Spring Budget 2017 and its impact on the UK motorist

It was the Chancellor Philip Hammond’s first budget and the UK people were keeping a close observation. It was anticipated with so much excitement as everyone wanted to know what the government has planned for its people after Brexit. Although, experts do not consider it as the best budget, it still affects a big deal of our present as well as future life. Today, we talk about the impact of the Spring Budget 2017 on the UK motorist. Read below to find what the Chancellor has declared for reducing urban congestion, fuel duty freeze, IPT and more.

How the Spring Budget 2017 affects the motorist?

Fund for easing urban congestion: The UK ranks as the third most congested country in Europe and events of road rage and accidents are common on these roads. The budget made special consideration for this and allotted £690 million for English councils that can leverage it through bidding. The Chancellor declared £90 million for the North and £23 million for the Midlands for facilitating transport on the UK roads.

Fuel duty freeze: Just like their fellow predecessors, this government also agreed to keep the fuel duty freeze intact for the seventh consecutive year at 57.95p. For this, the treasury allots £850 million and gives car drivers a chance to save £130 and van drivers £350 a year. Although, the Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for vehicles would increase from April 1, the VED rates for hauliers and HGV road users will be frozen for another year. New cars purchased after April 2017 would fall under the new Vehicle Excise Duty rules.

Insurance Premium Tax: The Chancellor was tight lipped about the IPT and chose not to talk about it but, the experts suggest that the government would implement its autumn statement announcement of a 12% rise in the premiums from June 2017.

Road maintenance: The exchequer did not announce funds or schemes for road maintenance. Experts were waiting for some announcement considering the condition of UK roads and preventive measures for potholes. As the number of pothole related breakdowns has multiplied by two, people were anticipating fund for road maintenance.

Advance cars and new technology: The Chancellor announced a fund of £270 million for high tech vehicles and autonomous cars. This would be used in creating infrastructure for combating the loop holes of driverless cars.

Author Bio:
 

Arjun Vishram is a financial advisor at Freepricecompare.com and a passionate blogger. He writes on personal finance and money-saving tips. He suggests all UK motorists to compare car insurance quotes before accepting renewal quote with existing supplier. When he isn’t writing, he is spending time to find advance technique of farming and its way of applying. He also plays his guitar gifted by his father.

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Ready to pay heavy fines for texting or calling at the Wheel

UK drivers are often caught texting or making calls while driving on the roads leading to risky situations and accidents. However, this practice is going to fetch them much higher premiums as the insurers can now keep a check on them. With the telematics car insurance, insurers can keep a watch on the driver through their mobile phones.

The device tracks whether the person is using mobile phone or hands free device and informs the insurer. In return, the insurer raises the premiums of the driver or withdraws the policy in extreme cases. Telematics tracks the driver either through mobile phones or black boxes. It informs the insurer about the driving pattern like braking, acceleration and cornering. As the app runs in the background of the phone, the insurer gets a detailed report of every function used in the phone. It could be anything from making calls to using maps.

According to data from the AA, it was found that drivers could actually face a 28% hike in premiums if they are found using phones while driving. Some of the companies do not offer policies to the drivers with a history of using phones while driving. While this is an advantage for the insurer, it does intrude in the privacy of the policyholders. Wunelli, the provider of telematics technology confirms that a lot more can be monitored through the mobile phones.

Simon Morrissey, head of data and privacy at law firm Lewis Silkin, talked about the intrusion of privacy by saying that “That type of ‘cross-pollination of information’, where one app knows what you’re doing on other apps, creates a privacy issue. In my view, if they know that you’re using your phone while driving, that is intrusive.”

Telematics expert are pledging to develop technology that overcomes such issues and makes the monitoring more concise. Debarring these drawbacks, telematics is still a popular name in motor insurance and the popularity is growing by leaps and bounds. There has been a 23% increase in the number of people choosing telematics or black box insurance totaling the number to 561,500 drivers as of now. While a quarter of these drivers choose to be tracked through mobiles, the rest allow the black box method of estimating the driving behavior.

Therefore, if you are using telematics then better keep your hands off the phone at least while driving. To make matters worse, the government is planning to increase the penalty to two hundred pounds for all those caught using phones while driving. So, better beware and start practicing good driving habits.

Author Bio:

Arjun Vishram is a personal finance mentor working at UK’s leading price comparison website FreePriceCompare.com. He suggests all UK motorists to compare car insurance quotes before renewal the cover from existing provider. To cover the smaller damage, he recommends a cosmetic car insurance cover so one can protect no-claim discount on next premium.

All you young drivers can now save up to £350 on car insurance! How? Check Here!

If facts and statistics are to be believed then it was discovered that young drivers pay the highest car insurance costs in the UK. According to independent research, the increasing premium cost along with hikes in Insurance Premium Tax play a vital role in adding to the car insurance cost. However, what pushes the boundaries is the unwillingness of young drivers to shop around and sticking to the same insurance provider year after year.

While insurance providers leverage on the auto renewal of motor insurance policies, the drivers are showing a real laidback attitude towards searching for cheaper quotes. In fact, the gap between the cheapest policies and the average cost of insurance is found to be £123 – the highest since 2012. This gap may rise further provided the drivers keep showing reluctance towards shopping around for motor insurance deals.

Experts also predict a further rise in IPT in the year 2017, taking the premium costs to a higher level. In recent times, it was observed that there was a £20 price hike in December 2016 which totals around £608 and £30 increase in average car insurance cost which was calculated to be £738. The savings variable has also increased from 15.8% in the beginning of 2016 to 17.6% in December 2016.

The best trick to reduce car insurance cost – Shop around!

One of the best ways to cut down on insurance costs is to shop around and compare car insurance quotes provided by insurers across the UK. Moreover, the cheapest policies may not be the best for you and your vehicle, so, it is best to check for policies that are reliable and more beneficial even if they charge a bit more than the cheapest deals. Apart from shopping around, you can slash the premiums by choosing cheaper car models, installing a Black box and mileage reducing features in your car.

As per statistics, if you are a young motorist who stops the auto renewal cycle and shops around then you can save around £350 a year on your motor insurance.

All You Need to Know about Temporary car insurance

You might not have a clear idea about temporary car insurance but, it is worth knowing as there are many benefits of this kind of short term insurance for a driver in the UK. We all know that standard car insurance offers a cover for 12 months which needs to be renewed annually or you can easily switch to another provider that offers better costs and huge discounts.

What if you do not want cover for the entire year and just need it for a borrowed car or a vehicle that you are planning to drive on a one-off basis. Well, under standard car insurance, you would not be covered for these circumstances. That is when temporary car insurance which is also popular as courtesy car insurance comes into the picture. Like for example, when you want to drive your friend’s car, you can get yourself added in their policy but, this may not be the cheapest solution.

Moreover, if you meet with an accident and make claim for it then there are chances that it would spoil their no claim bonus, which makes it hard for them to purchase cheap car insurance later. It is better to go for the ‘driving other car’ cover if your policy already includes it as an add-on. Although, very few insurers offer this kind of cover now and it is predominantly a part of the third party cover which does not pay out for your own vehicle. Therefore, it is advisable to check your policy for this add-on.

The need of temporary car insurance cover:

There are many benefits to this kind of cover as it offers insurance for short term periods like 1 to 28 days or stretches up to 90 days. This is the best option when you need a vehicle for moving home or borrowing a vehicle to learn driving.

Another major benefit is that you save up on the hiring charges by purchasing temporary insurance for a car that your friend or family is happy to lend.

You can leverage this kind of insurance to drive a new car home. Normally, car sellers would offer a short term insurance but if you are purchasing a second hand private vehicle then you need to make sure that it reaches home safely and is insured during the way to home. You can then easily analyse and choose an annual car insurance policy when you are free.

If you want to hire a van then think about trying temporary insurance as the total charges of the policy are cheaper than the hiring charges of vans. Most of the hire companies would offer third party insurance and so, you may need to buy a short term insurance, which offers comprehensive cover which means you get repair charges for the vehicle you are driving. Just check with the hiring company on this and then select the temporary car insurance policy.

Temporary insurance is also beneficial for those who are learning to drive. You can take this insurance on a family member or friend’s car so that it would not affect the ‘no claims bonus’ of the owner and still keep the vehicle insured for accidents or dents that take place while learning. This kind of insurance also works wonders if you want to drive a car abroad or borrow it for a short break or share driving with friends. Few of the providers offer cover for driving in the EU but, you need to confirm with the provider and check the small print.

Is temporary car insurance valid for all?

No! It varies with age and the insurance provider. While most of the car insurers offer this kind of short term insurance for drivers aged between 17 and 75, some of them do not offer it for drivers under 25. If you are an experienced driver with a UK license then you would easily get it. However, there are some specialist providers that offer this kind of insurance for less experienced drivers and those who are learning to drive.

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you have a history of making claims or a bad license history then it might become difficult to buy a temporary insurance. For this, you need to shop around and find the few providers that would offer you the cover. Some of the insurers offer it only if the car is of certain value which could be up to £50,000.

What is the cost of temporary car insurance?

The cost varies depending on certain factors like the period of coverage, licence type, experience in driving, postcode, etc. For this kind of short term policy, you need to pay the excess in case you meet with an accident. You can get a customised quote which is pre decided based on your willingness to pay a certain amount of excess. In addition, you need the permission of the car owner, car registration number, license and your personal details to compare the temporary car insurance quotes.

London car owners pay twice more for car insurance than the rest of Britain

Well, it is no surprise that London is an expensive place to live in. Starting from homes to car insurance, everything is costlier than the rest of Britain. The capital of England has its own charm but definitely comes with a higher cost of living. According to the latest reports by an independent survey, it was discovered that Londoners pay twice more in car insurance cost when compared to the rest of Britain.

As per the latest statistics, the average cost of insuring a car in London turns out to be £1,460. This is almost double than the rest of the Great Britain where the average cost of car insurance is around £714. When the highest insurance cost was compared with the lowest, which is paid by the people of South-West, a stark difference of £800 was observed between the two.

One of the biggest reasons for such high cost of car insurance is the expensive cars. Londoners can easily boast of some of the priciest cars in the country and the average price of a car in London is calculated as £10,232. While Nissan Qashqai bears a handsome price tag and costs around £10,416, its premium turns out to be £822, which is the cheapest model to insure. Contrary to that, the premium of Volkswagen Golf is calculated as a whopping £1,593 while the cost of the car itself is £11,066.

Talking about the costliest cars, the Mercedes Benz E Class tops the charts with a price tag of £19,099 and an insurance cost of £1,444. Leaving behind the Merc is BMW 3 series which demands you to pay £1,745. The basic reason apart from the pricey cars is that there are more chances of accidents and car thefts in urban areas than in the rest of the places in the country. Drivers in city areas are riskier to insure than those in the countryside and thus, car insurers charge higher premiums from them.

Although, you cannot change the place you live, you can certainly take measures to cut down the insurance costs. These steps include parking cars in garages, using the Black Box/ buying a telematics policy, adding a valid driver to the policy and more. You should also shop around to find the best motor insurance provider in the UK. This may sound like a Godzilla sized task but we can help you combat it by comparing the best quotes and suggesting you the cheapest of all car insurance providers in the UK.

To know more about our price comparison services, you can check our website https://freepricecompare.com/car-insurance/ or call our friendly and reliable team of comparison experts on 02034757476.

Author Bio:

Arjun Vishram is a financial advisor at Freepricecompare.com and a passionate blogger. He writes on personal finance and money-saving tips. He suggests all UK motorists to compare car insurance quotes before accepting renewal quote with existing supplier. When he isn’t writing, he is spending time to find advance technique of farming and its way of applying. He also plays his guitar gifted by his father.