Business Development Program

How to find affordable insurance if you are a high risk driver

Remember, the general rule always has exceptions. So when everyone tells you insurance companies load up the premiums of the inexperienced drivers and the drivers who have a bad safety record, that is true as a general rule. But this does not mean it’s impossible to find reasonably cheap insurance. All it means is you have to work harder to get results. So the first rule is, “Never give up hope!” There are always ways in which you can save on the premium and find reasonably good coverage. Who are you? You may:

• be a new driver;
• have been involved in multiple traffic accidents;
• have been convicted of driving while under the influence or other serious offenses; or
• have had you license suspended and/or your previous insurance cancelled.

The second rule is always to tackle the problem honestly. It is pointless to lie about your record. Even if the lie goes undetected when you buy the policy, every company makes thorough checks once a claim is made. If your dishonesty turns up, the company will cancel the policy and you will be left with no indemnity against the claim. Be open about your high-risk status and get two sets of quotes using the online search engines. You should aim to compare the prices on general policies with the premiums charged by the companies offering special policies for drivers with poor records. The bad news is the majority of general insurers will refuse to quote or quote high premiums. These are the companies only writing policies for people aged between 25 and 70 who have never had an accident in their lives. The quotes you get are still useful because you find out which is the lowest of the high quotes. The good news is there are a small number of companies offering a specialised service to high risk drivers. Ask for high risk auto insurance or nonstandard auto insurance and get their quotes.

The third rule is to improve your driving ability and record. If you are a new driver or have recently had a serious accident, go through one of the advanced driving courses approved by local insurance companies. Successful completion usually entitles you to a discount. You then have to put all you best driving skills into practice and drive without collecting tickets and getting into accidents. The longer your license stays clean, the lower your premium will be. Sadly, it takes years to remove the negative marks from your record but, once you have proved you are a good driver, you will be rewarded. Read the rest of this entry »

What the marketers would have you believe

It seems marketers live in a world designed by Rod Serling where everything bad is ignored, most things are satisfactory and an alarming number of service providers are outstanding. J.D. Power and Associates is one of the largest marketing information companies in the world. It produces regular ratings and reports on how we view an industry in general and how we rank individual companies within that industry. So, for example, a recent report finds us satisfied with our banks and it lists the banks we think are the best. OK. So there is always a slight time lag between the collection of data and the publication of the results of analyzing that data, but this seems a strange result. In the midst of a recession with a record-breaking number of banks failing, predatory terms for credit cards and other credit hard to find, you might wonder where J.D. Power found the people to answer their survey questions. Well, the results of their 2009 survey of our attitudes toward vehicle insurance providers is also out. You will be stunned and awed by the revelation that customer satisfaction is up significantly this year! Some 23,000 human beings claiming to hold policies were polled in March and April, 2009. Their views make interesting reading.

So what has apparently prompted this rise in the level of satisfaction with the insurance industry? Well, it seems the insurers – kind, caring and sensitive to a fault – have been reducing their premiums. In the earlier years of this century, we were all increasingly unhappy as those premium notices kept coming in with ever higher numbers written on them. But, come the recession and the insurers step on to the mound, they pitch premium reductions. According to J.D. Power, some 42% of all those insuring vehicles found their premiums fell during the twelve months period to April 2009; and that’s without having to change companies! Since we are all price sensitive, we now love insurers because they are saving us money. We all love their websites and find there are real improvements in the way the companies relate to us. That, of course, excludes claims handling which is the most important interaction. It seems no-one worries about the poor service on claims handling. Read the rest of this entry »