Car Insurance

The Securities & Investments Board is looking for volunteers with personal experience of cancelling unit trust and PEP contracts to help it decide whether the cooling-off period, introduced in 1988 when there were few other safeguards, is still useful. It is considering whether cooling-off should be extended to open-ended investment companies (OEICs), the new hybrid investment funds the financial services industry will start selling throughout the EU some time next year (0171-638-1240). Questionnaires are also being sent out to ask investors to put a figure on the value of the cooling-off period.

Norwich & Peterborough is offering a guaranteed fixed rate of 7.6 per cent gross a year or 7.35 per cent payable monthly on its five-year bond with a minimum investment of pounds 10,000.

Leeds & Holbeck has increased its interest rates on its large instant- access postal accounts. Sums from pounds 10,000 to pounds 25,000 earn 5.8 per cent, rising to 6 per cent up to pounds 50,000 and 6.1 per cent above that. New rates are guaranteed until September.

Sarasin Funds Management (Guernsey) has launched Equisar, a new global equity fund designed to focus on four separate themes linked to world trends rather than regions. It identifies the rise of the Asian consumer, the rising demand for energy in emerging countries, the renaissance of industrial Europe and the world of information technologies.

Flemings Offshore has launched Hydra, a new bank deposit offering guaranteed capital and an income linked to the performance of the UK, US, Hong Kong and Tokyo stock markets. Income is calculated every 90 days and once added cannot be lost regardless of subsequent movements in the indices. Minimum investment is pounds 10,000 and minimum notice 90 days.

Yorkshire Building Society Guernsey is launching an escalator bond paying 6.5 per cent in year one escalating to 10.5 per cent in year five. Interest is paid gross and can be withdrawn after a year. Minimum investment is pounds 10,000.

Scottish Widows is launching shortly a new Safety Plus PEP which allows a maximum fall of only 5 per cent a year.

Glasgow-based Murray Johnstone has relaunched its Monthly Income Selector Plan, which offers a range of annual income from 1 per cent to 9 per cent, with the right to defer payments and accumulate capital. Minimum investments are pounds 10,000.

Midland Bank and Abbey National have made their cash dispenser networks available to each other’s customers. Midland and Halifax Building Society will follow suit shortly.

Chelsea Building Society has launched a new discount mortgage offering 1.1 per cent off the standard variable rate, currently 6.99 per cent. The discount continues until January 2000 and there are no early redemption penalties. Call 0800-616356 for details.

Premier Fund Managers has compiled a guide to shareholder perks, available for pounds 2.50. Call 0800-212577 to order.

General Accident Direct is offering its motor policyholders a pounds 40 discount on a buildings and contents policy. Call 0800-121004.

Motorcyclists are less likely than motorists to be involved in an accident, but they are more likely to sustain injuries and need immediate support at the scene, according to Dean Cox, managing director of Legal Recovery Group, which has launched a new Motorcycle Protection Plan.

Available through insurance brokers for around pounds 1 a month, it provides replacement motorcycle hire, new protective clothing, ambulance and medical expenses and overnight accomodation, as well as up to pounds 50,000 of legal expenses, a rescue and roadside repair service and a network of repairers.

Copyright 1996 Newspaper Publishing PLC
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

Suddenly, everyone likes two-wheelers. No longer are they to be feared and disliked, or spoken of in the faintly patronising tone car drivers and those influenced by them often use when discussing someone with some weird mental aberration.

Now, motorbikes and their smaller siblings - scooters - are all the rage. And along with this gradual change in attitude, insurers are suddenly falling over themselves to offer special deals to this segment of the market.

It’s hardly surprising insurers should feel this way. Sales of motorbikes and scooters rocketed by more than 25 per cent to almost 60,000 in 1996 and are set to do even better this year. One dealer who has found himself in clover is Kevin Braithwaite, owner of Two Wheeled Engineering, in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.”The last fewmonths have been hectic,” he says, “although things appear to have slowed down a bit after the summer. But we are still doing a lot of business in spare parts.” One feature of today’s motorbike and scooter scene is the reappearance of an older generation of thirty- and fortysomethings. For insurers, this is the market to tap. Older riders are considered less likely to have accidents, are more likely to be weekend riders than commuters, and more prepared to invest in proper safety measures to protect their investment. Suddenly, after years of high premiums, bike riders are beginning to benefit. Norwich Union, one of the UK’s largest bike insurers, recently added a fifth year to its existing four-year no-claims bonus. The potential savings mean that a Yamaha FZR600 rider over the age of 30, whose previous best quote from NU would have been pounds 490, can cut the bill to pounds 409 with a 50 per cent no-claims discount. A Piaggio Typhoon rider, whose four-year discount involved premiums of pounds 179, could shave pounds 30 off that with a 50 per cent bonus. A spokesman says: “Our analysis shows that if people make it to five years without making a claim, the chances of doing so in subsequent years is likely to be even greater. We felt our premiums ought to reflect that fact.” Eagle Star, another well-known bike insurer, is also aiming to attract new policyholders by, for example, offering introductory discounts of up to 20 per cent or more if riders are prepared to take advanced riding exams. Among the services on offer through Eagle Star is the option to take out six-month cover rather than for 12 months. One new feature of the motorbike insurance market, formerly confined to cars, is the entry of telephone-based firms who are able to either underwrite the risk themselves or find a suitably cheap policy from a panel which includes many different insurers. Premium Search, an independent broker, began offering cover last month after receiving hundreds of calls every week from bike riders who contacted the company because of its highly competitive motor and home contents cover. Philip da Silva, a director at Premium Search, says: “We felt that we can offer a competitive quote to riders 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In our case, we not only offer quotations but can also process claims and provide support through our helpline.” However, specialist brokers warn that standard insurers’ policies are not always the cheapest. Carole Nash, the specialist motorcycle insurance broker, points out that in many cases, minor modifications to a bike can invalidate cover. Limited mileage or classic bike cover can often be far cheaper than standard versions on offer from most providers. For scooterists, policies on offer from Scooter Plus are often the cheapest, as is Bennetts, another well-known broker. Finally, it is worth remembering that many motorcycle manufacturers offer their cheaper insurance policies designed specifically for their own machines. This includes Peugeot, Piaggio, Aprilia, Suzuki, Honda and Yamaha. The chances are they can cut hundreds of pounds off the cost of your covern Piaggio 16-Plus 0345 697118; Carole Nash 0161-9801305; Bennetts 01203 559669; Scooter Plus (MC Edwards) 01536 510100; Mitchell & Partners 0171- 272 7661; Yamaha 01932 358121; Honda 0181-7469292; Suzuki 01892 535411; Aprilia 01708 768613; Peugeot 01(Trade Mark) 336568; Premium Search 0990 134920; Hastings Direct 01424 735735; Norwich Union and Eagle Star policies sold through insurance brokers.

After years of stagnant or declining sales owing to a harsh economic climate, the motorbike market is again booming. Twelve- month sales figures to August show bike sales rose 39 per cent towards the 85,000 mark, with the 900cc bracket accounting for most of that growth.

According to Tony Woodall of Metropolis Motorcycles, a bike business in London, the major growth area for bikes is now with upwardly mobile executives and directors. “This includes the born-again biker who may have had one 15 years ago and is now in a position to spend over pounds 9,000 on a top-of-the-range Honda, Suzuki or Kawasaki.”

One key factor behind the resurgent bike market has been the purchase of machines for leisure, fuelled by a prosperous economy and fine summer weather. This is combined with the practicality of using a motorbike to negotiate the traffic-clogged streets of urban areas to reduce travel time. But bike riders need bike insurance,and bikes create special problems. They are four times more likely to be stolen than cars, and the lucrative market in spares makes small bikes just as likely to be targeted by thieves as the expensive super-bikes. Only 25 per cent of stolen bikes are recovered. According to Ken German, technology officer at the Metropolitan Police, recovered bikes are piling up at police stations all over the country because their identification marks have been removed. Bike riders are also at a higher risk of accidents than drivers of four- wheeled vehicles. Two per cent of women riders and 3.7 per cent of men had serious accidents in 1995, excluding riders riding on car licences. This means that, pound for pound, bike insurance will be dearer than for cars. Comprehensive insurance covering accident damage and parts for bikes is also more costly relative to third-party cover than in the case of cars. Traditionally, Norwich Union has had the dominant share of bike insurance, but direct marketing has brought new players into the market. Mike Bowman, marketing manager at Hastings Direct, says: “We saw a gap in the bike insurance market for a direct service similar to that provided to car owners. As a result, we launched a service this year which offers bike owners a free-phone number which can be called 12 hours a day, over-the- phone cover and flexible payment methods.” Insurers have also become more imaginative in marketing their policies. The AA offers its members a 10 per cent discount on insurance. Norwich Union has announced that bikers who have not made a claim in five years are entitled to a 50 per cent no-claims discount on its Premier bike policy. Eagle Star, another major player, also has a deal which cuts the cost of insurance for new policyholders if they take an advanced training course. Malcolm Nash, a director at specialist bike broker Carole Nash, said: “Approaching an insurer direct means they will only quote you their own policy. An established motorbike broker will have access to a range of different policies from which they can choose the most appropriate. Brokers also have a degree of specialist knowledge about bikes which a direct insurer may not possess.” Nash offers owners a 10 per cent discount for fitting approved immobilisers, 5 per cent off for Datatag security devices, 5 per cent for mechanical locks and garaging and uninsured loss cover of pounds 10 for the legal costs of fighting disputed claims. Motorbike manufacturers also provide insurance for their customers. Honda customers have two choices - Honda Care and Honda Cover. In the case of Honda Care, the Honda customer will benefit from a 45 per cent discount if they have five years’ riding experience - not bad if you have a five- year no claims bonus and are paying over pounds 400 to insure a Honda Fireblade. Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha also provide insurance for customers. Yamaha is offering free insurance for any 1997 model Yamaha motorcycle bought in October. Otherwise, Yamaha’s insurance arm will charge a 35-year-old man living in central London an annual premium of pounds 526 fully comprehensive for a 900cc Diversion, reduced to pounds 306 in an area deemed less risky. Motorcycle owners in South Wales and the west country will soon be able to benefit from a new service launched by Holman Superbike Plus. This service gives brokers access to the majority of insurance policies on the market for bikes from 50cc up to 1,000cc. If the scheme proves successful, Superbike Plus will become available to brokers in other parts of the country. q Contacts: AA, tel: 0800 125 620; Hastings Direct, 0800 00 1066; Carole Nash, 0161-927 2424; Premium Search, 0990 134920. Eagle Star and Norwich Union sell through brokers.

n today’s roundup of business-to-business (B2B) news: RiderPoint.com & Nadaguides.com Team On E-Commerce B2B; FreeMarkets & Xelus Form Alliance For B2B & Decision Support; Oracle & webMethods Partner On Global B2B Exchanges; Clarus Global Settlement Portal Launched; TruckersB2B.com & Michelin In Tire Deal; Appliancezone Picks Ariba For B2B E-commerce Platform; OneChem To Launch Chemical Term Contract B2B Marketplace.

NADA Inc.’s Nadaguides.com has signed an online commerce affiliation deal with RiderPoint Inc.., under which Nadaguides.com will promote riderpoint.com through “fixed merchant links placed within the Insurance Quote section and other areas of the site, and bring RiderPoint’s online insurance comparative rater service to Nadaguides.com users.” RiderPoint provides an online comparative insurance rater, called RiderPoint IQ, which reportedly provides consumers with the ability to comparatively shop for and buy their motorcycle insurance at one location.

FreeMarkets & Xelus Form Alliance For B2B & Decision Support

FreeMarkets, Inc. and Xelus, Inc., a provider of inventory planning, forecasting, optimization and e-commerce systems for service industries, have teamed up to deliver Web-based B2B e-trading communities and decision support systems to Global 1000 organizations. The deal calls for FreeMarkets and Xelus to provide Global 1000 organizations in such industries as aerospace, telecommunications, high technology and utilities with access to the FreeMarkets B2B eMarketplace and Xelus’s supply chain optimization and planning for service inventory.dd

MOTORCYCLE insurance specialist Bennetts are offering an introductory discount of 47.5 per cent to people with two years’ biking experience but no no-claims bonus. They also offer cover tailored to your lifestyle and manufacturer-specific schemes. Call 0870 333 0007.

DIVORCING couples should consider selling their with-profits endowment policies when they split rather than surrendering them, because they could end up a third better off, say Neville James Ltd, who are in the market for traded endowment policies. The firm say that two-thirds of policies never come to maturity.

BRITONS are wasting more than pounds 1,000 billion because two- thirds of us die without making a will, says IFA Promotion, which represents independent financial advisers. Most of it goes in inheritance tax which is paid unnecessarily by families of people without wills.

YOU don’t always have to take the retirement income offered by your pension provider. If you shop around you may be able to get more income from the same pension fund. Now Bridgegate Annuities, the Chester-based annuity broker, have launched an advice service for those who are about to retire and want to do just that. Details: 01244 401 991.

WIN prizes and help Save the Children at Barclays until November 28. Anyone calling in to discuss personal savings gets a free set of Save the Children Christmas cards - which could contain a pounds 10,000 jackpot or one of thousands of pounds 10 prizes. Barclays will match the prizes to donate at least pounds 150,000 to the charity.