From January 2008, thousands of classic car drivers who are running late renewing the insurance on their pride and joy, could be affected by a rule change aimed at tightening the police’s grip on uninsured driving.

Insurance companies must now register customers’ details on to the Motor Insurance Database (MID) within seven days – instead of the previous 14 days limit. This means that anyone that does not renew their car insurance cover before its expiry date could be caught out.  The police now use automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology which cross checks a vehicle’s registration against the MID. If the police stop a driver who cannot prove that they are covered, their car could be confiscated.

This new scheme has not been implemented to catch out the innocent – instead it is the latest step in a crackdown on those who deliberately avoid paying for car insurance. Figures suggest one in every 20 drivers avoids paying car insurance premiums, and the annual cost to the industry of injuries and accidents caused by those uninsured is more than £500m according to the Motor Insurance Bureau.

So a message for all you classic car enthusiasts out there, please avoid being caught out by this new scheme and take advantage of Sureterms’ competitive insurance prices by giving us a call on 0845 20 20 230

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Sir Michael Pitt, Chairman of the South West Strategic Health Authority, was asked by Ministers to conduct an independent review of the flooding emergency that took place in June and July this year.

It was released today with some clear messages:

* Britain was entirely unprepared for the floods
* The risk of further flooding in some parts of the country should be given the same priority as terrorist attacks or bird flu
* Millions of householders in at-risk areas should prepare themselves better by storing vital documents and possessions upstairs in plastic boxes and having a “flood kit” in the house, containing torch, batteries, mobile phones, rubber gloves and a first aid kit.

Sir Michael Pitt’s report made 87 recommendations, including 15 which he described as “urgent”, to reduce the impact of further floods in the near future.

He said: “I want to raise up the priority and importance of flood risk management nationally and locally. I think we should put this on a par with things like terrorism risk or influenza pandemic where we already have national frameworks in place to deal with these sorts of emergencies.”

And he said he was surprised by the way some people in flood-risk areas had assumed they would not be hit.

“What was surprising to me was the extent to which people, even though they are living in a flood-risk area, make assumptions that it won’t happen to them,” he said.

“There are many things that individuals can do to strengthen the resilience of their home; for example, having good insurance is an obvious thing that should be done.”

Remember, for great household insurance policies, contact Sureterm Direct on                0845 20 20 230

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This encourages them to take out their own insurance early on and build up their own ‘No Claims Discounts’ rather than adding themselves as a named driver on their parents’ licences – a practice known as ‘fronting’.

Other motor insurers are tightening up on parents who add children as drivers on their policies to save costs. But instead, we believe our 30% Discount Scheme is an attractive way to help both young drivers and their parents get the best from their car insurance.

Call us on 0845 20 20 230 and we’d be delighted to discuss our great new scheme.

Background to ‘fronting’

‘Fronting’ is when young drivers appear as a named driver on parents’ policies but effectively become the main driver of a vehicle. Churchill, Privilege and Direct Line, are all reviewing their underwriting criteria to exclude the loophole.

Churchill will still provide “young additional driver” cover but has amended the questions completed on its proposal form to identity potential cases of fronting.

Esure has also changed its underwriting criteria and now bases its premiums on the highest-risk driver named on the policy, as opposed to the “main” driver.

This means that where a risk would have been based on a parent as the policyholder with, for example, a 17-year-old named as an additional driver, in future the premium will be based on the 17-year-old as highest-risk driver.

‘Fronting’ is commonplace – two-thirds of the 1,733 adults questioned in a recent survey said they would consider “fronting” even though it is fraudulent.

Insuring a car in a name other than the main driver and adding other higher-risk motorists can have serious consequences.

Insurers who uncover cases of this nature are at liberty to repudiate a claim, cancel the policy or charge the correct premium as a lump sum.

Drivers who have had a policy cancelled are obliged to declare the fact in future applications and this can increase premiums or even make it difficult to find cover.

“Fronting” also prevents young drivers from building up a no-claims discount.

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