According to Axa car insurance research, there remains widespread ignorance amongst many UK drivers over driving abroad legal requirements in European countries. The problem could be compounded by the fact that there is forecast to be a large influx of motorists heading across the channel because of continuing air travel strikes and volcanic ash disruption.

Amongst the 2,000 respondents in the survey a third revealed that they are unsure as to whether a GB sticker is required. More worryingly nearly a quarter of those questioned could not categorically answer yes to the question regarding whether they were covered to drive abroad by their car insurance policy.

In respect of country specific views, 40% believed wrongly that it is ok to jump red lights in Italy, 37% assumed incorrectly that is fine to overtake on either side of the motorway in Portugal and 22% thought that there was no requirement to carry a reflective jacket and a red triangle in your car in France, which of course is untrue. Other false beliefs included the assumption by 35% of respondents that is ok to use a mobile phone whilst driving in Holland and 62% still think that a green card is required in Belgium.

In respect of limited understanding of a European neighbours motoring regulations, more than half were correct in assuming that there is no upper limit on German motorways, however, not many in the survey were aware that cars with a low top speed of less than 61kpm are restricted from using such roads.

Following intensive lobbying by the British Insurance Brokers Association and other Insurance trade bodies, one of the last acts of Parliament from the previous Government sees the introduction of electronic motor insurance certificates being issued. The legislation responsible for this is the Road Traffic Act 1988 and Motor Vehicle (Third Party Risks) Regulations 1972.

The move has been welcomed by most of the insurance industry including online brands such as Swiftcover. It is estimated that nearly 10,000 trees a year may be saved if electronic certificates are issued through email or login to an insurers secure website. It is not clear at this stage how many UK car insurers or brokers will use the email or secure website method of distributing the e-certificates.

BIBA are keen to point however, that if accessing e-certificates is not an option because online access is denied then paper insurance certificates must still be sent through the post. In addition, e-certificates that are printed out using a local printer must be legible if they are to be used at the Post Office for the purposes of renewing car tax. It goes without saying that it is an offence to make changes to the e-certificate.

What is clear is that certain insurance companies and brokers will seek to gain an immediate advantage by introducing e-certificates straight away, therefore, reducing overheads. One can hope that the cost savings are in part passed on to motorists through cheaper insurance quotes.

Following constant campaigning by the Association of British Insurers, 80% of motor personal injury claimants injured in road traffic accidents will receive car insurance claim payouts within a period of nine months from the date the claim was notified. This news follows on from the announcement made back in September last year by the Ministry of Justice.

Up until now, it has not been uncommon for claims of this type to take two or more years which is both a drain on insurance company resources and also stressful for claimants. There is of course conditions attached namely that the new rules only apply to new claims made after the 30^th April 2010. Secondly, only motor personal injury claims estimated to fall within the £1,000 to £10,000 valuation are eligible. Thirdly, there will be three defined stages for each claim including collation of information, the claimant representative gathering evidence for the claim and a final stage if required if no agreement is reached on the value of the claim settlement.

In addition to the speedier resolution of these claims it is hoped that legal costs will be now fixed, therefore, reducing current legal bills, which are estimated to be adding around 10% of the cost of car insurance premiums. This will no doubt come as very welcome news for motorists who are suffering high fuel prices and soaring insurance premiums during the recession.

According to research from Britannia Rescue a staggering five million British Drivers are currently driving unsafe vehicles. To put this into perspective, this is around one quarter of all motorists. One possible explanation for this is the theory that motorists are holding onto older vehicles longer in order to benefit from the Governments scrappage scheme. In addition, 1 in 5 of the drivers surveyed is actually aware of the state of their vehicles.

Britannia Rescue who owned by LV car insurance have identified that worn tyres, defective car breaks, faulty exhausts, broken wing mirrors and front and rear lights are the most common issues. The reasons given for not repairing vehicles includes affordability or unable to spare the time to arrange repairs.

Unfortunately motorists do not realise that they are potentially invalidating their car insurance as it is condition that vehicles must be maintained. There are also strict laws governing the state of repairs and driving a faulty vehicle can result in 3 points added to a driving license in addition to a fine if caught.

The most alarming statistic of all is the fact that damaged cars were responsible for 1 in 30 fatal motoring crashes in 2008 and 2,500 accidents.

Following the partial collapse of the British car industry during this recession, second hand car values have fallen dramatically meaning the market value of your vehicle if its older than 1 year could be lower than you think.

As far as most insurance companies are concerned the market value of a vehicle is whatever a claims assessor thinks the vehicle is worth if it written off in an accident or stolen and never recovered. Therefore, in some cases car insurance claim payouts maybe less than the finance owed on the car or what was initially paid for the vehicle. This has led to the rise in recent years of gap insurance which covers the difference between what the car insurer values the vehicle at and what was paid out.

There are of course many different types of gap insurance products including Return to Value, Agreed value and so on. The message is clear, however, insurers ultimately decide what your vehicle is worth based on the market value. To determine what your car is worth, look up the value of your car is Glasses Guide or other publications. There are also plenty of online websites which also value your vehicle free of charge.