Having motoring convictions will already mean that you will pay more for your car insurance. But why? Car insurance premiums, not only for convicted drivers, is based on over 100 different calculations relevant to your profile.
The amount of car insurance premium that reflects your motoring convictions will depend on the insurer, but overall, the increase you pay in your premium is supposed to reflect the increased likelihood of you being involved in an accident, as depending on the type of conviction, you are often assessed as being more likely to have a claim.
However, some insurance companies specialise in providing car insurance for convicted drivers, so will specifically try and attract them. This may seem odd, because surely if a convicted driving is more likely to have a claim then most insurers would want to stay clear?
But, some convicted driver schemes do perform well for certain insurers. When we say ‘perform well’ we mean that, for example, for every £100 received in premium for convicted drivers, then 60% of this is paid out in claims leaving an underwriting profit of £40 per £100 of premium received.
This means that, in this example, the ‘loss ratio’ would be 60%. When you consider that the average ratio for car insurance is well over 100% then you can see that car insurance for convicted drivers tends to buck the trend.
Could this perhaps be because most convicted drivers will drive more carefully and will not want to risk losing their licence?
However, this is not true for all convicted drivers. For example, if you have two IN10 convictions (driving without insurance) or two drink drive convictions, then as far as insurers are concerned, then you have not learnt your lesson and you represent a much higher risk of being involved in an accident.
This, when you think about it, is true. If you have decided to drive your car without insurance and have been caught twice doing so, then this would tend to indicate that you are prepared to take too many risks meaning you are much more likely to be the cause of an accident.
When it comes to double drink drive convictions, then this is even more indicative of someone who perhaps does not really have any regard for their own safety, or that of other road users!
Of course, if you are looking for car insurance and you have motoring convictions for speeding, then this is seen differently by some insurers.
For example, there are so many speed cameras which operate 24/7 that it is very likely at some point someone will get caught, for example, doing 35MPH in a 30MPH at 11pm at night.
Most insurers will take this into account when calculating a premium for someone with motoring convictions, and it is important to make sure that you are able to speak to someone at an insurance company who can take into account any mitigating circumstances surrounding the reasons why you have your motoring convictions.
This is why ‘on-line only’ car insurance companies are all well and good if you have no adverse elements to your profile, but who nowadays falls under this category??
In summary, of course you would expect to pay more for your car insurance if you are a convicted driver. But, if you have any circumstances which are mitigating then make sure you speak to a specialist car insurance company that can take these into account.
Premiums for car insurance have been going up anyway, so it is a double whammy for convicted driver car insurance.