MAKING MOTOR INSURANCE EASIER

Update from an Article by Donald Richardson originally published in the General Insurance Magazine, February 1990.

COLLINGWOOD RICHARDSON HAVE BEEN THE VANGUARD OF CHANGING THE SYSTEM OF MOTOR CERTIFICATES

Of all the classes of Insurance available to the public, for the broker the most labour intensive (and least rewarding ) must be motor insurance.

Motor Insurance causes:

• A lot of initial paperwork and detail
• Cover notes, continuity cover notes and cover notes of various description for alterations.
• Certificates and the need to keep them safely
• Time consuming claims administration and detail
• Confusion in the mind of the public with loss of documents being the biggest problem
• Extra administration work for the Police and Post Office staff checking documents, and generally having to wait for or chase up documents following accidents or general roadside checks
• Some of the public avoid insuring

Having visited and observed several other counties’ approach to the problem and having received tacit support from motoring organisations in the UK, I have for some time been lobbying the major insurers to consider modernising the administration of motor insurance by the introduction of "windscreen discs" in place of certificates of insurance or cover notes.

The proposal has also been received with some interest by MP’s, MEP’s, the Department of Transport and the BIA.

However, apathy amongst insurers remains. They see all kinds of introductory problems, none of which seem any more insurmountable than if we were to introduce the current system all over again.

Let us consider the advantages of "windscreen discs"

Windscreen disks would replace cover notes and certificates. They would be found in one place and seldom lost or mislaid.

It would be obligatory to display a current insurance disc on your windscreen complimentary to your tax disc.

Each windscreen disc would have a policy number, name of insurer and a series of codes to indicate the type of cover in force with restrictions if any.

The codes should be of a uniform basis so that the police, the initiated public and computers could understand them; e.g. a bar code.

PROOF

The disc, provided it was current, would be proof of insurance and it should extend to cover E.U. countries.

Agents or Brokers could issues discs for new proposals or renewals from an audited supply and would be entirely responsible for the collection of premiums for every disc they hand out.

This eliminates cover notes, certificates and the like. If necessary, discs can be dated – e.g. for short periods.

SIMPLIFIED

The job of the police and the public could be simplified at the scene of an accident when details are exchanged, as these would immediately include insurance details.

The customer (who we serve – lest we forget) would be happier to have a windscreen disc reducing the tendency to lose or mislay documents.

The motoring organisations feel that insurers and the revenue would collect upwards of £100M each in extra premiums and tax because the system would make it easier to detect and deter dodgers.

PROBLEMS

The Department of Transport has pointed out problems to the extent that in the UK we insure the driver not the car, so a disc on a car would not necessarily cover the driver, However this could be overcome by the use of bar codes. There are other minor problems as well but the Dept of Transport are keeping their options open with windscreen discs probably the most practical solution.

SURVEY

An insurance Company carried out a survey amongst brokers and agents with regard to a change to windscreen discs and in every respect the answers were positive with 90% overall support. Contact us for a copy of the survey.

Show your support by talking about the issue whenever you have the opportunity.