Car insurance comparison site Tiger.co.uk has found that drink driving deaths suffer a spike during January, due to the high number of parties for Christmas and New Year and a corresponding police crackdown.

The website also warns that the popular myth of being able to know how close to the limit you are is actually false, as (aside from quantity of alcohol drunk), there are a range of other factors.

Height, weight, gender, age, metabolic rate and stress all affect the rate at which alcohol is processed by the body, making it easy to accidentally be over the limit.

Tiger.co.uk warned drivers that drink driving is a criminal offence (unlike speeding which is a traffic offence) and those convicted could face prison.

Worryingly, car insurer LV= discovered through a Freedom of Information request in October that there are still hundreds of drivers convicted of drink driving, with 3% found guilty but not disqualified from driving.

It’s easy enough to get quotes on the price of homeowner’s insurance. There are dozens of sites on the web that will offer you multiple side-by-side quotes on policies from all the main insurance providers. As long as the terms of the policies are similar, seeing these quotes will give you a pretty reliable idea of whose insurance is the cheapest.

Keep in mind that cheapest isn’t always best, though. While you certainly don’t want to pay more than you need to for you insurance, neither do you want to find yourself insured by a company that’s either unwilling or unable to honor their part of the agreement. If disast Read more…

The first question that renters much ask themselves is “what are the chances of my apartment being broken into?” or even “what are the chances of my belongings in this apartment being damaged by a flood”? Chances are, you might find yourself thinking that all this are very unlikely to happen, but if you are looking into insurance – obviously you are thinking that the slim chances might happen to you.

When you move into a rented apartment, almost all insurance broker in the area will try to tell you that a renters insurance for apartments is an absolute need. Many Read more…

With the holiday season in full swing and seasonal soirees scheduled, insurance industry experts are warning anyone who is planning a private party about the risks involved in serving alcohol to guests, particularly in states such as New Hampshire.

All but two states—Florida and Nevada—have social host liability, or “dram shop” laws, under which licensees and employees of bars, restaurants and other establishments may be held civilly and sometimes criminally liable if an overserved guest winds up hurting someone in a drunken driving crash or other incident.

The laws vary widely between states, but they all offer an injured person some method of suing the person who served alcohol to whoever caused the injury, according to the Insurance Information Institute (III). And in

Read more…

The second quarter results of 2011 seem to suggest a tumultuous phase due to the thunderstorms and tornadoes in Midwest and the South. The auto insurance industry loss ratio prior to consideration of reinsurance has climbed to 70.6% and has marked the industry’s worst second quarter performance since 2001. This has even outpaced the loss ratios of 58.1% and 56.2% in 2010 and 2009 during the second quarters, according to SNL insurance which is a division of SNL. The industry premium has essentially remained flat and has decreased just 0.2% from the second quarter of 2010.

The auto insurance companies were also seriously affected due to the major catastrophes. S

Read more…

Insurance affinity specialist Junction has announced a new Excess Protection add-on product for Bradford & Bingley motor insurance customers.

Customers taking advantage of the two-tier Excess Protection product will be able to claim back their excess for a non-fault claim after it has been settled.

Customers can opt for either a £300 or a £500 coverage level, as they wish.

Managing Director Peter Thompson said that Junction was continously seeking to enhance the offering of its brands’ products.

Thompson described the new product as an affordable enhanced cover option that presented policyholders with more choice to protect themselves, a particular concern given the challenging economic environment.

Thompson went on to say that the firm aimed to expand the range of add-ons to offer customers even greater choice, as well as bolstering customer retention.

Two more auto insurers have joined the growing ranks of companies declaring deep losses in recent months, with Infinity Property and Casualty announcing an 80 percent drop in profits and The Hartford reportedly breaking even during the third quarter of 2011.

Infinity officials said net earnings for July through September fell to $6.1 million, down from $30.8 million for the same period last year.

Read more…

A Democratic state lawmaker has entered the ongoing debate over proposed changes to Michigan’s no-fault auto insurance system, claiming that removing the legal requirement that insurers pay up to a lifetime of health care costs for serious accident victims would enrich coverage providers while overburdening the state’s taxpayers.

“No-fault insurance ensures that citizens get the care they need without wasting time and money fighting with the courts and lawyers,” state Rep. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) said in a news release. “The sy

Read more…