Car Insurance Groups
There are a total of 50 car insurance
groups in the United Kingdom. Each car that is sold in the UK market is
classified into one of these groups, based on its value when brand new,
performance and cost of repair. The groups are set by the Group Rating
Panel, comprised of members of the Association of British Insurers and
Lloyds Market Association. This panel continually observes changes in
the car industry, assessing how they affect the current car insurance
groups; and making changes where need be.
They hold monthly meetings, time during which all new cars are assessed
and given ratings. 70% of the technical information used by the Group
Rating Panel in its assessment and judgment is from Thatcham, the top
motor insurance repair research centre in the country. Previously, cars
were ranked between 1 and 20 but this was changed to 1 – 50 in 2010 to
reflect changes in car manufacture and determine cost of insurance more
accurately. Under the new groups, some cars have automatically changed
position. Some have moved higher in the scale while others have been
given a lower ranking.
A ranking of 1 indicates the highest
level of safety and 50 the lowest safety level. Cars in the lower level
rankings are often cheaper to maintain and repair following an accident.
Their overall value is also low. The opposite is true of cars in the
higher rankings. A ranking of 50 is often given to the most expensive
car models, which also have an extremely high market value. These cars
are also highly susceptible to vandalism and theft. Their spare parts
and service/repair labor cost a fortune too. As an example, most
custom-made vehicles have a high group ranking. SUVs and other luxury
cars also fall in the higher levels of ranking.
The Group Rating Panel considers a number of factors when allocating a
car to an insurance group. They include:
Value of the car
The value of the car when new is a pointer to how much it would cost to
repair or replace the car in the future. The amount reflects the cost of
claims the insurer would have to settle.
Extreme extent of damage and Cost of repair
An assessment of how much damage the car can suffer in a worst-accident
scenario is done. This shows the likely extent of damage to the car and
how much it would cost to repair it. This calculation includes the cost
of spare parts. The less a car costs to repair, the lower its group
ranking will be.
Cost of spare parts
The panel compares the cost of 23 common spares across all car models.
The higher the cost of these parts is, the higher the ranking the car is
given.
Security of the car
The car’s security levels as fitted by the manufacturer are considered.
High security features often lower the cost of insurance claims.
Car performance
A car’s top speed and 0-60m.p.h acceleration rate play a role in the
severity of an accident. From past statistics, it is clear that high
performance cars record the highest number of accidents and subsequent
claims.
If you are buying a car that was previously ranked under group 13, it
could very well be in group 26 under the new ranking but your insurance
premiums may not be affected. However, if your car has moved to a
ranking that is more than double its previous ranking, your premiums
will increase. Inversely, if it has dropped to less than double its
previous rank, your premiums are likely to be lower. It is advisable to
check a car’s insurance group rating before buying it. This will help
you get an estimate of how cheap or expensive it will be to insure the
car.
.
Engelse
Russische Hebraic
Duitse
