In the last few days it has been announced that the penalties for inappropriately using a mobile phone whilst at the wheel of your car have increased. Instead of paying a fine of £100, it is now £200 and instead of having 3 penalty points added to your driving license, it is now 6 penalty points. Of course, this will result in your car insurance being affected.
If you are caught using your mobile phone when you should not do so whilst at the wheel of your car then it is quite possible that your car insurance premiums will increase by a significant sum. In fact, according to recent research by the AA, some insurers may decline to provide such cover.
Don’t use your mobile phone inappropriately whilst at the wheel of your car.
Apparently, the survey revealed that, of 13 insurers taking part, 4 insurance companies were not prepared to provide car insurance if someone committed the offence of inappropriately using their mobile phone whilst at the wheel of their vehicle. Also, those insurers that would still provide cover to insure a vehicle would charge anything between 20% and 29% more for such cover – that is a significant increase.
Furthermore, if someone was, for instance, using their mobile phone when they should not be whilst driving and, as a result, were pulled over by the police for the additional offence of dangerous driving then only 2 of the 13 insurance companies in the above survey would consider providing car insurance. This could result in the offender’s motor insurance premium going up by as much as 58% – a huge increase.
So, as you can see, some of the potential repercussions of using your mobile phone when you should not be doing so whilst at the wheel of your vehicle may have a serious impact on the cost of obtaining such cover and also limiting the number of insurers that would consider providing car insurance.
