Insurance: how do the rest of the world do it?

[RainbowFire]

Most of us on here are, as we know, living in "rip-off Britain" where the car insurance industry looks for any excuse to increase premiums or decrease pay-outs. Pretty much a given.

How does the rest of Europe / the world do insurance?

[Huskoda]

Some friends in Poland who just got their license said they insured their car (Fabia 1.9) for about £200. They both can drive it as can anyone else with a valid EU license. No previous noclaims, in their 20s, have their license less than a year. Makes my blood boil.

[DaKKs_152]

The ripping off anyone they can happens here too. For instance my insurance company, Trygg & Hansa, claims wind shield repairs for chips and cracks under 30 cm is free. Yet they raise the premiums every time you use that "freebie". Another, Länsförsäkringar, refused to pay my mates car on the basis that Type approved vehicles are illegal to modify. He an aftermarket air filter (K&N) which was, and i quote, "A dangerous pirated aftermarket part that risked the lives of the occupant and other road users." They actually said "pirated", almost as if it was a rubbish chinese copy of the original VAG filter.

As for general insurance. The vehicle is insured, not the driver. Which makes it a lot easer for young drives such as myself to have another owner on the car and therefore lowering the insurance premium. Insuring my Fabia would cost me 21775 SEK for a year which is 2110 quid. For instance, if my father is the legal owner, the same insurance on the same car is 3460 SEK yearly, which is 335 quid. And I'm allowed to drive it just like any other car.

[chicken_eyebrow]

From what I can remember in Germany they keep their premiums down through two main methods:

- They put a much wider range of cars than we do into their "high" insurance groupings which means most cars (not just high performance ones) are out of the reach of inexperienced drivers, hence less accidents

- The TUV is a whole hell of a lot stricter than our MOT so there are less accidents caused by parts failure or dodgy modifications

less accidents = less claims = lower premiums

Edited 16 April, 2013 by chicken_eyebrow

[Raf_]

From experience some Asian countries insure the car and not the driver, so anyone who's held a licence for a few years can drive the car. Was fun driving a evo knowing that I was totally legal lol

Sent from my dad's old HTC Incredible S, not a dodgy s3!

[servicepoint]

Spain iirc insure the car and not the individual for a car. As long as the driver is over 25.

[TriggerFish]

As does Holland too. Out of interest, does anyone know if the policy works the same way once on UK soil? I drove a friends C5 (on a back country road) under the belief it would be, but just wanted check either way.

Personally, I the the EU way is a better idea, although what determines the cost? Is it a blanket rate for each model, or a rate * a multiplier for the owners age etc?

[RobClubley]

New Zealand has no compulsory car insurance.

Insurance is cheaper - I pay about $600 (under 300 quid at current exchange rate) per year for fully comp, any driver over 25, mods declared, guaranteed value, zero excess glass cover.

The downside is that we have 15 year-olds (yes you can drive at 15) driving uninsured Subaru STIs and V8 Ford Falcons or Commodores.

We have a relatively high rate of road deaths per capita.

It's improving as our national fleet of vehicles gets newer and safer but the average car is 7-10 years old.

[ChrisRs]

No compulsory car insurance?...I bet the lawyers in New Zealand are doing well!!

[Huskoda]

So it seems every other country insures the car, rather than the driver and it works out cheaper. So that statement that here we insure the driver so each policy is tailored to the individual's experience/ability to make it as cheap as possible is utter *******s.

[ChrisRs]

Complete *******s......it would appear

[Jabozuma]

One more thing about Germany mentioned above is that driver training in incomparably stricter and courts throw out whiplash claims if occurred under 10km/h (or so) without even reading them . All young kids drive old but well serviced bangers and it is very cheap.

Theoretically UK system should be good as it was designed to benefit good drivers but penalise morons behind the wheel. Sadly, as many other things with good intentions it was perversely twisted into this parody we have now. I cannot complain as my premiums are silly low but when I come to think about my son getting insurance when the time comes I cringe and start saving... Or I will buy him a car and insure it in Germany .

[DaKKs_152]

^ That's actually not a bad idea. Assuming UK law permits it. Or, more precisely, has a loophole big enough.

I have a mate who drives a Chrysler with polish plates. The car is much cheaper to buy there. Insurance, tax and the whole package. And the best thing is that he cant get fined for speeding (unless he gets pulled over), parking or anything really. Doesn't have to pay the road toll (or congestion tax as we call it either). And his car cant be towed because local regulations don't permit foreign plated cars to be towed without contacting the owner.

Assuming of course that the owner of the foreign plated car is a citizen in both countries and has a foreign address. And that the car is completely legal in the country of origin.

[briskycat]

In Russia liability insurance is compulsory since 2003 and many reckon that it should be made optional again. Insured is a combination of a car and drivers allowed to drive it. There is an option, though, to insure only the car - then anyone with a valid licence is allowed to drive it. The latter is obviously much more expensive.

As for the premiums, I pay about 100 pounds for my Yeti per year. The policy limit is only about 2500 pounds though (there is an option to increase it at the cost of extra premium). The premiums depend on the power of the engine, driver's age, experience, claims history and the region where the car is registered.

Comprehensive cover is optional and much more expensive. Mine would cost ~£1000 with no excess and ~£500 with £1200 excess.

[Jabozuma]

^ That's actually not a bad idea. Assuming UK law permits it. Or, more precisely, has a loophole big enough.

I have a mate who drives a Chrysler with polish plates. The car is much cheaper to buy there. Insurance, tax and the whole package. And the best thing is that he cant get fined for speeding (unless he gets pulled over), parking or anything really. Doesn't have to pay the road toll (or congestion tax as we call it either). And his car cant be towed because local regulations don't permit foreign plated cars to be towed without contacting the owner.

Assuming of course that the owner of the foreign plated car is a citizen in both countries and has a foreign address. And that the car is completely legal in the country of origin.

I think you can drive a car on freign plates in UK for 12 months only unless you can prove you travel all the time or something, not sure.

BTW, I love your sig

[craig180]

So it seems every other country insures the car, rather than the driver and it works out cheaper. So that statement that here we insure the driver so each policy is tailored to the individual's experience/ability to make it as cheap as possible is utter *******s.

Every car in the UK has to carry valid insurance to be driven by anyone, therefore we also insure "the car"??

I know I insure my cars so I don't really see how this is any different to other countries.

Edited 17 April, 2013 by craig180

[Huskoda]

Every car in the UK has to carry valid insurance to be driven by anyone, therefore we also insure "the car"??

I know I insure my cars so I don't really see how this is any different to other countries.

Yes, but sortof no.

I've never experienced insurance in the UK where you get insurance for the car and then anyone with a license can drive it. I can and have driven cars in Poland where I do not have my own insurance in any way, because the owner has insured it.

Here, the driver has to be insured to drive the car.

[slider]

So it seems every other country insures the car, rather than the driver and it works out cheaper. So that statement that here we insure the driver so each policy is tailored to the individual's experience/ability to make it as cheap as possible is utter *******s.

WE have had comments that in some countries it is the car that is "insured" not the driver but no one has yet commented of the cost of this or whether it really is that much cheaper.

You can of course insure a car in the UK on an "any driver" basis - many work car and vans will be insured this way. It just more expensive.

One point is that is everybody actually did have insurance then it would be cheaper for all of us. As it stands we all pay a premium to cover massive uninsured losses. Making compulsory for all cars to be insured for any driver MAY just help that.

[m17rkj]

Canada has the vehicle insured system as other countries mentioned. Here in BC all car insurance is underwritten by the Provincial Government under a scam, sorry, scheme called ICBC which gives you basic third party cover which can then be optionally topped up to fully comp through them or other insurers, as we do. Our cars are insured for any driver provided they have had a valid license for 10yrs +.

total premium on the wife's MX-5 comes to about 400 quid a year equivalent, that's with 500 quid excess and $20,000,000 of third party liability...my Audi is about 460 quid equiv.

we also have a stipulation on our policies for winter tyres. our postcode falls under rural location so between 1 Oct - 30 Apr our cars must have them fitted, you crash without them fitted, no payout, end of.

Mark

Edited 18 April, 2013 by m17rkj

[Huskoda]

WE have had comments that in some countries it is the car that is "insured" not the driver but no one has yet commented of the cost of this or whether it really is that much cheaper.

I posted an example of this myself.

I do agree with you that if you just had to insure the car, we'd likely have fewer uninsured drivers. It would also make it much easier to maintain who can drive what and chase down uninsured owners.

[AnotherGareth]

Our cars are insured for any driver provided they have had a valid license for 10yrs +

What would the comparative cost be if you were to insure your cars for people who have only just gained a valid licence? Presumably there is a significant saving if you don't do this?

[slider]

I posted an example of this myself.

I do agree with you that if you just had to insure the car, we'd likely have fewer uninsured drivers. It would also make it much easier to maintain who can drive what and chase down uninsured owners.

Fair point but we new to compare like with like. I.e. what is the "value" of £200 in Poland. a far fairer measure would be to compare the cost of insuring the car to the average wage.

[cheezemonkhai]

Insure the car and add a premium increase if you want anyone under the age of 25 or with less than 2 years since licence pass driving it.

[RainbowFire]

Insure the car and add a premium increase if you want anyone under the age of 25 or with less than 2 years since licence pass driving it.

The basic 3rd party insurance could be done through the DVLA and tied in with VED and MOT so you'd get an annual certificate for all three, maybe in the form of some sort of windscreen display of, oh, let's say a circular shape. (And not tie it to the end of a month, but any day of the month.) "Extras" could then be a top-up scheme with an insurer of your choice.

Expensive insurance, IMHO, is what leads so many people to drive without insurance in the first place, which makes insurance expensive. The insurance industry prides itself on the obscene about of profit it makes. So, once again, it's all about money, not people. The UK insurance industry knows that insurance is compulsory, and fleeces people accordingly. All this rubbish about statistics is a poor attempt to try and justify the fleecing.

[briskycat]

The UK insurance industry knows that insurance is compulsory, and fleeces people accordingly. All this rubbish about statistics is a poor attempt to try and justify the fleecing.

Also true for Russia. Couldn't be put better. Do you also have a “party of swindlers and thieves” in your parliament?