Within the last couple of weeks it has been revealed that an insurer is charging clients more should they take a speed awareness course over the points from a speeding conviction. It was said that the big name company are claiming that despite the fact you do not actually get the points on your license it should still be treated as a conviction and therefore they are entitled to increase your insurance premiums. This is definitely not the case at Keith Michaels and our convicted driver car insurance would not have a premium loading.
A spokesperson for the company stated “although a speed awareness course is a replacement for penalty points, it does not change the fact that the person involved has committed a speeding offence. Our claims statistics show that drivers who have committed a speeding offence could be a higher risk than drivers who do not commit speeding offences. This means the people attending a speed awareness course are more likely to make a claim and we price these risks accordingly.” The increase in premiums does however contradict the policy set out by police forces and local councils who say that the course will have no effect on your insurance, as is the case with our speeding insurance.
With a number of investigations showing that policies with the company can in fact rise from as much as £60 to £300 it does raise the question, what is the point in attending the course? A valid point that has put a bit of a scare into the local councils and police forces that promise insurance will not be affected if you were to opt out of a points penalty in order to keep your name clean on any convictions lists. The Association of Chief Police Officers have released a statement on the matter saying “we would argue that this is about improving road safety and therefore reducing risk, so it is a real concern to us. I’ve had many letters come to me that say ‘this was a really good course, I will do things differently’ – if people are doing that then that is reducing the risk. I think therefore it is unfair that insurance companies are loading premiums, it’s not appropriate.”
Although we agree that this is an unfair punishment for clients it has been made clear by the insurer that unless the client discloses the fact they have attended the course there is actually no way of them knowing as there is no database that will inform insurers who has actually attended these courses. Here at Keith Michaels we have no such insurers that will load for taking the course so we would still agree that it is beneficial to attend the courses in order to keep the insurance of your vehicles to a minimum.
Keith Michaels are specialists for convicted driver insurance and whether you have had a conviction for speeding or driving under the influence of alcohol, we are here to offer assistance and have built up a number of schemes that allow us to offer competitive rates for clients that do get in touch. For your quote, call us today.