Ensuring assurance on insurance

Whether or not you find the Russian meerkat or the GoCompare tenor irritating, they do act as reminders of valuable price comparison services. But, says Helen Dolphin, disabled drivers may find their choice of motor insurance is more limited or even that they’re penalised for having adapted vehicles

Although numerous television advertisements try to convince us that we can save hundreds of pounds on our car insurance by using price comparison websites, this is probably not the case for disabled drivers who have WAVs or adaptations. This is because there is only one box to tick which says your vehicle has adaptations and this is the same box that you would tick if your car had an enormous spoiler as all modified cars are often placed in the same category.

The problem with this assumption is that heavily modified cars usually demand a higher insurance premium or insurers will refuse to cover altogether.

When I tested the comparison website (gocompare.com) I ticked the box to say I had modifications and then more options appeared and I was able to tick that I had hand controls. GoCompare then told me I had 39 quotes which started at £449.90. However, when I un-ticked the modification box I received 81 quotes for my vehicle and the prices started at £409.00. Although it is disappointing that I only received half the number of quotes that my unmodified vehicle would have it is considerably better than my last experience of buying car insurance ten years ago. At that time not one insurance company would quote me a price after I filled in my details on a price comparison website. However, after making a lot of phone calls both Aviva and Sheilas’ Wheels agreed they would insure me but it certainly wasn’t cheap.

Although it’s always best to shop around for car insurance some of the best prices available for disabled drivers come from the specialist insurance market. This isn’t just because they know the difference between a spoiler and a set of hand controls so you won’t be unduly penalised as being a “boy racer” but also because disabled drivers are deemed a better risk.

Warren Dickson, sales and marketing director at Fish Insurance said: “If people went to a general insurer it’s quite possible they’ll be clobbered by the rises in premiums which have hit the general private car market over the past 12-24 months. However, if they go to a disability specialist they’re likely to pay a premium which much more accurately reflects the risk they represent. Our experience at Fish shows disabled drivers are a better risk which is why we can offer them discounts of up to 35 per cent.”

This view is also shared by Chartwell Insurance. Gerry Bucke, General Manager at Chartwell said: “There has been little increase in the Chartwell rates over the past 12-18 months because, historically, the loss ratios on motor premiums for people with disabilities have been very good. Therefore this sector of the market has not been as badly affected by many of the causes of the increases in premiums in other sectors, namely the increasing cost of personal injury claims, high cost of replacement hire cars, and high cost of repairs.”

Evidence from Chartwell and Fish seems to indicate that the general insurance market is missing a trick by not making their policies attractive to disabled drivers. Although we have specialist insurers filling the gap in the market and generally offering a good price it would be good to have the same amount of choice as everyone else.