Car insurance premiums at all time high

Car insurance premiums have hit an all-time high, with the average annual cost of a fully comprehensive policy rising to £703.79, a staggering leap of 40.5 percent over the last year.

Unsurprisingly it is young drivers that are taking the biggest hit, with their costs rising by 13.5 percent over the last three months, and a massive 50.9 percent over the last twelve months according to figures released by the AA. Inexperienced 17-22 year-olds will now shell out an average of £1,956 to comprehensively insure their car.
What is perhaps surprising is that the gender gap is beginning to close, but only in that costs are rising faster for girls than for boys. Young women now pay 58.7 percent more than last year, at £1,423 a year, while men's premiums rose by 46.6 percent to a whopping £2,457.

While everyone will be seeing heftier insurance premiums, the prices at the cheaper end of the market are the ones that will be seeing the largest rise. A spokesman for the AA blamed cost comparison websites, saying they had been "falsely keeping premiums down."

Beyond the deals on comparison sites, the massive rise in premiums has been put down to several factors, including the fact that the amount of money paid out for personal injury claims is rising. A crash that sees someone put into a wheelchair could end up costing the insurance company as much as £15m.

The high rise for young drivers is down to the fact that there is still a high rate of fatal accidents involving motorists under the age of 24, according to the AA. According to the organisation, 74 percent of all young adult deaths happen on the road. The average claim for male young drivers is as much as £4,473, while women aged between 30 and 50 claim an average of £1,200 in case of an accident.

The AA recommends the following to keep premiums as low as possible:
• Stay claim-free and your premiums will fall rapidly
• Avoid convictions, these significantly add to premiums
• Consider paying a higher excess to reduce your premium
• Avoid withholding information from your insurer, as the chance of being caught is high

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Driving Instructor's Pain in the Neck

Today, whilst driving around Medway giving lessons to pupils in the normal way I suddenly cricked my neck. Driving down Chatham High Street I looked to the left and felt it go. It was only then that I realised that being a driving instructor involves turning you head much more than I realised.

I also realise how poor my posture is during driving lessons. Partly facing the pupil, legs bent slightly the other way to cover the dual controls and constantly looking from pupil to road ahead to road behind and covering blindspots.

I have decided that I need one of those beady seat covers that you use to see cab drivers using and I also need to get myself a masseur - at the moment have to do with Ibuprofen, bah. On a brighter note had a pupil pass first time at Gillingham test centre yesterday. A friend of mine has just started up a cleaning compay. Here is the url of his site. http://kentcleaning.co.uk/ Come to think of it I think I need a cleaner too!

Car Insurance for Women - Is it Really Cheaper?

Automobile insurance is a great price for everybody, only some spheres of the populace enjoy less expensive rates compared to other people of the equivalent age. For example, females. Normally, their insurance premiums are cheaper than males with the same attributes. Here's an editorial about it which will help you save.

Car Insurance for Women Can Be Very inexpensive and simple to Get

Females can often acquire more affordable car insurance than men. That is because a lot of insurance firms typically consider females to be more dependable motorists. If you are a female driver then you have to ensure you achieve the most beneficial car insurance as possible. Anything may occur, so you had better possess the best insurance coverage achievable at all times.

because automobile insurance is cheaper for any woman than man, you ought be able to afford more cover than males. Even if you are the most expert driver on the planet, there are still dangerous drivers on the highway that might cause an accident involving you. Your motorcar could also breakdown up at anytime and cause you to crash. Always put safety first above all else.

Car insurance premiums for women have different cover options: lthird party, third party fire and theft, fully comprehensive. There are also extras you are able to append to your insurance coverage plan, like emergency road service.

contingent on the choice you select, you can be covered if you crash, the other driver if there is one involved, and both. Similarly, property damage insurance coverage will compensate for any property that finishes up damaged as a result of your crash.

If your current insurance plan is high-priced, and you discover yourself having difficulty keeping abreast of payments, then you want to look into other quotes for car insurance for a woman. You are able to find free quotations on the web. Take some time and educate yourself about every the choices and what all you'll require of a plan. Car insurance for women can be low-priced, so ensure your plan addresses all that you require.

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Medway's favourite car passengers

Medway's car drivers would select Cheryl Cole and television comic or all-around mastermind Stephen Fry as their perfect in-car passengers, a study has discovered.

George Clooney and Kylie Minogue follow tight behind the celebrated couple in the listing of famous people that motorists would prefer to pass time with during a lengthy trips..

nevertheless, the study, undertaken by Skoda and YouGov, established that the majority of drivers would decide to journey solo if they got the choice - sixty percentage stated they'd sooner have no passengers at altogether.

A preeminent psychologist has accepted that this sixty pct might be right as motoring solo could in reality be the solution to a more cheerful life.

"Driving on ones own affords you time to reflect, whether chewing over issues or recalling good times," said psychologist Glenda McMahon. "Given the feverish twenty-four/seven life-styles we all nowadays appear to lead, the motorcar has become a refuge for us to elude the stresses and strains of day-to-day life."

Those who do drive unaccompanied mention music as the usual means to pass the time, with forty percentage pronouncing the radio as their driving company. An additional twelve pct savoured the passing scenery and ten pct of interviewees employ the time to think.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, barely one pct of employees believe their gaffer to be their ideal passenger, while driving styles, foul-smelling machines and backseat drivers were likewise identified as aggravations.Tags: breaking, cheryl cole, CherylCole, skoda, Stephen Fry, StephenFry

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Independent driving - part of the 2010 changes to the driving test in Medway

If you are learning to drive in Medway, Maidstone or Gravesend this year. you may be interested in some changes to the driving test that will be introduced in October. The biggest change is the introduction if an independent driving section of the test. this means that you will need to feel confident about driving around your chosen location for the test. Whether you are going to take your test at Gillingham, Maidstone or Medway part of your preparation should involve making yourself much more familiar with the geography around your test centre. Pace Driving School has a good atricle on their website that fully explains what all this will entail for learner drivers in Kent. You can read it here.

Keep Your Car Safe From Thieves

It seems that stories of car crime are never far from the news. But it's not all doom and gloom - there are a whole host of ways that you can protect your car from thieves, and most of them are so obvious that you know them already.

1. Make Sure Your Car is Secure:This is the most obvious, and as such, the most overlooked aspect of car security. It only takes an opportunist a few seconds to take your car, but your insurance company will probably take even less time to decide not to issue you with a payout, if that's how your car got stolen.

2. Never Leave Your Car Unattended With The Keys in it.More obvious than the Pope's religion, this still catches many people out. Easy to do when you're distracted - you just pop into the garage to pay for your petrol, and before you can say 'Someone's nicked my car' - Someone's nicked your car.

Motorists are especially vulnerable to this in the winter months, when they go out to 'defrost' their cars, then head back into the house and wait for it to thaw out. Thieves wait for owners to go back into the house, open the car doors and within seconds they're off, and so is the car. Some people try to be clever by putting the key in the ignition then locking the doors with the spare. But you should remember that it costs a thief nothing to smash your window and steal your car, so you really shouldn't give them the opportunity.

This particular type of seasonal theft is known as 'Frosting' and was reportedly on the increase over last winter. The only way to beat it is to invest in a good coat, a warm hat, scarf and gloves, and stay in the car while it thaws out.

3. Check All Points of Entry Are Secured:This means windows, doors, sunroof, and boot. Even if a window is a tiny bit open, a thief can put pressure on it and either force it down so they can open the door, or force it to break. The same applies with a sunroof, a tiny bit open and they can prise it off.

4. Don't Let Criminals 'Window Shop' From Your Car.You might be surprised to discover that cars are stolen from twice as much as they are actually stolen, and the rate of break-ins tops 1 per hour in some areas of the UK.

Now most of us have gone to our cars at some point and realised that we've left something we shouldn't have done on the seat, floor or parcel shelf. You might have forgotten to take the front fascia off the radio, or maybe your mobile has slipped out of your pocket and ended up in full view on the seat. Either way, you feel a sense of relief that you got away with it this time.

So to beat the opportunist thieves, always check your car before you leave it parked somewhere and check it again from the outside in case there is something you missed or couldn't see from inside the vehicle.

Remove shoeboxes, bags or anything that could contain anything that may interest a thief - even if you know there is nothing in there, a thief doesn't.It's you who will foot the bill if a thief decides it's worth the chance, so ask yourself, is an empty bag in view worth the price of replacing your locks?

5. Choose Where You Park CarefullyParking in a badly lit urban area makes it more likely that your car will be targeted by thieves. Go to a secure car park if possible.

If there isn't an approved car park available, park in the most well-lit area you can find, which will also increase your personal safety as well as make your car less likely to fall foul of thieves.

If you're visiting an event, for example a concert or football match - dig deeper and pay the bit extra to park in a manned car park. If you don't want to pay out, park as far away as you can, and remove any references to the team or band you are watching as car thieves in the area will be looking for people who are going to the event safe in the knowledge that you won't be coming back for a good few hours.

6. Make Your Car Look Secure - Even if it Isn't.Even if it's not got an alarm, stick stickers on it saying it has. Invest in a steering lock and fit immobilisers if you can. Nothing will stop someone who really, really wants your car, but if you can get an opportunist thief to look at your car and decide it's too much of a risk, then you're better off than many.

We spend too much time driving cars

Even the keenest of drivers feels tired after putting a few hundred miles under the wheels, but research has now uncovered the staggering distance UK motorists drive.

According to an Admiral car insurance study of two million policyholders, each spends an average of 7,755 miles behind the wheel in a year.

Those motorists alone cover a total of more than 15 billion miles, but with 34.5 million licence holders in the UK, the insurer estimates that all UK drivers put together cover a total annual distance of 267 billion miles.

The amazing figure means that, laid end to end, car journeys by UK drivers alone would take them to the moon and back over half a million times.

And with the sun 'only' 93 million miles away, UK motorists drive the equivalent of more than 1,400 round trips each year.

And despite the rising costs of car ownership, the average UK motorist's annual mileage has increased by 4.5% since 2000, the insurer says.

"Most motorists don't realise just how far they drive each year," said Admiral managing director Sue Longthorn.

"It's staggering, especially when you consider there are only around 246,000 miles of road in the country," she added.

"It's no wonder our roads seem so congested."