steering wheel. It's easier (and safer) to interact with it than the infotainment system slightly further to the left.

However, most modern phones allow a large number of tasks to be completed with voice alone. I used to regularly tap the 'route overview' button in Google Maps but have recently learned that you can just say 'hey Google, show the route' then 'recentre' to achieve the same thing. 

LightFlare

Best advice is to put your phone in the car boot at the start of any journey.

That way, there isn't even a chance you will touch it or interact with it and if you do get stopped by the police, it's much easier to prove that you weren't

Herzlos

Unfortunately it's an absolute offense with (I think) the only exemptions being in the case of an emergency (such as calling 999), so your mother is stuck with them.

The only way to figure out the difference is to run a quote with and without the points but you need to be careful to do that with invalid other details because the queries are saved and insurers may be worried you are trying to game them. (It also works the other way; I ran a query once to see how much aftermarket wheels would cost me and then my insurer called to update the policy until I convinced them I hadn't actually fitted them).