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Letter: Car insurance is a rip-off for motorists
Considering we all know car insurance is a rip-off, unregulated and therefore an out-of-control industry, and motorists have little or no choice but to pay ridiculous sums for cover, a number of factors, introduced since the war, have contributed to the ever increasing cost of premiums.
These are all to extract the highest sums possible; as illustrated on the recent BBC programme Rip off Britain.
We used to pay for third party or comprehensive cover based on the car’s value, horse power and the number of claims-free years of driving. Otherwise adjustments were made if one had been involved in accidents or vehicles had sustained damage; and that was about it! These days however, annual mileage, postal address, on-street or garage parking, security systems, age of driver, modifications, continental travel and tremendous increases in excesses, no-claims protection and legal fee cover, have all been craftily introduced in the name of profit, without ever having been objected against or analysed by either motorists or the organisations who supposedly represent them. In effect realistically, we pay insurance to protect insurance.
Why should annual mileage figures be listed when there is no reduction if one has done less? As for the postal address, no reduction is considered if one lives in a bad area, but parks in a good one when at work. Age should not be a consideration if drivers are accident free. As for the continental green card, there were few restrictions after paying a modest sum; nor should there be.
Finally as most of us who drive are aware, during the first year, when we are told we would obtain full value for a replacement, insurance premiums still rise annually, while car values drop more than 50% after the first few years. These factors are never taken into account. Insurers also have a crafty way of wangling the best of both worlds when they ask the question ‘Please state value of vehicle?’ Knowing full well that in the event of a write-off they will only pay market value. Most owners have little or no idea of the true value of a vehicle and, reluctant to estimate too low a value, are perhaps misled into paying higher premiums. In effect, the whole business is a minefield, and car insurance renewal is perhaps the last straw for many drivers who are already struggling with the cost of being on the road. A lot of noise is now being made on the subject by the government, but how long will it be before they take positive action – if ever?
E A Lundy, by email
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