Accident Claims Forcing Up Insurance Premiums

Making a claim for a car accident [1] is likely to increase premiums
even when the accident [2] occurs through no fault of your own. Car
insurance policies include an excess to deter people from making
trivial accident [3] claims which cost the insurers millions of
pounds.

When claims are made the insurers will then put up premiums to cover
the costs and also deter people from making further claims in the
future. In some cases the annual insurance premiums can double as a
result of an accident [4] claim. This system can seem particularly
unfair if the accident [5] was not your fault or if you have been a
victim of crime such as theft. If your car insurer does increase your
premiums you can always look around for a better deal with cheaper
premiums. However there is very little you can do to protect yourself
against other drivers on the roads that may cause the accidents in the
first place.

Worryingly research conducted by USwitch has found that 33% of
motorists in Britain do not know at what speed the national speed
limit is set, and fourteen percent of people rely on road signs to
inform them of the speed limit for the road they are on.  Statistics
show that drivers who exceed the speed limit cause over seven thousand
accidents every year, of which fourteen percent are fatal. This is an
incredibly high number. In addition the research found that more than
half the people surveyed did not know who had priority if a set of
traffic lights were to fail at a junction.  The result of this is
more accidents on the roads, which result in more claims for
compensation [6] and ultimately higher insurance costs.

Uswitch say that they estimate consumes are paying more that £845
million pounds extra as result of these claims. One reason for this
might be the fact that insurance claims have increased in cost over
the last five to ten years. It is estimated that there has been a
twenty three percent increase in the average car accident [7] claim
payout since 2001, which amounts to £355 pounds. On average car
insurers are now paying out over £23 million pounds a day for
accident [8] claims, which equates to  just under one million pounds
every hour. This is a staggering amount and makes it easier to
understand why insurers increase premiums for drivers who make a
claim. However perhaps if people drove more carefully on the roads
this figure could be drastically reduced.

But driving more carefully may not be feasible as motorists do not
seem to be aware of all the rules of the road. Most drivers take one
test in the motoring lifetime, and that may have become a dim and
distant memory some years on when they have developed their own
perhaps less than perfect driving habits. As part of Uswitch's
research they tested motorists on basic driving theory and found that
only one percent of the 2500 respondents answered all of the questions
correctly. In addition eight percent of people got all of the
questions wrong. It would seem until drivers are required to refresh
their memory of important driving knowledge on a more frequent basis,
accident [9] claims are still likely to be made, meaning premiums are
liable to rise in the future.

Danielle is an author of several articles pertaining to No Win No
Fee, Compensation [10] Claims, Accident Claims, Personal Injury Claims
and other legal articles.

Links:
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[1] http://caraccidentsus.info/tag/accident/
[2] http://caraccidentsus.info/tag/accident/
[3] http://caraccidentsus.info/tag/accident/
[4] http://caraccidentsus.info/tag/accident/
[5] http://caraccidentsus.info/tag/accident/
[6] http://caraccidentsus.info/tag/compensation/
[7] http://caraccidentsus.info/tag/accident/
[8] http://caraccidentsus.info/tag/accident/
[9] http://caraccidentsus.info/tag/accident/
[10] http://caraccidentsus.info/tag/compensation/