Insurance black box

So you've heard of Aircraft black boxes. Now many insurance companies are offering you the chance of a black box for your car! Now don't be concerned, it isn't a little box that will record everything you say in the car so that in the event of a minor prang, you are put to death for having said "cheese" on your way to the supermarket.

The black box records speed, time, location, and G forces as you are driving the car - which is then fed back to the Insurance HQ.  If you are proved to be a driver who sticks to the speed limits, and doesn't go round corners at 60mph then your insurance price will stay low. It also depends on how much mileage you do, and where and when you drive too.  If you are a normal driver who mostly sticks to the speed limits, and goes round corners at a practical speed then this black box arrangement is not for you.  You will get penalised for bad driving, even though you are actually perfectly safe.  for example if you were stuck being a 20mph driver on a 60mph limit, and overtook them - the G forces recorded would put you down as a dangerous driver, even though in actual fact the 20mph was the dangerous one!

So, when should you get a black box?  If you are a practical, but safe driver who enjoys driving then don't bother.  If you only drive to the shops once a week on a Monday afternoon, religiously stick to 5mph under the speed limit, and drive a car that's capable of accelerating from 0 - 60 in 2 months, then this is the deal for you!

One day all of us will be made to get one, and that will be the time when driving will no longer be fun, but a massive bore. Super Cars will no longer exist except for track days, and the worlds economy will suffer because everyone is taking 2 hours longer to get to work. 

Car insurance, big money saved

Our Renault Megane has its insurance due for renewal in January. 

As usual the current insurance provider we are with have decided to up the premiums from £31 a month, to £45 a month! Why!? nothing has changed since last year!

On doing some investigation, i was able to find some insurance much cheaper.  In fact, cheaper than it has been for the last year! But how many people must just take the easy option and let their policy automatically renew, and then lose out on money? 

So, how did i save on car insurance?  As before with the Focus i did a quote through Quidco  "The UK's number 1 cash back and voucher code site" Click here to visit Quidco site

By doing a car insurance quite though this site, i was able to get the best deal - and on top of that I will get £25 cash back as well!

Do yourself a favour. Save money on car insurance!

Become an Airline pilot to get cheap car insurance

In a recent article in the Guardian they have outlined what job titles are the best, and worst for car insurance costs. 

It would appear that people who are airline pilots, get dirt cheap car insurance. Presumably because they are seen as the type of people who will not make a mistake! Is this true though? If you were an airline pilot stuck on a 10 hour flight, wouldn't you want to get out upon landing and go hairing up the runway in an Aston martin, kicking the back out in clouds of tyre smoke!? I would! Surely there would be then a risk of a crash, particularly at one of the busiest of airports.  A crash between a 747 and an Aston is not going to be cheap!

The most expensive people car insurance title goes to people who are DJ's.  Presumably because they might be drunk, deaf and travel at night the majority of the time.  They can be fleeced out of as much as £,6000 per year in insurance. Seems a bit excessive doesn't it!?

This opens up the question - do people lie about their job titles on their car insurance? Are these things actually checked, as to whether people are lying or not? They certainly should be.  Ive also wondered what people put as their job title if for instance they fight lions, or do metal detecting for a living. There has to be some kind of "other" section so people can enter such titles as "electric donkey worker" or "bat hair specialist" ?

So in summary - learn to fly a plane, and you will not only get the best office view in the word, and get paid big money, but you will also be paying pennies on insurance!  This is another top tip from me!

Funny and Real insurance claims

check out the following: http://www.businessballs.com/insuranceclaims.htm

Cut up, but not shut up. X Factor driver vote off system.

On a 12 mile journey yesterday i got cut up TWICE. Both of which i had to swerve violently in order to not hit them, and both times the reason for the people cutting me up was not clear at all. They just suddenly decided they liked the look of the lane that i was in better! Perhaps i made it look sexy and irresistible and they wanted a piece of the action!  I doubt it to be honest, but I cannot think of any other reason.

This made me think of a system in how people could vote bad drivers off the road.  Let's inject some X Factor style technology into the road system.  A website should be created called "Driver vote off" - if someone cuts you up badly, you go on the website and place a vote against the driver / car reg.  If this car / driver receives 5 votes in one year, the DVLA visit them and tell them that they have to pass a full UK driving test, otherwise their license is taken away for a year. The person has to pay for the test, with that money going to improve roads, and lower road tax for everyone else.  This would mean that the roads are safer, and therefore less accidents, less jams, and cheaper insurance!  What is there not to like about this idea?  Have i just hit on the best idea since making fire?

Please let me know your thoughts and whether this is a good idea by making a comment!

Raising the Motorway limit to 80mph

The government has announced today that they will be looking at reviewing the current speed limit on the UK Motorways of 70mph, and will consider raising it to 80mph.

Their reasons for doing so are due to improved car safety the risk to life at 80mph if a crash happens is now reduced. Also that millions will be saved every year because people get to where they want to go quicker.

Firstly, WELL DONE for thinking about this, and not before time!  However, its not going to make any difference.  People will still drive at 90 - 100mph, there will be no difference to journey times, all that will happen is that the number of people getting stopped for speeding on a motorway will be reduced, meaning the police forces in the UK will have to think of another way to catch people and make money, otherwise the government will need to either cut their budgets, or raise our taxes in some other way.  It will come back to bite us in the end!

The government has also said that its only able to think about this now because its got hot on uninsured and drunk drivers.  Yes, I am sure they have - They can now take their £50 cars off them -  but that's not to say they do not exist anymore. There is always going to be some monkey who will decide car insurance is too expensive, or they've just had a few pints and they've only got to drive a few miles.  If they got hot on people who cant drive, and should be off the roads - then they could open up the motorways to an "any speed you want to" policy!  Think about how much money that would save!  Winchester to Portsmouth in 10 minutes in a Lamborghini! Yes please !

Insurance Renewal Stupidity

On phoning up to cancel my renewal following my earlier victory of getting my monthly payments of £60 down to £27 - the person I spoke to wanted to ask why I was cancelling.  "I don't like the colour of your logo" - is what i felt like answering, why do you think i don't want to renew? Its obvious its going to be due to cost, what other reason could it be for?

She was adamant that she could match the cheaper price I'd got - until that is i mentioned it was £27, and that i'd saved £369 a year by not renewing with them.  She knew full well she couldn't match that and cancelled by renewal.  However... she obviously did want to get my renewal cheaper than the price first quote - so why don't they quote the cheaper price at renewal then? Surely that is the time when someone will think "screw this, i can get it cheaper elsewhere!" rather than phoning them up to ask if they would like to make it cheaper!?  Its crazy sand they are ultimately just costing themselves customers.

Do yourself a favour, switch insurance companies at the time of renewal - you could save yourself a lorry load of cash.  Well, maybe a small lorry, but a lorry load none the less! 

If you have no idea what im banging on about. look at my earlier post.  http://drivingroadrage.blogspot.com/

Car Insurance doesn't need to be expensive!

My Car insurance renewal cane through this last week, and its gone up from £50 to £60 a month! Now, i know what you are thinking.  It serves me right for doing handbrake turns past police cars!  But.. surprisingly i have a clean license, with 8 years + NCB.  So why has it gone up so much!?

A quick investigate later, and I've managed to get it down from £60 per month to £27 a month.  That's a saving of £396!! 

The worrying thing is a lot of people don't bother switching insurance companies, thinking its too much hassle and they wont save much anyway.  Think again!!

I used quidco to make the above saving, and so i will actually get another £25 in cash-back on top of the above saving.  Take a look : http://www.quidco.com/user/1108075/   Its free to sign up, and you can definitely make savings, as shown above!

PS.  Hand brake turns past police cars are not recommended, unless you are certain they are asleep!

Buying a car and paying more insurance.

Why is it that when you buy a new or used car - your insurance goes sky high? Never mind whether the car you've bought is a lower insurance group.

For some reason the insurance industry seem to expect you to crash the car you've just bought because you don't know how to drive it.  I accept that there are a minority of people who will, like the 85 year old who came out of the showroom and ploughed straight through the living room of the house opposite, because they forgot their new car was an automatic. This however it not what normal people do.  Its not as though your new car is going to have the brake and accelerator pedals the other way round is it? 

I recently changed my car, to a diesel, in a lower insurance group and my premium went up from £30 a month, to £56! This is just another way of insurance companies making money out of your circumstances!

Shocking behaviour !!!

Slow drivers - cause accidents

A huge story in the news right now is the increase of car insurance, particularly for young drivers. To me this seems unjustified and an excuse to charge shocking amounts to people who just want to get in the car, and start doing handbrake turns... I mean, driving carefully.

Young people in the majority are not dangerous. They know the risks but are careful drivers.

To prove this statement:

• When I had passed my test I would only do handbrake turns when travelling well under 100mph. I have since had more experience so have now increased the speed to 125mph


• I would do a maximum of 55mph in a 30mph zone


• When it was raining i would stop driving on the pavements


• When snowing, i had an anchor to throw out the window - so in the event i started slipping out of control i could wrap it around a lamppost, or a fat man on the pavement to stop safely


• The maximum speed i would travel backwards in a car park was 35mph


• J turns were only completed on a Monday morning, during rush hour.


• My tyres were renewed whenever i heard metal grinding on the road from a blow out

The older generation of today are the cause of the accidents. Only yesterday i was sat behind a Honda Ass, sorry Jazz doing 20mph in a 60mph zone. I think the engine must have been stripped out and a small gerbil put into its place. Either that or the person driving had no knowledge of what a car is, and what they were doing. After 2 minutes of getting frustrated and about to have a nosebleed due to increased bloody pressure i overtook them. It was a straight road, i could see 200 yards in front, the road was dry, my handbrake was off. On passing the car they started to honk their horn and flash their lights. For one second i thought maybe I'd left my blow up doll on the roof, but they were in fact protesting at my unsafe driving.

I ignored them and forgot about it. 20 minutes later i drove back the other way and 2 miles along the road where i had overtaken them earlier I came across the same Honda Jazz, just in front of a mangled bicycle. The biker was fortunately ok, but it was obvious what had happened. The Honda Jazz driver was so engrained in travelling under 25mph so not to disturb the straw hat from the parcel shelf, they had not seen the cyclist and caught his bike on the bumper and knocked him off.

People should have a yearly test at the Nurburg ring to demonstrate that they can handle a car at speed, and in extreme circumstances. If they can, the maximumn insurance they should pay is £100 a year. If they cant, they should be sent home on the bus and ordered to pay road tax for the people who can drive.

Its time the insurance sector was revolutionised.