Are Motor insurance laws different in Wales?

Wales doesn't have different motor insurance laws. In fact, when you make insurance comparisons using the UK, you'll find that Wales and England are lumped in one group together. What is interesting about the motor insurance market in Wales are the innovative advances made by two companies who share one office block in Cardiff. Together they have helped to put Wales on the motor insurance map.

Diamond motor insurance and Admiral motor insurance are two separate companies, although the latter actually owns the former. They have both used innovative products and marketing to grab the public's attention. This is no mean feat in a market as competitive as motor insurance. There are now near to a hundred motor insurance providers, so putting your head above the parapet is important.

Diamond decided to only target women. They attempted to attract women away from insurance companies who insure both men and women. Women were attracted by the prospect of cheaper premiums, because they weren't subsidising men, who statistically claimed more than them. The cumulative effect of less claims means that Diamond can charge less premiums.

However, their campaign was almost derailed by an Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) investigation into their use of language in an advert. Diamond insisted that women are actually better drivers than men. In their defence to the ASA they used the statistics which proved that women make smaller claims than men. It was also shown by them that their competitors websites all had lower quotes for women than men for the same cover. The ASA accepted this argument, and didn't uphold the complaint, although Diamond's wording has been more careful since then.

Admiral became well known for their product innovation. They saw that the market valued an ability to grow their no claims bonuses quickly. To address this they introduced the "Bonus Accelerator" scheme, where you get 1 years no claims bonus for each 10 months you have a policy with Admiral Insurance. So, you can get 7 years no claims bonus in 6 years, and get to the opportunity to buy no claims protection after 3 ½ years instead of 4.

Admiral could also boast to have succeeded in making people really check their insurance policies to see if they save money, as their 10 month premium was so much smaller. You can probably see a problem here though. You're not comparing like with like. You should thus make sure you multiply the quote for Admiral by 1.2 to compare it with other quotes.

Diamond also offers the bonus accelerator, to add to their lower premiums. You can see why their marketing campaign has been so compelling. It will be interesting to see what else new comes from the Welsh motor insurance market in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© AskFinancially.com 2008

Motor Insurance

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> Are motor insurance laws different in Wales?