Posts Tagged ‘misc’

Why Must We Have Cheap Insurance Adverts Rammed Down Our Throats Everywhere We Go?

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Driving up the M6 this morning I was struck by the amount of lorries on the road, not just the small ones but the large ones too. Here is a lorry carrying bricks, here’s another with a milk container on the back, another one with nothing on at all and naturally the supermarket one offering cheap insurance deals. I don’t think he had cheap insurance deals on the rear of his truck but he did appear to be advertising their availability above everything else that his employer had to offer.

At least this kind of advertising is restricted to the outside of trucks and lorries at this time. I wonder what it can be like later on? Will we see cheap truck insurance adverts on the side of planes, will our commuter trains be covered with the logos of insurance dealers offering cheap insurance?

What is this obsession with cheap insurance anyway? Everywhere you look they are offering us cheap insurance aren’t they? On the telly, on the tube, on our petrol pumps, even when we’re relieving ourselves at the service station there is the advert staring us in the face. “Aim higher for cheap truck insurance!”

Is it me or does it seem that only ever insurance is sold in this way? You don’t often see adverts for chocolate biscuits or the most recent sofa sale at DFS in a motorway service station toilet do you? Is the little dog with the toilet paper gazing out at us from the back of a (cheaply insured) truck? No, I don’t think he is.

Perhaps it is the very fact that these advertisements for insurance are focused towards us when we feel at our most vulnerable that makes the people in insurance advertising consider that they will work. The poor guy in his little car, overshadowed by a huge great beast of a lorry and its insurance ads might be more receptive to a cheap deal.

Next time you are out and about on the motorway, have a look and discover how many cheap insurance deals are being offered to you. You will have adverts on the sides of trucks, in fields, in toilets, on petrol pumps, bins and magazines. There will be adverts for cheap insurance on the radio and on the TV screens in the service stations. There might even be a cheap truck insurance sales person sitting beside you now as you sip your well earned cuppa in the Watford Gap services. Cheap insurance is all around, let’s hope in the interest of our youngsters that the idea doesn’t catch on!

If you really are interested in some sort of insurance right now, then you could do a lot worse than to get an experienced broker on your side like the guys at Coversure. Whether you’re after truck insurance or caravan insurance Coversure have great relationships with many different insurance providers and can secure you a great deal.

categories: insurance,motorway,adverts,cars,lorries,trucks,misc

A Few Points About Fleet Insurance

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

What is it about insurance that makes people want to buy it cheap? It doesn’t matter how much we pay for our cars we always want to buy the cheapest possible insurance for them. The latest wheeze to make our insurance premiums cheaper is to group a few together for people that live under the same roof and call it a family fleet insurance.

The concept of fleet insurance is all very well for people who have families of careful drivers (yeah, right) but what about those who live with a boy racer? It sounds like some family members could end up paying more for a combined fleet insurance policy.

The way fleet insurance was originally intended to work was with about 100 Vauxhall Astras insured by a company for their driving staff. This isn’t actually what most fleets are though. Many fleets are made up of mixed vehicles. Cars, Minibuses, Lorries, even Motorbikes can end up on the same policy.

If you ever find yourself on a long journey and very very bored, there is a little game you can play as a cheap (very cheap) way of passing the time. You look at each vehicle that passes you (or that you pass) and try to work out whether or not they are insured on fleet insurance. The good thing about this game is that you can’t really lose (unless you’re going to stop each car you make a guess at and ask them about the details of their insurance) but to help you win, here are some tips;

Vehicles that are clearly owned by a company i.e. those that display a logo will probably be covered under fleet insurance, cheaper vehicles are probably not (if indeed they’re covered at all!) cars driven by racers who speed around roads are almost certainly not, police cars almost certainly are, and what about other kinds of businesses? Butchers, bakers, candlestick makers taking out fleet insurance? Maybe!

How would you decide whether to insure your vehicle on a fleet or not? Easy really - find out if it’s cheaper to insure your car that way before you start! It’s best not to ask a meerkat or an obese opera singer. Chances are they won’t be able to help you at all let alone compare you. Best to ask a real live walking talking insurance broker. If you want to find cheap fleet insurance it pays to discuss your insurance requirements with real live people! Enjoy the game!

If you feel you might need some fleet insurance then you should give Coversure a call. They are specialist insurance brokers with great relationships with some of the country’s top insurance providers so they can secure you great deals on anything from fleet insurance to motorhome insurance.

Some Common Penalties For Driving With No Insurance

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Driving with no insurance can result in all sorts of different penalties and punishments depending on the type of infraction and its nature. Drivers in pretty much every single state are required to have an insurance policy in order to drive legally and those motorists who fail to do this can suffer the full arm of the law, which can be severe if there is an accident involved.

In the main there will be two different types infractions that any motorist can do. The first of these will be when a motorist has an insurance policy for the vehicle but does not have it on them when they are stopped traffic stop. The other will be when the motorist has absolutely no insurance policy whatsoever.

The most common sort of punishment that you will see when you do not have insurance will be a ticket and a resulting fine. The amount of the fine will vary massively depending on the type of infraction and the state in which you are driving, but commonly these can get up to a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars.

A ticket that results in some sort of infraction can also lead to point is being added to the person’s drivers license. The amount of points that are added to the licence will depend upon the state and how it classifies different infractions. In some states there can be no point is added, but this can go up to two or three points in others.

If you have an accident and you do not have a relevant insurance policy for the vehicle then you can find that your license is taken away completely. When your license is taken away this will usually be for a prescribed period of time or until you are able to pay up all of the expenses that have been as a result of the accident.

If an individual were to get a ticket and therefore have to pay a fine but not be in a position to handle this financial responsibility they may actually face jail time as well. Jail time can also be given out if someone causes an accident and therefore injury to other people when they do not have an insurance policy for the vehicle they are driving.

In most cases you will certainly find that the fines and expenses that you have to pay out as a result of any of these problems will be a lot more than the cost of the insurance policy throughout the year. It is, therefore, a lot more intelligent and financially prudent to simply get an insurance policy to protect yourself and others against these issues.

Driving with no insurance is a heavy offence and if you’ve been caught doing it, then you will probably be charged, but the extent of your punishment can be brought down with the help of sound legal advice and defence. Click on permitting no insurance for more information.

Volcanoes Are Not An Issue For Caravan Lovers

Monday, May 24th, 2010

This Easter saw caravan holidays rise to the status of “most convenient” after the eruption of the Icelandic volcano saw most aeroplanes around the world either completely grounded or at least disrupted.

What a great feeling it was, pulling my caravan home beneath planeless skies not even having to think about whether my insurance covered far-off eruptions. As a breed, it feels like caravan lovers all over the UK have been vindicated. Next time someone comments that caravan pulling cars are slow and getting in the way, remind them that during the Easter 2010 debacle, we could get from almost anywhere in Europe, to almost anywhere else in Europe faster than the average plane.

Also, the “cramped and claustrophobic” conditions that so many people associate caravans with seemed like the most luxurious and spacious of interiors compared to a hotel lobby or a space on an airport floor.

This is all, of course irrelevant within the caravan community; we like our holidays and you like yours. How tedious would the world be if we all liked the same things? However the reason for the somewhat smug nature of this article is that those who are not into caravanning often tend to poke fun at our choice of holiday, while we rarely, if ever, do the same to them.

So… given that we didn’t have quite the same concerns this Easter that many other holiday makers had, what were we thinking about? I’d like to hear some good stories. I wasn’t thinking about whether my insurance covered me for all those untold additional costs that the plane brigade were worried about, but I did have some additional costs to think about. And they were costs that I couldn’t insure against too.

I took the a copy of Caravan Magazine with me on my holiday because we were thinking about buying a new one, and so had intended to browse over potential new purchases, but I ended up becoming engrossed in the insurance survey. It seems that because I never went to a broker to get my caravan insurance, I over paid for it - by a considerable amount. So if you’re in need of cheap caravan insurance it is well worth shopping around because there were lots of price comparisons in Caravan Magazine, some of which were quite surprising and are well worth a look into.

If you are looking for caravan insurance, but want to make sure you get the best deal possible, you should arrange it through Coversure. They are an insurance broker with long-standing relationships with providers and can always secure a great deal on static caravan insurance or touring caravan insurance.

It’ll Be A Busy Summer For Caravans

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

In the last year or so, the number of people holidaying locally in caravans or motorhomes has significantly increased. The insurance brokers have noticed it, and it is doubtless that the caravan parks and travel agents have noticed it too. It seems that in an attempt to save money, the masses have opted against forking out for expensive holidays abroad. Official figures suggest that 5,000,000 more holidays will be taken in Britain this year.

The National Caravan Council state that there are now five hundred thousand caravans being used on a regular basis across Britain by around 1.5 million caravan lovers. Alongside this, the Camping and Caravanning Club has seen a huge rise in bookings or around 21%. So overall, caravan manufacturers aren’t complaining about the recession!

All of this is going to mean that the roads are going to get busier and busier, and take more and more of a battering. All this additional pressure is on top of the beating that our roads took during the winter. We have all noticed the dreadful pot holes in the road.

I wonder sometimes when I see these huge chasms in the road whether I will spot a kangaroo head popping out! I’m sure that these vast potholes must be causing damage to vehicles of any description, indeed, I’m sure that they must even cause accidents sometimes!

It’s not compulsory to buy insurance for caravans, but advisable. You wouldn’t pull any other important belonging behind your car, or leave it unattended in a park without insuring it, would you? There are, I’m informed over 30 motor caravan and caravan insurers, so it feels like the specialist advice is available to those willing to look for it. My advice would be to ask a broker to help you. In a recent survey conducted by well respected magazines brokers came out as the most competitive for price, and it’s good to be able to ask questions and get proper advice… from a human.

If you are looking for caravan insurance, your best bet is to have a broker secure you the best deal possible as many of them have long-standing relationships with the insurance companies and so can get you the caravan insurance for a much cheaper price.

How Caravan Insurance Can In The Long Run Save You Money

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

No matter whether you use your caravan for your holidays, your main home or attach it to the back of your car in nice weather you should make sure that you have caravan insurance. It may be something that you have not thought of, especially if it spends most of the time on your front drive, but it is a necessity as we never know what is round the corner.

The type of insurance you will need is mostly dependant on whether your caravan is a static or touring one. You should think of when you will be using it and also how much the belongings you keep in there whether temporarily or permanently are worth. This will mean that should anything happen you will be able to get the items replaced.

If it is a static caravan you wish to insure you need to make sure that if you want to have any items you keep just outside such as a patio or furniture is also under the insurance. This is because not all policies will cover this so you need to check beforehand.

You have more options if the whole caravan is stolen, as well as if a fire meant that it was no longer habitable. Some of the insurers will cover you so that you are able to get an old for new which is definitely worthwhile if you are able to pay the premiums as it will mean that you are not only able to replace the caravan with an updated one but also belongings inside and outside. Other coverage will give you the market value at the time of your claim.

You can see that there are many benefits to making sure your caravan is covered by insurance, you will find that you can insure touring caravans if they are involved in any kind of accident while you are on the road. This will also mean that if anyone is injured and you are liable the medical bills and court costs will be covered as well as any property damage that may be caused.

Even if the static caravan is where you live you can still have the coverage you need so that even if you can secure your home as you would a house, you are still able to make sure that any damage or loss can be recovered without extra cost to you.

Caravan insurancecaravan Insurance is one of the most necessary aspects that you need to get in your life. There are lots of benefits that you can find when you get this kind of Insurance.

Make Sure Your Motorhome Is Covered If You Hire It Out

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

If you’re an old insurance man like me, going grey and still carrying a liking for old early 70’s bands like soft machine and caravan, then you probably think that you’ve seen the last of your summer music festivals with nights spent cramped under the canvas of a tent and waking up with aches and cramps in places you didn’t know existed! However, another way to go is to take your motorhome (or somebody else’s) along to the festival and enjoy the music and the atmosphere without the nights spent on the floor under canvas.

Many people prefer taking a motorhome with them to festivals rather than the traditional tent camping because with a motorhome you get the best of both worlds, i.e. you get the comforts of home living like a cup of tea in the mornings, a warm, comfy bed to sleep on and most of all, a shower! As well as all this, you also get the atmosphere of the music festival and the thrill of the live music.

Many motorhome owners rent out their motorhomes for just this type of event with most not realising that any such hiring of their motorhome for “hire & reward” purposes will not be covered under their standard motorhome insurance policy.

I remember seeing a couple at Glastonbury last year, blissfully leaving their motorhome in the sunny early hours of the morning having breakfasted under the awning, only to return late at night to find that one of Glastonbury’s famed monsoons had filled the awning with water causing it to twist, break and generally be ruined, That’s about 1000 worth of damage and all uninsured if the vehicle had been hired out without the authority of the insurance company.

If you think you might like to take your motorhome to Glastonbury or a similar festival, or that you might let someone else take it, it is well worth getting it covered for the trip as you really don’t know what might happen.

Best start by letting your friends have it first if you’re not going yourself, especially if you have standard insurance cover. Your local insurance broker can advise you about cover if need be but adding friends or family to an existing insurance policy is definitely the best way to go. This way you can watch the festival from the true comfort of your front room safe in the knowledge that the motorhome that is your pride and joy is being properly looked after and if not, at least you know you have the right insurance. Now where is that old Caravan t-shirt?

If you are on the look out for motorhome insurance then you should visit Coversure, they are one of the best providers of all kinds of vehicle insurance providing everything from basic car insurance to caravan insurance

What To Consider When Looking For Caravan Insurance

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Chester Cooke was excited by the prospect of buying a caravan on the banks of the River Avon, not far from Stratford, on a professionally run, well maintained and gorgeous site with lots of amenities. Being a diligent kind of chap, he looked into all of the potential issues, after all you can’t be too careful with the thick end of twenty grand plus annual service charges, which didn’t include insurance for some reason.

So he then called his broker and said that he was looking for some caravan insurance. His broker then told him that that shouldn’t be a problem and he would be more than happy to get him a quote. So Chester gave his broker the details of the caravan and where it would be situated.

A few minutes later, the broker called Chester back and said that unfortunately he was not able to find any insurance companies that would offer him insurance, not because of the caravan itself, or even the site that he had chosen, but it was to do with the exact spot that he had chosen. It was right on the bank of river Avon, which had flooded the year before, causing a massive number of insurance claims on the grounds of water damaged property, and so now insurers were very wary about insuring caravans that were right on the water’s edge. This meant that if Chester really wanted the caravan, and he wanted it right there, it would have to be at his own risk.

This news meant that Chester would have to re-think his ideas about buying a caravan. Since it was highly likely that the Avon would flood again at some point, he couldn’t afford to risk placing it there without insurance. He asked his broker what the “normal criteria” of a caravan site was so that he could bare it in mind if he was still going to go ahead and buy his caravan.

A registered CaSSOA site is ideal for caravan insurance providers. The reason for this is that these sites have security standards. Another thing to look for in a caravan site is a secure boundary like a fence or a tall, thick bush running around the boundaries of the site. If the caravan is to be placed in a less formal location, such as a farm, then the caravan should have its own compound and it own defined perimeter. Some insurance providers insist that a caravan site must have a certain number of caravans placed there before they will insure any, safety in numbers as it were.

Chester hadn’t thought that insurance would be such an important consideration when he was buying his caravan. He was grateful that he had a knowledgeable broker who could give him all this education and he was definitely going to check it all out again before finally taking the plunge and buying a caravan. After all, he just wanted to enjoy his caravan and the insurance was only to take the worry out of the ownership.

Caravan insurance is one of the biggest factors to take into consideration when thinking about purchasing a caravan. Coversure are a leading provider of caravan insurance and can offer you advice, or a quote to insure your caravan

The Versatility Of Caravan Insurance

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

The 1970’s rock band Caravan once released a rather oddly titled album called “For Girls Who Go Plump In The Night” which, let’s be honest, isn’t the kind of thing you’d expect to read in an article about caravan insurance, even if the writer owns one (a caravan that is!) An insurance man in a caravan is perhaps not that strange, but an insurance man in a caravan listening to Caravan? No way!

I’m not sure what got me thinking about this subject; I think it was looking back at some photographs of last years Glastonbury festival and noticing, in one guise or another, just how many caravans were there. Obviously as an insurance man I was thinking about their insurance cover and whether or not the underwriters were actually aware just what they were being used for.

If I remember correctly, these caravans were being used for everything from living quarters to tea shops (and I’m still talking about proper caravans, curtains and all, not mobile catering units) they were also used as places for tired musicians to rest and some were even housing paid showers.

In the camping areas there were caravans being used as shelter from the rain for the security staff, as meeting points for lost festival goers and as weekend homes for ageing rockers who either could no longer handle the rough nights of tent camping, or who just happened be fellow caravan fans.

Of course, the musicians themselves are among the biggest users of caravans at music festivals, they usually use the huge ones with extra wheels on the front for steering and they use them for changing in, preparing for the show in, and then use them to indulge in general after-show rock-star behaviour which I think is probably best left to the imagination! I’m not sure if Caravan ever used one, I think that would just be too good to be true! Caravan in a caravan listening to their debut album (which was called, as you may have guessed, “Caravan”). Or even better, if they had arranged a convoy with some friends, a caravan of caravans including a caravan with Caravan in it listening to Caravan!

But I digress; as I said a few long paragraphs ago, all these caravans got me thinking about the right kind of insurance to take out for this kind of venture, and whether or not any of these people had the correct insurance, I think the answer is probably not. However if you are thinking of taking a caravan to a music festival or somewhere similar, it’s definitely worth taking out the proper insurance because anything can happen in those kind of “free-partying” atmospheres where people are intent on letting their hair down and are perhaps not in their clearest state of mind and caravans can easily get damaged either by careless party people, or by simply sliding off on its own in the slippery mud, it could flood or catch fire or get blown away in the wind. Fortunately you can take out insurance policies to cover more or less anything that could happen to it, even being hit by an uninsured caravan posing as a tea shop!

Coversure are leading providers of caravan insurance if you are thinking about taking your caravan anywhere where it would be even remotely at risk, you should think about taking out some caravan insurance just to be safe.

Thoughts On Insuring Your Motorhome

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

Insurance Times published an article recently stating that the financial ombudsman had decreed that there are certain circumstances in which it would back the policyholder over the insurer, excluding however, instances where keys have been left in or near a car. I was then left wondering if the same would apply to motor homes.

So the family and I had rather a late night in our motorhome playing cards and so we were all quite tired when we eventually turned in for the night, meaning that the next morning we were already late for our arranged meeting with our friends and fellow motor-homers the Wilsons. Then came the usual morning commotion, the queue for the shower and the breakfast rush, then by the time we were ready to leave our friends had decided to explore the countryside without us.

Then I couldn’t find the keys. We looked everywhere, and in my usual patient and understanding way I first accused every member of the family of hiding them, progressed to accusing them of not helping me to look for them properly and concluded by accepting my son’s version of events that aliens had come from Mars and stolen the keys to my motor home. I went to the cab to get my mobile and call my insurance company for help. I was stranded in the middle of a field with a grumpy family… and it was about to rain.

There in the centre consul, with my phone, were the keys! Oh my goodness. I had left the keys of my precious motor home in the cab. I couldn’t help wondering if my motor home would have been insured if it had been stolen and my mind drifted back to the Insurance Times article.

If my motorhome had been a car the ombudsman would have considered

Location

Was I in a position to deter a thief

Was I recklessly ignoring the risks

Mitigating factors

Whether I knew about the exclusion in the insurance policy

I would like to think that this form of insurance pragmatism would have applied to me and my motor home. I think that by using an insurance broker there is a lot more chance of getting the right insurance policy for your motor home

For a class leading service in motorhome insurance contact Coversure insurance. They provide motorhome insurance is unmatched by other companies and you’ll leave with the peace of mind that you’re covered.