eQuoteDirect is a motor trade insurance brokers in Kent.  The firm has been operating since before Labour legalised referral fees in 2004, so is well-positioned to comment on how the change affected the industry and how its impending ban could impact the modern insurance sector.

An 18% rise in personal injury cases between 2010 and 2011 cost the insurance industry an estimate of £400 million, according to a report by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.  eQuote Direct has taken an honest standpoint on the stats – recognising how the vicious cycle of referral fees has eaten away at the insurance industry ‘from the inside-out’.

Also, eQuoteDirect is keen to remind businesses that the best way to find an affordable commercial insurance package, is to work with a broker.  The brokers are connected to multiple insurers and negotiate deals with these, on the client’s behalf – meaning they can identify and liaise with the insurers who are countering fraud and keeping their premiums reasonable.

A spokesperson for eQuoteDirect commented:

‘The combination of organised fraud and referral fees has developed into a real parasite for the insurance industry.  The money made on selling claimant information is negated by the money lost in that claimant winning their case – meaning some insurers are forced to keep selling information to keep up.  Referral fees are eating away at parts of the industry from the inside-out.

‘Whereas the government have stepped in to criminalise the fees in April 2013, we still can’t stress enough how important it is to speak to the experts when it comes to insurance.  Brokers are experienced and know how to connect your business with the insurers who aren’t caught up in the referral fee cyclone or anything that can affect your premium – making sure you’re never paying over the odds for your protection.’

Let’s start selling

Now, while this is great news for car salesmen around the country, don’t rush out to become a used car salesman just yet.  At the same time as new car sales reached this high point, the average price of used cars has dropped to its lowest in a year.  While this means that a lot of used car dealerships are not getting as good value for their time, it has opened a whole new area of opportunity for those willing to spend some time.

Average prices have opened up a huge difference depending on region.  While cars in London may still be relatively expensive, their price in the South West, for example, is a lot lower.  So get travelling around the country to find those top deals, bring them back and sell them for a tasty profit.

The other thing that a lot of people are looking at is how to make money quickly.  Many people are selling possessions quickly in order to pay off debt or to invest in a new venture.  One of the things that tend to go is the second car.  With people looking to sell quickly, bargains can be had.

Know What You’re Looking At

Be careful, though.  You need to know exactly what you are doing.  Spending your hard earned cash on a car with a dud part or two could see your investment go right down the drain, so be careful.  Take care, too, with your costs, one of which is your insurance.

By taking out motor traders insurance, you are making sure that you are covered should anything happen while you transport the cars and while your customers test drive.  As with other insurance, make sure you read all the small print in your motor trade insurance, as there may be a surprise if you don’t go with professionals.  So get good advice from those professionals.

Peer-to-peer sharing

One of the new crazes is the idea of peer-to-peer car sharing.  This allows individuals to rent cars from other individuals at low rates.  Instead of using a car once a week, with all the costs involved, people just rent as and when they need it for costs in double figures.

Yet there is still a lot of scope for small businesses to make money from the current situation.  With such a high demand for car hiring, offering a cheap, bespoke service could net you a tidy profit.  Second hand car prices are at their lowest for a long time, so it’s the perfect time to invest in a fleet of cars to rent out to paying customers.  With trust of big corporations at an all-time low – not helped by the recent goings on at Glaxo Smith Kline or Barclay – now is the perfect opportunity to reach out to those customers.

Business Fleets on the Rise

Another opportunity is the business fleet.  A lot of companies are slashing their company car budget as they encourage their employees to share rides to work.  Instead of offering every employee a car, they are operating a carpool which can be booked as and when it’s needed.  While some companies are able to do this in house, others will need to outsource this – which is where you come in.

Whatever route you choose to go down, you need to make sure that you get the right variety of fleet insurance.  With a huge range of potential policies to choose from, you could get bogged down in the decision and miss out on the best deal for you and your company.  Make sure you talk to the professionals and scope out all the possible options before diving in at the deep end.

With such a huge variety on offer, there are companies that offer bespoke motor fleet insurance tailored to your company’s needs.  So contact the professionals today and rest easy that your fleet is safe.

The proposals were outlined as part of a published consultation paper by the department in a bid to shake up the current approach and improve road safety.

How it will work exactly is that motorists who commit ‘less severe’ offences will be given the choice of either accepting an FPN or attending and paying themselves for a driver training course.

The consultation paper commented that the current system of charging motorists for offences was ‘overly bureaucratic’, ‘resource intensive’ for the police and courts, and that ‘high resource costs’ actually deterred officers from making charges.

At the moment there are apparently no proposals to change penalties for parking restriction FPN offences, Mr Penning has said. However, he has warned that they have ‘broadened the scope of the measure’ and are ‘consulting on other options such as increasing the levels for non-endorsable offences, motor insurance offences, and graduated fixed penalties’.

A spokesperson for eQuoteDirect, who specialise in convicted car insurance, comments: ‘The new plans by the Department of Transport are targeting the root cause by trying to improve the impact of enforcing the consequences of these offences. Ultimately driving more safely and making sure you have adequate car insurance cover makes the roads safer for everyone’.

The consultation paper revealed how the preparation of a court file can currently take up to three hours to complete whereas an FPN would take less than half an hour, therefore making the processes more efficient for officers. It is hoped it would therefore make police more likely to enforce them on careless drivers.

In 2011, over 26,000 people were prosecuted for careless and many will be wondering whether the new plans are as a result of those figures.

The government is confident however that the measure would deter careless driving as after driving with a mobile phone was made a fixed penalty offence in 2003, offending rates have dropped and decreased by more than a third in 2008.

So the idea is that if there is a real risk of being caught and the penalty being enforced, then drivers will avoid taking the chance of driving dangerously. eQuoteDirect are also hopeful that it will make drivers more sensible when it comes to taking out insurance policies and also giving insurers the right information, as if the Department of Transport look into this next then many drivers without the right insurance could be playing with fire – and convicted drivers especially could suffer real repercussions.

Changes are aimed at being in place by April 2013. To get car insurance advice from eQuoteDirect today visit www.equotedirect.co.uk and get a quote for your fleet or private vehicle straightaway.

Apparently 1 in 6 drivers would never leave their insurance details and 45% would only consider it if it looked serious, despite careless car parking costing a reported £1.3 billion of damage.

The majority of these incidents are happening on the street where drivers are forced to pull out of tight spots and are generally in a rush.

The consequence of this is that victims on average end up paying out £1800 in repair costs for damage caused by so-called ‘prank and runs’ and even risk losing their no-claims bonuses when making a claim. Furthermore, victims usually end up paying out a hefty ‘excess’ charge on top.

Insurance experts at eQuoteDirect who specialise in car insurance and motor trade insurance have advised being careful where you park and when you can, avoiding tight spots where another car might try to squeeze in near yours making it vulnerable to damage.

A spokesperson for eQuoteDirect, comments: ‘Most of the time these incidents are unfortunately unavoidable, as in busy built-up areas where parking is limited accidents can happen. However if there is another parking option available or somewhere with more room for tricky manoeuvres, this is probably a much safer option for somewhere to leave your car’.

The study also reported that the majority of cases occur where the owner of the car isn’t in the car. Therefore, when the owner returns to the scene they are usually left with evidence of the prang but no contact details owning up to the accident by the person responsible.

eQuoteDirect also warn car owners that even those who aren’t involved in an accident are paying the cost for these accidents as every case pushes up the cost of car insurance – and the number of prangs looks set to rise.

eQuoteDirect have been protecting dealers for years – negotiating with providers for tailor-made motor trade insurance policies on their behalf.  Their services are set to be in popular demand as the need for quality protection increases because of rising used car values.

MotorTrader.com recently reported that a lack of quality used cars on the market is effectively forcing up values.  This means auto traders are buying used cars that are in greater need of repair and then channelling more energy, and funds, into refurbishment – which is damaging ROIs.  eQuoteDirect are offering their services to dealers who need to protect these investments.

The brokers are encouraging dealers to cover themselves, especially if they are purchasing stock based on estimated sales, instead of guaranteed orders.  The cars on the forecourt have become more valuable through their own rarity – traders cannot afford to incur damages to them.

A spokesperson for eQuoteDirect commented:

‘The used car market is becoming increasingly competitive as traders contend with each other to acquire the most profitable stock.  Once acquired, that stock needs protection – perhaps now more than ever.  That is where we can come in and broker a policy for dealers – one that is custom built specifically for their business.’

Meanwhile, there are encouraging signs of a healthy increase in January new car sales in the USA, which eQuoteDirect are viewing with some positivity.  The industry on a whole is constantly changing but the adaptable brokers are always on standby to help their clients secure adequate motor traders insurance.

Market researchers Finaccord, recently revealed that more companies are seeking commercial fleet insurance year on year.  The increase indicates how savvy businesspeople have become when applying for insurance – discounts are available through these specialist deals, especially when operating through a qualified broker.

Brokers assess the overall record of a fleet and if drivers are well trained – the likelihood of accidents goes down and so too can the price of insurance.  Winter driving courses can be obtained fairly cheaply through bulk orders and are well worth the effort.  Qualifications alone may or may not bring insurance quotes down but the resulting driving behaviour will pay huge dividends in the long run.

Outlining the extent of your desired insurance to a broker can prep them to go off and negotiate a tailor made policy for your fleet.  With a trained set of drivers, your claims will be at a minimum and with that clean record, brokers have an even better chance of finding an inexpensive package for you.

Intensive and defensive driver training courses are widely available online for commercial fleets.  Utilising these in conjunction with good industry practice can go a long way to ensuring your drivers are advanced enough to keep the risk of accidents extremely low – in turn, your fleet car insurance will be diluted to a very attractive amount and with a broker’s help, it may be even cheaper.

Brokers know the applicable risks associated with your business and together you can seek not only cheap insurance but adequate insurance too.  Should a trained driver have a mishap and need to claim, your brokered deal can guarantee you are covered – providing you outline that risk area to your broker before signing a deal.

The sophisticated system has the potential to inform insurers of things like average speed, distance and hard braking frequency.  BMW plan to install the systems into all their new cars by 2015.  Telematics software works in a similar way to GPS navigation and calculates the data, before forwarding it to the insurer who can run assessments accordingly and quote people with much more accurate and fair insurance quotes.

It is particularly useful for firms seeking motor fleet insurance because they too can examine the driving patterns of their staff.  With fuel consumption being monitored in real-time too, companies can address eco-friendly drivers and encourage others to follow their lead.

If a company car or truck is involved with an accident, the software can be used to judge the driver’s responsibility in the incident.  It is a major step forward for the industry but there are teething problems predicted.  For example, moderating responsibility in an accident can be difficult if only one of the vehicles involved is equipped with telematics software.

Still, discussing the benefits of telematics with a qualified insurance broker is the best way to decide if a business should opt to install the software to its vehicles.  The Insurance Times takes a positive standpoint on telematics, highlighting its advantages on top of its aid to fleet insurance i.e. improved analytics, fuel efficiency and fraud prevention.

An indirect negative is that the software itself needs to be insured and can be exempt from cover with certain policies.  Again, experienced brokers listen to specific requirements and make sure the package received protects the vehicles in question for everything – these are the best people to speak to regarding new insurance-related technologies.

Fully qualified instructors are the safest drivers on the road, so too are their pupils while being supervised.  The instructors who put the effort in between lessons are even safer and ensure their car is always fit to withstand a day of unintentional abuse from novice drivers.  These are the teachers who can benefit from lower driving instructor insurance quotes.

A neglected vehicle is prone to engine and clutch failure but more importantly, it can be susceptible to brake failure.  Emergency-stops put pressure on the brake fluid and if this is at a low level, the pressure may be too much and the car won’t stop in time – which is particularly dangerous when instructors need to intervene.

Learner drivers probably use their indicators more than regular motorists but if they are not working, it can be hard to identify the fault from inside older cars without dashboard warning lights.  Therefore, it can be hard for following roadsters to perceive the intentions of a learner who is driving without operational indicators and can switch lanes erratically in confusion.

Car maintenance goes a long way in general but it is even more important for instructors.  The safety of the learner is paramount, along with their own safety but damage to their vehicle is damage to their income and without insurance they could be out of pocket – just because they failed to identify a single vehicle fault.

There are ways to lower driving instructor car insurance premiums such as teaching during off-peak hours only but it is imperative for the instructor to notify their insurer about such specific information in order to get the discount.  Not all insurers will adjust quotes for teaching hours etc, but insurance brokers will.

Applying for insurance through a broker allows instructors to discuss their whole operation and the broker will then create a bespoke insurance package to match – a package which can work out cheaper and provide more extensive cover.