How your van insurance premium is split
Your insurance premium is split up to cover several different things. Below, we’ve broken down exactly what your premium covers and what that means to help make things clearer for you, our customers.
Claims
Paying out on customer claims is at the heart of what we do – after all, that’s the reason your buy insurance. So, the majority of your premium cost goes towards paying out on claims.
Expenses
Expenses are necessary to keep any business running, and we’re no different. That’s why a portion of your premium goes towards helping us keep the wheels turning, such as our employees’ salaries and running our offices. We also use some of this portion to invest in innovative technologies so that we can make your experience with us as smooth as possible.
Insurance Premium Tax (IPT)
A portion of your premium goes toward Insurance Premium Tax, IPT for short. This tax is set by the Government at 12% and is, unfortunately, not tax deductible.
Profits
Every business needs to make a profit to exist – we’re no different. However, the percentage profit we take may not be as high as you would think, meaning we can put more of your money toward protecting your van year after year.
Reinsurance / Industry Levies
Like all insurers, we pay into various industry funds that exist to protect you, our customers, such as the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). For instance, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme protects you against an insurer going bust and the Motor Insurers' Bureau will compensate you if you are hit by an uninsured driver.
Reasons why your premium could change
You might have gotten to the point of renewal and noticed that your premium has increased but perhaps you’re not quite sure why. Here, we’ve broken down some of the key reasons why your premium might have changed.
You’ve made a claim
Making a claim with us won’t affect your price right away, however, when it comes time to renew your policy you might notice an increase in your price. As you might expect, customers with fewer – or no – claims tend to pay less for insurance.
Rising inflation
Recently, the cost of goods and services has been increasing. There are a few factors that feed into these increases, such as rising energy costs and disruption to supply chains. As a result, the cost of labour and materials is on the rise, too.
But what does that mean for our customers? Well, when inflation rises, we typically see the cost of completing repairs increasing too, which means its more expensive to pay out on a claim.
Whiplash
The increasing costs to settle whiplash claims affects every van insurance customer, and we work hard to achieve the right balance between under and overcompensation. Fairness and transparency for personal injury compensation is something that everyone can agree on.
The Government’s commitment to protect honest motorists by introducing whiplash reforms will drive the worst behaviour out of the market, reducing the cost of insurance, and we are committed to passing on any savings to every one of our customers.
Why a change to your details could change your premium
There are a few reasons why your premium might increase, such as:
Changing your van
If you’re upgrading your van for a newer model, you may end up paying a little more for your next premium. This is because, in addition to your driving history, we also consider how attractive your van may be to thieves, what it’s performance is like, it’s value, the risk it poses to other road users, and any potential repair costs.
Change to your van’s overnight location
Where your van is kept overnight is one of the factors we take into consideration when deciding your premium. When we’re considering the area, we look at;
- The number of road accidents in the area
- The amount of traffic using nearby roads
- Any crime and/or vandalism reported nearby
- Whether it’s kept on the road, or in a secure locked compound
If there is a higher average number of claims in the area, it’s likely your premium will be a little more expensive.
Change/addition of any other drivers
If you decide to add or change any named drivers for your van over the course of your time insured with us, this can affect your premium. We will have to consider the risk factor and driving history of these new drivers. Adding temporary drivers, or a lot of drivers, also tends to increase your price.
Convictions
It’s important to tell us if you’re convicted of anything when you take out your insurance, as it could invalidate a future claim. We also need to know as soon as possible if you receive a non-motoring conviction or are banned from driving. For other motoring offences, please tell us when you renew your policy. A motoring offence could increase your premium, but only until it is spent.
