It’s New For Us….

Yep…

We launch Hybrid car insurance. The motor manufacturers are taking the technology seriously and so are the best UK insurers!

Electric Cars

We have just woken up to the fact that a possible growth area for the motor insurance industy is going to be electric car insurance. You can read by clicking thorugh to the article on the main Homeapproved website how the development of battery powered vehicles now encompasses such marques as Rolls Royce.

The main bone of contetion for us in regards to purchasing a new G-Wiz, Tesla or other electric car is the limited range and shortage of recharging stations. Range anxiety – the fear of conking out with nowhere to recharge is the single biggest obstacle to buying these battery-powered vehicles.  Their are innovations, individuals and even a new I-Phone App which seek to address these current limitations.

For example, PlugShare is a free app for Apple devices that allows the owners of electric cars to find people who are willing to provide electricity for vehicles, free of charge or for a nominal payment. The system is believed to have around 3000 users, however all are currently in the USA.  Their is some good news however as the system is due to come to the UK this year, along with a comparable App for the Android system.

Major manufacturers such as Nissan, Citroen and Renault may be launching a new generation of mainstream electric cars, but motorists will not be convinced unless they can be sure that they won’t be left stranded with an empty battery!

5 Million Unsafe Cars on Britains Roads

According to research from Britannia Rescue a staggering five million British Drivers are currently driving unsafe vehicles. The number of hazardous cars on UK roads is thought to be boosted by people keeping their older cars for longer to benefit from the Government’s scrappage scheme.

The most common repair faults identified among these cars include driving with worn tyres (12%), having defective brakes (9%) and faulty exhaust pipes (6%). In addition, one in 20 have broken or missing wing mirrors and a similar number (5%) have broken head or tail lights.

There are strict laws governing the state of repair of vehicles and driving a damaged car can result in three points on your licence plus a fine. More importantly, vehicle defects were responsible for around 2,500 crashes in 2008 and 1 in 30 fatal motoring accidents, according to the Department for Transport.

Unfortunately motorists do not realise that they are potentially invalidating their car insurance as it is condition that vehicles must be maintained. There are also strict laws governing the state of repairs and driving a faulty vehicle can result in 3 points added to a driving license in addition to a fine if caught.

Aviva Car Insurance Update and….

This post is predominantly about the curent offers and latest information relating to Aviva car insurance.  However……

Having one of our staff members just driven back on the A281 Guildford to Horsham road we are soon going to be posting a rant (no less) about potholes and the state of the roads in the South East.

It’s a total disgrace and we will be debating the possibilities of legal action against those responsible for the upkeep of our roads, should you damage your tyres, suspension, alloys etc..

Aviva Car Insurance
Firstly, for those of you not already familiar with the change, Aviva is the new name for Norwich Union. I guess the marketing men finally had their say and have successfully reduced the brand to a single word – think ‘Amazon’, ‘Google’, ‘Yahoo’ etc..

More importantly there seems to be a battle out there in UK motor insurance land in respect of offering 12 months cover for the price of 10 or even for the price of nine months?! This trend seems to be being fought out by two of the biggest players – Aviva and Direct Line.

Get the Aviva deal…
Currently offering great deals on car insurance without compromising on quality (their words, not ours). If you’re a new customer with 4 or more years’ no claims discount, you could make a big saving with their 12 months’ car insurance for the price of 10 offer*. And that’s on top of an online discount of up to 15%.

Final Post for 2009

This will be the last time that the Homeapproved team will be blogging this year!

Many thanks to all our readers who have visited our blog and the Homeapproved UK Car Insurance website.

Our last few posts both here and on the main website have tried to drive home the need for all motorists to drive sensibly and safely over the Christmas and New Year period.

We look forward to hearing from many of our regular readers next year (and new readers) on all matters motoring and insurance.

Have a great Christams and cracking New Year!

Safe motoring

Regards

Homeapproved Car Insurance Team.

Focus on Green Car Insurance

To kick of this month we focus on the policy features and benefits that make up the increasingly popular green car insurance.

There are a small but increasing number of insurers who offer solely environmentally friendly insurance products. In addition there is a growing number of insurers who are adding a “green element” to their policies, most notably ibuyeco and the Co-operative who have carbon off-setting elements to their policies.

You can check out how much carbon dioxide (CO2) your car uses by using a free carbon footprint calculator. Insurers will offset 100% of your carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at no extra cost. Your carbon footprint is offset by a number of different projects helping you to be carbon neutral. Most UK car insurance providers don’t offer you these benefits.

Motorists who drive hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic, VW Polo Bluemotion or Lexus can also take advantage of carbon neutral policies. Drivers who are concerened avout the state of our planet can now benefit from quality green car insurance that is both competitively priced and better for the environment:

• Competitive pricing
• Save money with a low emissions discount
• Courtesy car with comprehensive cover
• Option to add on legal expenses up to £75,000
• Knowledgeable and friendly staff

More Than Launch Green Wheels Insurance

More Than Car Insurance have recently launched their new Green Wheels Insurance policy. It is a new product which allows you to view and monitor reports on your driving style and compare it with other drivers – to see how green your driving really is.

Green Wheels aims to help UK motorists drive their vehicles in an eco friendly manner, thus saving fuel and leaving less carbon footprint.

The technology for this car insurance scheme uses Formula 1 technology in a Green box which simply plugs into the car’s management system and then records all of the driving habit data such as acceleration, breaking and number of short distance car trips. The data gathered is then transmitted to Morethan’s Green Wheels website where existing car insurance customers can access an array of reports on their driving through secure methods.

Bridget McIntyre, CEO at Royal & Sun Alliance commented ”We have created MORE TH>N Green Wheels Insurance to give our customers the opportunity to take responsibility for their carbon ‘tyre-print’. It helps people to understand how their driving style affects the environment by giving them access to information such as their rate of acceleration and braking, the number of short journeys they take and how long they leave their car idling.

This exciting new product is part of our commitment to the Together campaign which believes that, by offering customers positive environmental choices, large companies can make a real difference in the fight against climate change – you can find out more at together.com.

How to Find the Lowest Fuel Prices

For the latest information on the cheapest fuel prices in your area, the RAC recommends logging on to Petrolprices.com.

Registration is free and enables users to find out the best pump price anywhere in the UK, helpful in planning long journeys.

Welcome our 4-Wheeled Eco Warriors

Whilst Toyota could claim to hold the moral high ground on hybrid car technology, other manufacturers like BMW, Ford and Merdcedes-Benz are developing leading edge technologies to work in partnerhsip with the faithful internal combustion engine.

BMW
BMW’s Efficient Dynamics approach combines high-precision fuel injection, automatic stop/start (eg at traffic lights), regenerative braking (which feeds kinetic energy back to the battery), power steering that only uses energy when the wheel is being turned, and air-con that disconnects when not in use.

In the BMW 118d, this contributes to an average fuel consumption of 60.1mpg and CO2 emissions of 123g/km.

Ford
Ford’s ECOnetic combines low-friction diesel engines, low-drag body kits, tyres with a lower ‘rolling resistance’ and lowered suspension (improving air flow beneath the car) to boost efficiency. The Ford Focus 1.9-litre diesel delivers a claimed 66mpg and CO2 emissions of 115g/km.

Mercedes-Benz
The Mercedes F700 concept is an enormous luxury saloon powered by a compact 1.8-litre, four-cyclinder DiesOtto engine. By fusing spark-ignition with the unique compression properties of diesel, and adding a turbocharger, a hybrid-style electric motor and start/stop technology, the next-generation S-Class returns an exceptional 53mpg and pumps out 127g/km of CO2.

Mercedes is also on a mission to persuade Amercians that diesel is not just for truck drivers. ‘Bluetec’ technology eliminates the nitrous oxide emitted by diesel engines by injecting a urea (urine) solution into exhaust gases; the resulting ammonia neutralises the N2O. 

Crash Avoidance Car Technology

Listening on the radio this past week I heard an advert from Audi promoting their new A4 model. Specifically the company were focusing on a number of new features which enhanced driver safety:

Audi side assist
This feature uses radar sensors to monitor the car’s blind spot and the traffic situation behind the vehicle. The light in the exterior mirror informs or warns you if side assist considers a detected vehicle to represent a hazard if you were to change lane

Audi lane assist
Audi lane assist warns the driver if the vehicle strays from a marked lane, by way of vibrating the steering wheel

adaptive cruise control
The optional adaptive cruise control automatically regulates the distance from traffic ahead. If a car ahead of you slows down, the system also reduces your speed. If the vehicle in front brakes suddenly, the system first warns the driver acoustically before applying the brakes briefly if necessary

LED daytime running lights
The slimline, xenon plus headlights (optional on S line models) not only look good, they are also technically sophisticated: a strip of 14 LED lights provides the daytime running light function. LED lights consume considerably less energy than normal dipped headlights and have a considerably longer working life.

My next question would be how to filter down these safety technology developments into cheaper car insurance policies? For example would you receive a discount on your renewal if you were driving/insuring a new Audi A4?

With manufacturers like Audi and others competitively introducing cutting-edge safety technology that tries to stay one step ahead of you — and everyone else on the road, the time must be ripe of an innovative insurer to create a strategic partnership with a company such as Audi to offer cheaper policies to Audi drivers!

Source: Audi.

Further information can be found at Edmunds.