The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) has welcomed the Transport Select Committee’s report into the cost of motor insurance. BIBA is pleased that the committee’s recommendations include many of the points that BIBA set out in its eight point plan to Government for tackling the spiraling cost of motor insurance back in November 2010.
The recommendations from the Committee’s report tackle issues with fraud, personal injury claims, uninsured driving and young drivers.
The report recommends that insurers, brokers and comparison websites should work together more proactively to combat fraud. BIBA is committed to this and will work to achieve access for the industry to driving licence information held by the DVLA in order to reduce fraud when applying for insurance.
BIBA also supports the call to investigate means of deploying and publicising new technology which can assess how cars are driven by young drivers and help reduce the cost of motor cover.
Graeme Trudgill, BIBA Head of Corporate Affairs, said: “There are already several new insurance broker ‘black box’ telematics products that have been recently launched and BIBA welcomes further discussion and wider debate on this technology.”
BIBA welcomes the Transport Select Committee’s conclusion to make the driving test more rigorous and to make an advanced driving course available which can effectively signal to insurers that drivers who have completed it are safer. It is now time to review the Pass Plus test and BIBA looks forward to the proposed consultation.
The report calls for the Government to sponsor a research project on the international experience of restraining the number of personal injury claims with the aim of publishing a discussion paper.
The report referred to one of BIBA’s key reasons for the higher cost of motor insurance as the increase in the propensity to claim, the increase in the amount awarded, the impact of claims management companies and the increases in the number of whiplash claims.
Trudgill added: “The propensity to claim for a non-fault injury following a motor accident has tripled in the last seven years and this has led to more claims and higher premiums.”
In order to tackle this issue of uninsured drivers, the Committee welcomed the new scheme of Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) and recommended a promotional campaign aimed at young drivers. BIBA is working closely with the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) and DVLA and is fully supportive of the forthcoming TV campaign from the MIB, endorsed by DVLA, to raise awareness about changes in motor insurance law. DVLA is already distributing leaflets with V11 tax reminders.
Trudgill concluded: “BIBA also agrees that penalties for CIE offences should be reviewed one year after CIE has been implemented.”
Although BIBA was disappointed that the report’s conclusion did not include a recommendation for signposting, BIBA is pleased that the Government Equalities Office (GEO) consultation paper Equality Act 2010: Ending age discrimination in services, public functions and associations issued on 3 March 2011 does recommend signposting for motor insurance in relation to age.
BIBA submitted its written evidence to the Transport Select Committee on the 3 November 2010 and gave oral evidence to the inquiry on 9 November.
Source : BIBA Press Release
