Latest Insurance News

July 2, 2009

Sainsbury’s offers summer discount on car insurance

by David Masters
Sainsbury's is offering 12 months car insurance for the price of ten this summer. Motorists taking an insurance policy with the supermarket financial provider before 31st August 2009 will receive 2 months cover free. Customers who take out the policy online will receive an extra 10% discount. Features of the policy include compensation for vehicle vandalism and road rage, and the replacement of ...

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June 30, 2009

Airlines flout EU insurance rules

by David Masters
A number of low-cost airlines are flouting EU rules on automatically adding travel insurance when flights are booked. An investigation by consumer rights group Which? found that easyJet, Jet2 and Monarch continue to automatically add travel insurance policies at the time of booking. The cost of this extra insurance is between £7 and £10.49 per passenger. Travellers booking a flight with these airlines have to ...

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Does your home insurance cover DIY blunders?

by David Masters
DIY Brits planning to do up their homes on the cheap should check their home insurance policy covers them for any DIY blunders before they get out the toolbox, Saga Insurance warned this week. The over-50s insurance specialist issued the warning to coincide with new research showing that DIY is a popular past-time with the older generation. Three quarters of over-50s opt ...

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June 25, 2009

Saga adds breakdown repair to roadside cover

by David Masters
Saga is offering customers with breakdown assistance cover the chance to upgrade to a new policy that includes breakdown repair production. The over-50's insurance specialist said the new policy covers customers for up to £500 for labour and parts if their vehicle is so damaged that it cannot be repaired at the roadside and needs taking to a garage. Breakdowns due to ...

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June 24, 2009

Lloyds Banking Group and L&G announce job losses

by Kay Murchie
Yet again the financial services sector has been dealt a heavy blow with the news that Lloyds Banking Group is shedding 240 offshore banking jobs. Furthermore, Legal & General (L&G) has confirmed plans to axe 200 positions from its protection and annuities business in Hove, Cardiff and Kingswood in Surrey. Lloyds Banking Group, which is 43% state-owned, has shed thousands of ...

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June 18, 2009

Motorists beware of ‘ghost car’ fraudsters

by David Masters
Motorists looking for a second-hand bargain should beware of conmen selling 'ghost cars'. Criminal gangs are using well-known motoring websites to tempt unwitting members of the public into parting with their cash for cars that don't exist, Carcraft warned this week. After they enquire about a vehicle, buyers are redirected to a different website and told to put down payment whilst the car ...

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June 12, 2009

Home insurance ‘vital’ warns Biba

by David Masters
Frugal householders that scrimp on home insurance to save money are playing a risky game, an industry expert warned this week. Graeme Trudgill, corporate affairs executive at the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA), said homeowners should not use the recession as an excuse to stop paying premiums on buildings and contents insurance cover. His comments follow a survey by the Association of British Insurers ...

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June 11, 2009

Axa to shed more than 500 positions

by Kay Murchie
Insurance company Axa has today announced plans to axe 560 jobs in the UK over the next few months. Around 120 jobs are set to go at its main operations in Ipswich, which has a workforce of around 1,600 and employs staff in sales, claims and administration. The company also has offices in London, Bolton, Manchester and Birmingham. Commenting on the ...

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Holiday season heats up travel insurance

by David Masters
Record numbers of holidaymakers are searching for the best deals on travel insurance at price comparison website Confused.com. Travel insurance enquires at the site are up 63% compared to this time last year – a trend Confused.com expects to see continue throughout the summer. Single trip insurance is proving the most popular, with seven in ten holidaymakers budgeting carefully by searching out cover ...

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June 10, 2009

Insurers upbeat for year ahead

by David Masters
Insurance firms remain upbeat about the year ahead despite taking a battering from the credit crunch. Over half (55%) of the world's leading insurers expect organic growth to improve over the next 12 months, whilst a similar number (53%) expect to grow through acquisitions. International expansion is the favoured option for many companies, with the big emerging economies of Brazil, China, India and Russia ...

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June 9, 2009

Is your festival tent insured?

by David Masters
With the summer festival season approaching fast, moneysupermarket.com has urged festival-goers to check if their home insurance covers possessions stored in a tent. “Tents can be left unguarded for hours at a time, so while it's essential not to leave valuables lying around, it is also important to check your insurance will cover you if necessary,” said Steve Sweeney, head of home insurance ...

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June 8, 2009

Comprehensive cover squeezed by recession

by David Masters
Over 300,000 UK motorists have downgraded their insurance cover to third party as the recession takes it toll on their finances. Meanwhile, an additional one million third party policy holders could no longer afford fully comprehensive cover even if they wanted it. The news comes despite the fact that more than a third (34%) of drivers are ignorant of what third party cover actually ...

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AXA secures Ryanair partnership

by David Masters
AXA Travel Insurance is to offer travel insurance to passengers of low-cost airline Ryanair following an agreement between the two companies. Under the terms of the deal, starting September 2010, AXA will offer Ryanair's 67 million passengers single-trip, multi-trip and annual travel insurance policies on ryanair.com. Michael Cawley of Ryanair said the partnership with AXA will provide passengers with a “competitively priced, tailor-made travel insurance ...

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June 5, 2009

Brits faking burglaries to scam insurance

by David Masters
Brits desperate for cash are attempting to scam insurance firms by pretending they've been burgled, a senior police officer warned this week. Chief Constable Julie Spence said a recent rise in the number of fraudulent burglary claims is one of the “twists of the economic recession”. Spence cited 10 cases in recent months in her north Cambridgeshire beat where fictitious burglaries have been ...

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June 2, 2009

Direct Line offers 50% off contents insurance

by David Masters
Direct Line Home Insurance is offering new customers 50% off contents insurance policies until 30 September 2009. New customers can take advantage of the offer as a single policy, or alongside buildings insurance. The insurer said it decided on the price cut to help people with the cost of summer living. “There are always unexpected costs during the summer, whether they be a ...

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Brits think cars make wheelie-good cupboards

by David Masters
Many UK drivers treat their cars as cupboards-on-wheels, using them to store valuable goods including sat navs, books, glasses and sports equipment. Around 7 million motorists store items worth more than £200 in their vehicle, with 2.8 million of these storing items worth more than £400, recent research discovered. Youngsters and Londoners cite lack of storage space in their homes as the reason ...

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Brits to spend £20bn on used cars

by David Masters
One in ten UK adults will buy a second-hand car this summer, each spending an average of nearly £4,500. With 4.5 million drivers forking out cash for a used car between March and August 2009, the second-hand market could be worth more than £20 billion. However, this represents a 21% decrease in spending compared to the previous six month period, and a ...

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NHS prices keep Brits away from dentists

by David Masters
An apple a day may keep the dentist away, but current NHS prices are keeping the British public away from the dentist. Nearly half of Brits put off going to the dentist because they can't afford the fees, a new study has discovered. The potential high cost of dental bills keeps 42% of Brits away from the leather chair, with many saying ...

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June 1, 2009

Moneywise short-lists best providers for customer service

by David Masters
A short-list of the financial providers that offer the best customer service was unveiled this week by Moneywise. Moneywise revealed the firms that have been nominated for its Customer Service Awards 2009 in the categories of online current accounts, in-branch current accounts, mortgages, home insurance, and credit cards. Halifax, First Direct, and Lloyds TSB are nominated for the best online current ...

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Norwich Union brand scrapped

by Kay Murchie
The renowned brand, Norwich Union (NU), has gone for good today after it has been replaced by Aviva. Last April, Aviva stunned the insurance sector by announcing it was to scrap the NU brand, which as been one of the country’s best-known financial services brands for over 200 years. According to Aviva’s chief executive, Andrew Moss, the rebranding is part of a plan to unify ...

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