Campaigners say lower speeds reduce casualties but scheme has since been amended to give people more choice to rescind limits
Vehicle damage claims in Wales have fallen by 20% at one leading car insurer since the nationwide 20mph speed limit was introduced there last September.
Wales was one of the first countries in the world, and the first nation in the UK, to introduce legislation for a default 20mph speed limit in built-up areas last year.
Continue reading...ABI reports annual jump of £157 in first quarter of 2024 but says 1% increase on previous quarter indicates rises are easing
The average price paid for comprehensive motor insurance in the UK was about a third (33%) or £157 higher in the first quarter of this year than a year earlier, according to figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI).
Based on analysis of policies sold, the typical price paid in the first quarter of 2024 was £635, marking a 1% increase on the previous quarter, the ABI said.
Continue reading...Flood and frozen pipe damage caused by series of storms, says Association of British Insurers
Storms and heavy rain pushed up weather-related home insurance claims in the UK by more than a third last year to a record £573m, according to industry data.
The repair bill for storm damage and other extreme weather during 2023 was £150m more than in 2022, the Association of British Insurers said, contributing to an overall 10% rise in residential property claims settled last year.
Continue reading...Insurers have made huge hidden payments for buildings cover over many years, experts say
Landlords of developments in England and Wales where residents face hefty service charges face calls to disclose millions of pounds in “secret commissions” raked in over the years for arranging buildings insurance.
Experts say these hidden commissions, paid to landlords including City investment funds that hold freeholds and managing agents, have been worth tens of millions of pounds a year. The arrangements were made without residents being told and resulted in higher service charges.
Continue reading...Company breached rules that state existing policyholders should not be charged more than new ones
Direct Line will pay about £30m to customers who were charged more than they should have been to renew car and home insurance policies.
The UK’s second biggest car insurer said it discovered the overcharging problem after the incorrect implementation of the new pricing practice regulation that came into force in January last year. Under the rules, existing customers should not be charged more than if they were a new customer.
Continue reading...Patrick Courtown sounds warning as evacuation flights head to Greek island to rescue stranded Britons
Wildfires in Rhodes are a “wake-up call” on the effects of the climate crisis, a UK government minister has said, as empty planes were sent to the Greek island to help bring home stranded Britons.
After a mass evacuation from parts of Rhodes, members of the House of Lords were told the situation was “stabilising” and there was no immediate need for the government to advise people to stop travelling there.
Continue reading...Insurer told to reassess vehicle write-offs to identify any unfair settlements
Britain’s second-biggest car insurer, Direct Line, has been ordered to go back through five years of claims after admitting it had underpaid some customers who had their cars and vans written off.
After an investigation into the car insurance market that began in December 2022, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), this week ordered Direct Line to conduct a review of claims where vehicles had been written off “to identify any policyholders who received unfair settlements and provide them with appropriate redress”.
Continue reading...The cost of living is falling in Europe and the US but is still rising in Britain. We look at the major culprits
The Bank of England has struggled to understand why inflation remains high in the UK. It has fallen in France, Germany, the US and especially Spain, where inflation dropped to 2.9% in May compared with the UK figure of 8.7%. Here we look at the many reasons for the current crisis.
Continue reading...Unnecessary policies and overpayments for services are draining the accounts of vulnerable customers
Elderly and vulnerable customers are being routinely overcharged by utility and insurance firms in a hidden scandal highlighted today by one of the country’s senior financial services executives. Unfair practices are putting them at risk of being unable to afford food and heating, he warns.
Michael Donald, a former director of Visa UK, said he was staggered to discover hundreds of pounds of overcharging when he carefully checked the direct debits on his 79-year-old mother’s accounts.
Continue reading...Big tech now encourages us to monitor everything from our heart rate to our glucose levels via smartphones and watches. How much privacy have we lost to the promise of self improvement - and is it time to stop?
First we counted our steps, then our heartbeats, blood pressure and respiratory rates. We monitored our sleep, workouts, periods and fertility windows. But there is plenty left to measure as we are sold the promise of self-optimisation by the vast and sometimes controversial frontier of health tracking – an increasingly medicalised market that has flourished since pedometers went digital and watches got smart.
The latest health metric available to consumers comes from a medical device originally designed for people with diabetes; it allows users to track their blood sugar levels. But, as always, the big questions are: will it make us healthier, and is it wise to sacrifice ever more intimate data?
Continue reading...British travellers face challenges this year not only from the Covid crisis, but also the effects of Brexit. Here’s the lowdown
Holidaymakers in England, Scotland and Wales have been given the green light for trips abroad. Travel is restricted to a small number of countries but the early signs are that they are proving popular with those desperate for a change of scene – this week Tui announced it would be putting on bigger planes to meet demand for trips to Portugal. Bookings for flights to the island of Madeira rose by 625% straight after the green list of countries was announced, according to the website Skyscanner, while demand for Gibraltar leapt by 335%.
For most people, this will be the first trip abroad since the UK’s post-Brexit transition period ended. Here’s our guide to booking a trip in the time of Covid and after the time of the EU.
Continue reading...Government plans set to start in 2021 risk lives and are ‘hugely wrong’, experts say
Plans for cars to drive themselves on UK motorways as soon as 2021 are unlikely to go ahead after insurers warned government proposals were risking lives and “hugely wrong”.
Cars with the technology to keep in lane, accelerate and brake automatically will be on the road next year, and ministers had proposed that drivers could relinquish control to their vehicles at speeds of up to 70mph on motorways.
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