According to the association of British Insurers (AB) fraudulent car insurance claims totalled 410 million last year.

Across the entire insurance industry in 2009, 2000 dishonest insurance claims were detected every week which amounts to a 14% increase on the pervious year. Compare these figures to five years ago and the number appears to have doubled.

Whilst the figures look bad, there are several factors that have no doubt contributed to these increases. These include the recession, new types of fraud include insurance fronting and also better detection rates. In the last few years information through sophisticated databases and deploying advanced techniques to catch fraudsters is now shared amongst major agencies. Additionally, the ABI have introduced their own confidential cheatline which is run by the Insurance Fraud Bureau.

The consciences of getting caught are not worth thinking about as it’s very difficult to obtain insurance and credit. There is also the possibility of a criminal record which can damage future employment prospects.

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.

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.

With road maintenance being massively under-funded throughout much of the UK, car insurance quotes are set to escalate in response to the increasing number of claims arising from incidents involving potholes. Estimated at costing the nation’s motorists a whopping £320 million each year, potholes are an ongoing problem that is unlikely to ever be resolved, and as there are even more of them appearing since the recent cold snap, the chance of finding a cheap car insurance quote looks likely to remain slim for many years to come in the UK.

Quote comparisons will reflect the fact that Britain’s roads are gradually falling apart and the battle to prevent them deteriorating further is far from being won. Local authorities are paying out millions of pounds in compensation to the victims of potholes and therefore face increasing pressure to keep road surfaces in a satisfactory condition, the cost of which will inevitably be passed on in some way to both the driving and non-driving population of the UK. Car insurance quotes compare unfavourably to those offered a year ago, and even though increases to the cost of premiums is expected, cheap car cover will be hard to find as long as potholes litter the roads, pushing up the incidents of accidental damage.

Those driving along the same roads each day will become familiar with their local potholes, but extreme caution should still be employed until the necessary repairs have been made. Care should be taken to avoid potholes in the first place by allowing plenty of space for a clear view of the road ahead, and cyclists and motorcyclists should be given extra time and room in case they too need to take sudden evasive action. So for those who don’t want to see their next car insurance premium go through the roof, extra vigilance will be required on all UK roads for some time if you want to avoid a close encounter with a pothole!

We thought it worth sharing the findings of an annual survey of European driving behaviour conducted on behalf of Axa car insurance which makes interesting reading. Eleven different driving habits were covered some of which are governed by a legal requirement in the member country. The countries in the survey included Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Belgium.

Car insurance claims departments are probably breathing a sigh of relief as British drivers were found to be second only to Ireland as the most conscientious drivers. Interestingly Luxembourg fared worst. GB drivers came top of the pile in the categories of driving with a seatbelt, using a phone with a hands free kit and tailgating which probably comes a surprise on the UK’s crowded roads. We Brits, however, performed below average when it comes to driving for more than 2 hours without a break and overtaking on the wrong side of a motorway.

Other findings, which may not come as much of a surprise, were that the Germans are the worst drivers when it comes to driving too fast on a motorway, this is probably linked to the Autobahn where there is only advisory speed limits.

The worst nation when it comes to drink driving (classed as consumption of 2 or more alcoholic drinks) is Luxembourg which scored 40% compared to the average of 21%. The UK scored 4%.

Please view the table below from Axa Car Insurance showing the UK and best and worst scores and let us whether you agree or not with the findings?