Safe Speed Forums

You may, like me, have gotten an SP30 fine and three points on your lience.
This happened in October thanks to a Gatso in a hidden spot on the A5. For three years, those points were on my licence and could have been used in the 'totting-up' procedure to ban me, if I had been caught for more offences. Then the points show for a further year, presumably to humiliate me in some way, perhaps with car hire companies or more likely insurance companies.
Well after four years the conviction goes away, but guess what. Insurance companies (some anyway) ask you to declare penalties for five years, and likely load your premium for good measure. I am apparantly, a "greater risk because I speed" but only until October this year, when I will no longer be a higher risk.
Any thought on why private companies penalise their customers - in large numbers - for longer than the law / DVLA etc.?

well, thats set to change:

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14404

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Fear is a weapon of mass distraction

Because they can!! Insurance companies are in business to make money and that is one way of extracting more from you.

Another way of extracting even more from you (if you can actually get them to offer cover in the first place) is to have a criminal conviction.

It doesn't matter that the conviction has sod all to do with driving or road safety in any way shape or form, tell them you got caught doing whatever and you'll find it very hard to even get insurance.

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

Actually it is an offence under the rehabillitation of offenders act to discriminate against someone once the offence is spent. Howeverit is not an offence to ask.

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

It's not just speeders that get pinged. It's all males under 25... I'm not sure why there isn't uproar about how sexist it is, but it is discrimination on a huge scale.


Girl, 19, 2 crashes, license for 2 years, Golf 1.4. Cost, approx £800 p/y
Male, 19, 0 Crashes, license for 2 years, Golf 1.4. Cost, approx £1200 p/y

How is that right? How is that allowed?

And of course the offence is spent after 5 years, hence the reason they ask for any convictions within 5 years.

Edit: in my experience (worked in car insurance many moons ago) loadings for points are only for those acquired within 3 years for the majority of companies.

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Less Kodak, more Kojak.
In times of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

http://www.lawontheweb.co.uk/rehabact.htm

NB criminal convictions

Eh? Is there any other sort of conviction?

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Simple. Insurance companies base everything on actuarial tables, ie statistics... Statistically, 19yo males are a much worse risk than 19yo females - hence the higher premium.

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"Politicians are the same the world over... We build bridges where there aren't any rivers." - Nikita Kruschev

Unfortunately, you have found out the big truth - that life really isn't fair.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

even so, you'd think that someone who's already managed to crash twice would be considered a higher risk than someone who hasn't. That they're charging a known crash risk, as opposed to a theoretical crash risk, 33% less really is a joke.

Common sense would suggest that, yes... But I think that they essentially just look at "the big picture".

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"Politicians are the same the world over... We build bridges where there aren't any rivers." - Nikita Kruschev

you say that like the big picture isnt taken using statistics which would very easily be altered to give the desired answer.

The example given, certainly in my experience, doesn't seem to be a rare occurance. I'm very very cautious of the stats which say males = less safe than females, big time.

As for learning life isn't fair. I'm not not the 19 yr old example. I'm 21. Been driving since I was 17, 0 crashes, 0 points. My girlfriend, who has driven for 1 and half years, has 1 crash and is also 21, still brings my insurance down if I add her as named driver to my policy. In my nearly 5 years of driving (come October it'll be 5) I've spent over £5,000 on insurance I've never once used, that was proof life isn't fair, not the bollox way of working out costs.

/rant over.

As far as I can tell most of the crash risk associated with young males comes from about 20% of young males. The problem for the insurance companies is that they can't tell which 20% will cause the trouble.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Hrm, I suppose it's hard to tell at first. But surely they can tell whose going to be costly or not after 2-3 years of driving. I'm not due half reasonable prices until 25! I can even guarantee them, on account of my for-life liver disease, that they don't need to worry about drink driving/drugs etc... but not one single insurance company I've spoke to takes into consideration personal circumstances. I hate to say it, but it is no wander people go the illegal route

Yes. A civil conviction.

Can you define the difference?

I don't know why the premiums have to be so high anyway; it's not as if the insurance pays out fully.

When my car was written off, by a woman not paying attention, the insurance company offered me around £5000, when the cost of a replacement of the same mileage and specification of the car was around £8000.

Insurance companies are scumbags who rip people off, because people are forced by law to buy insurance, and so the public cannot do anything about it. Switching companies won't work, as they are all much the same. They'll extort money from you, but give you peanuts when you claim.

I agree.

The history is well known to regulars.

Wildy Cat ( my very lovely wife) nearly died after someone suffered a fatal. He hit her at an increasing speed. She was stationary in a queue of traffic.

I cannot describe how I felt when a policeman came to tell me .. and driove me at very high speed to her side.

But we had a long fight to get "justice" from this. The guy died before he hit her .. thus his insurance was "void" per his insurers.

We went to court. We won. NHS received their costs of keeping my wife alive.

We banked the rest. I'd be lying if I said "damages" did not help us become "sollvent" at least. We were young .. in serious debt from our student life styles and penchant for fast wheels on a bank loan.

We'd bought our run down home at auction. Low snip cost. We got family and pals to help bring up to habitable status. As we earned .. we borrowed to improve it. Wildy's accident was major hiccup at first. We spiralled downwards. I had three toddlers. a hefty mortgage.. exams to face. I felt I was paddling a canoe without a paddle at the time to be honest

Solace of sorts came with the long fought for court decision to state that the guy was insured when he hit her. It made us solvent again.

My posts suggest we afford this and that. I work SODDING HARD for what I have. HONESTLY! and so does my wife.

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