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Category: Spent motoring

Why over-declaring penalty points lets car insurers overcharge 2.8 million drivers

We’re quoted in an article in The Telegraph on how needlessly telling insurance firms about expired penalty points for speeding and other offences adds £57 to premiums, yet insurers continue to ask about old convictions .

“The law is a mess and grossly unfair on drivers,” said Chris Stacey of Unlock. “We now have a situation where a minor driving offence carries a longer rehabilitation period than someone who has gone to prison for assault.

“Insurers have lobbied to keep the blanket five-year period for motoring offences because getting rid of it would restrict their ability to charge drivers higher premiums for old offences”, he said. You can read the full  article here.

Are car hire and insurance firms using private data to reject customers?

New electronic access to drivers’ licence details has sparked concerns that firms are misusing information about drivers’ past convictions.

Motorists with a clean driving licence risk being unfairly denied car hire or cheap insurance premiums as a result of a Government-backed data-sharing project, according to experts.

The Department for Transport is handing over details of Britain’s 40 million drivers to companies, including details of driving convictions, as part of its “MyLicence” project.

But promises that the database will “catch fraudsters and take the guesswork out of insurance applications” come amid concerns that insurers are misusing information about old driving offences to reject customers. Read the full article here.

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