A single driving fine will cost you a fortune in rising premiums
Fines for minor motoring offences could send your car insurance premium shooting skywards for years!
The 'rules of the road', as laid down in the Highway Code and motoring legislation, are designed to protect drivers, passengers, cyclists, other road users and pedestrians. When we break them, we expect to be punished by the authorities.
But a new survey from The AA suggests that being fined for motoring offences is only the beginning. In some cases, the subsequent rise in your car insurance premiums can leave you nursing a bill four times as big as the original fine.
A quadruple whammy
The AA's latest research found that a motorist's first speeding offence can cost four times the typical £60 fine, thanks to higher insurance premiums for the next three years. Apologetic drivers who instead agree to take a speed-awareness course can keep their clean driving licences and reduce the total cost of their offences.
Drivers caught using a handheld device to phone, text or email while driving can expect a steeper fine, as well as a sharp increase at their next insurance renewal. In some cases, offenders may be refused renewal by their existing insurers and be forced to seek cover elsewhere.
Leave your phone alone
Drivers who deny using their phones while driving can easily be caught out, as police can and do check phone records if they suspect a driver of using a handheld phone at the time of an accident.
To demonstrate how harshly insurers treat this offence, the AA produced the following table of premiums before and after a driver* was given a CU80 penalty, which attracts at least a £60 fine and three points on your licence.
|
Insurer |
Clean premium |
CU80 premium |
Increase |
|
A |
£298 |
Refused quote |
- |
|
B |
£313 |
Refused quote |
- |
|
C |
£331 |
£377 |
14% |
|
D |
£378 |
£499 |
32% |
|
E |
£392 |
Refused quote |
- |
|
F |
£491 |
£564 |
15% |
|
G |
£434 |
£495 |
14% |
|
H |
£434 |
Refused quote |
- |
* Based on a 40-year-old man driving a Ford Mondeo, using eight insurers on the AA's panel.
As you can see, four refused cover, while the other four pushed up their renewal premiums by between 14% and 32%, with the average premium increase being 18%.
Only one or two police forces offer mobile-phone awareness courses, so there's little chance you'll escape a CU80 penalty if you're caught 'dialling and driving'. That's a pretty hefty price to pay for taking or making a call while on the road.
What's more, these offences lie on your licence for four years, thus bumping up your next three or four yearly premiums. Even worse, the police may escalate a mobile-phone offence to a charge of careless or dangerous driving, which carries much heavier penalties.
Slow down, you move too fast
The AA also warned that few insurance companies are willing to ignore a first SP30 speeding offence nowadays. Almost all insurers now penalise a first SP30 with a premium hike.
Take a look at this second table, which shows the premium increases from one and two SP30 speeding offences:
|
Insurer |
Clean premium |
One SP30 (3pts) |
Increase |
Two SP30s (6pts) |
Increase |
|
A |
£298 |
£333 |
12% |
Refused quote |
- |
|
B |
£313 |
£344 |
10% |
Refused quote |
- |
|
C |
£331 |
£366 |
11% |
£399 |
20% |
|
D |
£378 |
£396 |
5% |
£509 |
35% |
|
E |
£392 |
£441 |
13% |
£491 |
25% |
|
F |
£491 |
£509 |
4% |
£533 |
8% |
|
G |
£434 |
£467 |
7% |
£495 |
14% |
|
H |
£434 |
Refused quote |
- |
Refused quote |
- |
As you can see, a first speeding fine can lead to your next premium being hiked by 4% to 13%, with the average rise being 8%. Only one of these eight insurers refused to renew a policy after a single SP30.
However, a second fine can send your renewal soaring by between 8% and 35%, with the average increase of 20%. What's more, three of these eight insurers refused to renew after two SP30s, making it much harder for repeat speeders to find replacement cover.
The AA says that these premium increases will remain but reduce over three years. So a single speeding offence costing £60 could cost another £200 extra in higher insurance premiums. This makes the typical £90 charge for a speed-awareness course a much cheaper alternative.
Keep your hands upon the wheel
Finally, a separate survey last week by insurer esure found that around two million British motorists have had an accident or near-miss while driving with only one hand on the wheel.
Also, esure found that drivers who eat at the wheel see their reaction times doubled, placing them at greater risk of accidents. Almost half (47%) of UK motorists admit to driving often with one hand on the wheel, while one in five (20%) admit to smoking while driving.
More on cars and car insurance:
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Comments
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While I strongly agree with penalties for those who callously break the law endangering not only themselves but other road users, I am appalled at the profiteering & opportunistic practices of the peddlers of motor insurance. Wherever the need to use a particular service becomes compulsory the business offering such services becomes dirty, seedy & full of calloused greedy execs who will stop at little to fill their pockets. I know this is strong language but with the scandals hitting the banking sectors, the media, politics & others of late such practice is becoming accepted as 'normal' making those who speak strongly against it appear fanatical. When will common sense & decency prevail once again in this country?
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The 'off' button costs nothing. The CU780 doesn't educate - it takes over. Is man a "Slave to" or a "master of" technology?
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Its great to see finally the world is wakening the alarming increase of motorists using their mobile phones while driving. There is finally a solution: A DEVICE which blocks mobile phone signals in cars is to go on sale in Scotland. The CU80, sold by a Scottish company, could spell the end for children chatting on mobiles in their parents’ cars and employees using phones in company vehicles. Motoring entrepreneurs Eddie Eusebi and Allan Gibbons have the licence to sell the £150 ‘black box’ across Europe, and hope it will reduce deaths on the road. With recent research showing browsing the internet can be more distracting than drink driving, the pair point out it can be used to block the use of social networking sites. Mr Eusebi, who co-founded CU80, said: “Virtually every mobile phone can go online and the sad fact is that many drivers are checking their Facebook status and Twitter news-feeds as they drive and are putting lives at risk as they do so. “The law forbidding driving while using a mobile phone device is widely flouted. A quarter of British drivers, as many as eight million, use their phone while on the move either with a hands free kit or by holding their mobile. “The CU80 device can block as much or as little activity as required, from simply stopping a driver making or receiving calls from their mobile phone to blocking an MP3 player or surfing the internet on a tablet computer.” The device works by Bluetooth to block any text message or phone calls. It prevents any use of mobile phones when the vehicle is in motion, though can be adjusted via a website. The CU80 is named after the offence code for drivers caught using mobile phones. Temptations It was developed by US company OBD Edge, and the pair hope it will sell well to businesses with fleets in the UK. Co-founder & Director Allan Gibbons said he wanted to change drivers’ habits. He said: “We want drivers to think again about their driving habits. “Many motorists can’t resist the urge to check their phone or make a call when they know they shouldn’t. “Even hands-free mobile phone conversations are dangerous as talking to someone who is not in the car require greater conversation to make up for the lack of visual cues. “The CU80 takes the temptation away and ensures that drivers have their hands on the wheel and their eyes and minds firmly on the road. “The reality is that many people see using a mobile device while driving as an acceptable practice. “What we want to do is make using a mobile device as socially unacceptable as drink driving.” Recent research from the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) found using social media on a smartphone slowed reaction times more than alcohol, cannabis and texting.
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06 September 2012