Staysure insurance set to increase staffing in 2015

Insurance Age has reported that Staysure Insurance are going to recruit an additional 50 staff  in the New year at it's Northampton
head office as part of its growth plans for 2015.

The company confirmed it is looking for full- and part-time sales and customer service staff to meet what it described as "phenomenal growth" since being launched in 2004 by CEO Ryan Howsam.

Staysure is the over 50s expert, specialising in insurance and financial services in the UK and Europe and was formed in 2004 by Ryan Howsam.

If you are looking for Travel Insurance from Staysure follow this link
If you are looking Staysure Holiday Homes insurance follow this link
If you are looking Staysure ExPat Home insurance follow this link

Questor Insurance is not just for Christmas but all round too

Received a tin of excellent biscuits last week from those very nice people at Questor Insurance.

Unfortunately the Christmas biscuits will soon be good, however if you have an annual policy from Questor Insurance it lasts all year long.

Questor insurance offers a great selection of travel and vehicle excess waiver insurance products that are currently promoted at various jml Insurance sites including jml-insurance.co.uk, insurance4carrental.com and irishpropertyinsurance.com

These include:
*Car Hire Excess Waiver Insurance 
*Motor Home / Camper Van Hire Excess Insurance
*Minibus Hire Excess Insurance from Questor insurance
*Van Hire Excess Insurance
*Car Club Excess Insurance
*LifeStyle-Lite Excess Insurance
*Motor Excess Insurance
*Golfing Travel Insurance
*Standard Travel Insurance
*Winter Sports Travel Insurance
*Back Packers Travel Insurance

What is more if you visit the Questor page Here you can get a 10% Discount on car hire excess insurance - this offer is extended till end of 2014 so hurry if you are making arrangements to go away.

Travel Insurance via Questor can be found here

So when you are making your New Years resolutions remember to look out for Questor Insurance travel products.

Beware of pot holes on the roads this winter

We are now approaching winter and if it is anything like the last two years English roads will be full of pot holes. These have occurred due to frost, ice and snow in 2012/2013 and very heavy rain in 2013/2014.

You need to take extra care from now onwards as when it is wet and dark you can't see these. Roads in some counties and regions appear to be in a worse state than others. From personal experiences the state and condition of numerous roads in Buckinghamshire is very poor. If you own a car or van or hiring these vehicles do make sure you are covered for any "undercarriage" damage that could occur as a result of driving over any of these potholes. Local councils might not pay up for damage caused and you will have to rely on your car insurance or paying for your self.

In September the Tour of Britain cycle race en-route from Bath to Hemel Hempstead used the roads near the Buckinghamshire village of Great Hampden going towards Great Missenden. The state of these narrow roads with pot holes either side is a nightmare for traffic. The cyclists would have been using the centre of the roads, however in normal conditions cyclists and vehicle users cannot.

Back in March this year, driving past the village of Ellesborough very close the Prime Minister's country Residence, Chequers I hit a pot hole about 7.30 in the evening. I just ben avoiding several near Wendover.

The next day the car's warning system told me I had a problem with my nearside rear tyre. I took it to a repair centre and fortunately I did not need a new tyre and the company was able to repair this for under £25. It also took an hour and a half of my time.

I decided to take the issue up with Buckinghamshire County Council as I was so fed up with the bad road maintenance in the county. I went through the long claims process, having to try and find the pothole in question and take photos. BCC wanted to know the width and depth of any disputed potholes as well.

Communication continued for some six months until their legal department wrote to me on the 24th October. They concluded a 2 page letter by saying "The incidend you have informed the Highways Authority of occurred in Ellesborough Road on the above date (2203/2014). Upon a review of the safety inspection and maintenancw records for this road, we can confirm that this type of road is subject to regular inspections of 4 times a year, in accordance with Buckinghamshire County Council's Highways Inspection Policy derived from the Code of Practice for Highways Maintenance Management, published by the Department of Transport. Furthermore, the safety inspection prior to your incident was completed on 22nd January 2014 and revealed no defect in the highway at the location you have identified.

In our opinion, The Council has a reasonable system of safety inspections and maintenance in existence for this type of road and is therefore able to establish a complete defence under Section 58 of the Act. In this respect, we must inform you that the Highway Authority has no liability for the unfortunate damage to your property and will therefore close the file in accordance with BCC Risk and Insurance Procedures"

There was of course two months between BCC's inspection and my incident. Two months when there was considerable water damage to roads and the environment by substantial flooding. Badly maintained road surfaces could therefore have just washed away.  

If the damage is serious, damaged wheel, damage to under carriage etc you of course may well choose to claim on the insurance. If it is your own car, by claiming you could of course loose your no claims bonus for something that was not your fault. If it was a very expensive repair the insurance company might battle it out with the local Council / Authority, however if it is only a small amount then you will probably just end up paying for any repairs out of your own pocket.

If you do find potholes in your local area, take a photo and send it to the local council indicating where it is. The image on the left was taken a couple of months ago, it has been repaired, however it was also repaired approximately fifteen months ago, but not too well hence the hole again this autumn.


Make sure your vehicle is properly insured, there is good choice of companies advertising at the jml Insurance site here for car and van insurance and if you are hiring a car, van, minibus or motorhome make sure you buy a specialist policy and check to see if you are insured for those perils. Find out more here.

It could be a long hard dark winter ahead and although local authorities have done a lot of maintenance since last spring, with restricted budgets, roads are not as good as they should be.
  

Half term holidays, Halloween and firework time insurance tips

The half term season is nearly here, in many cases it has already started and although the summer holidays do not seem that far away, particularly with fantastic weather in September in many parts of northern Europe, people are now ready for a break.

This coming weekend will be the start of the half term holiday for the majority., with Halloween on the 31st October and an early bonfire night on the 1st November as it is a Saturday. Many more people appear to go to community firework displays these days rather than have their own personal displays.

Over half term you might be off on holiday, hiring a car Economy Car hire have some "Half term steals for your holiday wheels" (don't forget your car hire excess waiver insurance as well) and finding some autumn sunshine to extend the summer. Don't forget your travel insurance too.

Staysure the travel insurance people for the over 50s  sent out an e-flyer a few days ago on suggestions for half term. Unfortunately with the volume of emails that come in, this useful set of ideas got deleted.   

It is exceptionally  important to make sure you have travel insurance if you are off on your travels over the break. There are a great choice of companies advertising here.

If you are staying at home and planning some DIY project and need to hire a van, don't forget your van hire excess insurance. Buying from an independent insurance specialist will normally be a lot cheaper than from the van hire company.

Remember the 5th November or the weekend before when fireworks are giving great joy to people. However do make sure that you follow the various firework codes and also that you might be enjoying the event but your pets are scared.

Pets play a very important part in our lives so keep the cat in and also the dogs too.
Incidentally if you do have a pet, Blue Insurances offer some great pet insurance products to residents of the UK and Ireland. Under their brands of  "Pet Insurance.ie" and "Covermypet.co.uk" it is worth looking at their prices. Find out more here

Safe and happy half term holidays

Final call on bank holiday weekend insurance

The England and Wales bank holiday weekend is here and many people will be off on their holidays.

Are you ready? Case packed, tickets arranged and of course your insurance.

It is not too late to to arrange your travel insurance, however you will find with most travel insurance companies you must take out the policy before you leave your own country. No good doing this when you have arrived in Marbella as it won't work. 

Take a look at the advertisers at the jml-insurance travel insurance page here.

There is a great selection of companies including financial failure as well.

You could of course be hiring a car or motorhome (or staying at home and doing a lot of shopping, moving or going to a sporting occasion and hiring a van or minibus). Remember buying your excess waiver insurance from an independent insurance company will save you a lot of money rather than buying it from the vehicle hire company in the majority of cases. Find out more Here

This means you will have more money to spend on your holiday, travel, day trip or those large items of furniture you need to move from your local Ikea.

The jml Insurance site advertises a vast number of products, Holiday home insurance, Main residence property insurance, Landlord and Tenant insurance, commercial insurance, car and motor vehicle insurance, student insurance, mobile phone insurance and specialist areas for ex-offenders + Find out more today at the 24/7 insurance site Here  

Have a great bank holiday weekend.

Renting and Letting in Scotland what could happen next?

With the vote on independence on the 18th September not far away, various landlord magazines are full of articles on Scotland and the Scottish rental market.

One observation I cannot find anything about yet is the tax situation. Presumably if the "Yes" vote wins and Scotland becomes an independent country next March them any landlord living in Scotland who owns a property in what is left of the UK will be treated by HMRC Customs and Revenue as an "Overseas Landlord". The effect being that unless the landlord obtains a NRL8 approval under the FICO system then any agent (or tenant if rental is paid to the landlord direct) will have to withhold an amount for tax.

No doubt a similar arrangement will be in place in an independent Scotland with the landlord who lives in Scotland owns a property in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. It would be interesting if HMRC has already been making plans.

Flicking through the July / August 14 edition of the NLAs "UK Landlord" magazine I see that New electrical safety requirements are due to be introduced now that the Scottish Parliament has given its support for the "Housing (Scotland) Bill". Landlords with properties in Scotland will have a duty to ensure regular electrical safety inspections and also under gas regulations must fit carbon monoxide detectors in their properties.

RENT CAPS: - Members of the Scottish Parliament have voted against a move to introduce rent caps that had been proposed by the Scottish Labour Party.

However once the "Housing (Scotland) Bill" has received the Royal Assent later this year, it will introduce a mandatory register of letting agents together with a letting agent code of practice. 

Since 2006 all landlords who let out property have to be registered with the local authority in which the property is situated in. It is an offence not to be registered and the registration lasts for three years.

Tenant fees are no longer charged by letting agents in Scotland and it would be interesting to know if rents have increased so that landlords can cover the cost of the agent taking up professional referencing.

Finally a dedicated PRS - Private Rented Sector Champion will take forward the findings of a specialist project looking at how new sources of housing investment can be attracted to Scotland to help expand the country's growing rented sector. 

The Scottish Government is supporting the appointment by industry body Homes for Scotland in order to spearhead the growth of new rental developments to help meet the country’s diverse housing needs.

The announcement follows major research, led by Homes for Scotland and undertaken by experts in housing finance from the world-renowned Cambridge Centre for Housing & Planning Research and LSE London, which called for the two year funding of a “champion” to deliver on the recommendations contained within the project report.

These focus on improving information on the opportunities that exist, smoothing the path for development, matching institutional investment and management.

Reporting directly to Homes for Scotland, the PRS Champion will chair a Working Party with the objective of identifying and facilitating viable projects. More on this here

What will happen with Landlord and Tenant insurance products if the "Yes" vote wins next month is another question. Presumably as most of the companies involved already operate in Scotland it will be business as usual, but with adjustments to policies. Companies like Barbon's Letsure have been based in Scotland for years.

In the meantime if you own a property in Scotland or rent one and are looking for insurance take a look at this page. If you own a holiday home then take a look here



 

Yorkshire Cat Rescue urges Landlords to rethink on no-pets policy

The Yorkshire Cat rescue Charity that houses homeless cats and kittens in the Yorkshire area is urging property landlords to rethink their ‘No Pets Policy’, after seeing a recent increase in the amount of animals surrendered because their owners were denied keeping them in rented accommodation.

Yorkshire Cat Rescue, which was founded over 20 years ago, has witnessed an alarming increase in the number of calls from distressed owners who have been forced to move or even been threatened with an eviction notice for keeping pets.

Sara Atkinson, founder of the charity, said: “Last year we took in 688 cats compared with 546 in 2011 and these figures don’t even tell the full story. Had we been able to accommodate more animals, we could have filled the centre three times over with the true number of homeless cats – some of which may instead have been abandoned or put to sleep. A significant proportion of the increase has come as a result of people moving into rented accommodation, often following the repossession of their home, and found that a strict No Pets Policy forces them to chose between a much-loved pet and a roof over their head.

“Many landlords implement a No Pets Policy as standard to avoid the scenario of having to replace fixtures and furniture that may have been damaged by teeth and claws. But in doing so, they are losing out on loyal tenants who often become long term customers specifically because their pets are allowed.

“Most people understand that having a cat or a dog comes with additional obligations. Few tenants would object to a dedicated pet deposit or to sign a contract which states that they must pay for any damage their animal has caused. Another alternative is to allow merely a small number of animals, such as a single cat, to avoid housing entire families of cats or dogs.”

Sara says considering applications on an individual basis instead if implementing a blanket ban would make all the difference. “An elderly couple with a single cat would for many be considered the perfect tenants and, we know, would be forever grateful if they were allowed to keep their pet. Older cats can be hard to re-home and the benefits to both are substantial.

“By speaking to prospective tenants about their pets – asking how long they have owned it for, if it has any health or behavioural problems and who will look after it when they are not home – landlords can make fair and informed decisions about whether or not to allow them, rather than simply saying outright ‘no’.”  Source and more information at http://yorkshirecatrescue.org/

Remember of course that as a tenant you should be able to take out insurance in case you spill wine on the landlord's carpet or your pet damages the property. See the list of insurance companies Here who might be able to cover you.

Is your holiday rental properly insured?

Images courtesy of jmlvillas.com

Whether you let out your holiday rental or just use it yourself for weekend breaks and holidays it must be properly insured.

It could be an apartment, villa cottage, condo or farmhouse and whatever it is the contents and structure must be fully insured.

At this time of year many property owners are relaxing at their holiday home, however what happens if someone else is there who should not be and the place has been broken into and the insurance has lapsed, or it is under insured?

You do need to ensure that you have proper cover and agree terms and conditions with your insurance company when you take the insurance out.

Are there restrictions? Water has to be turned off, gas and electricity has to be cut off? Someone has to check it every few weeks?

It is most important if your holiday home is in a non English speaking country and that your insurance details are written in clear English, unless of course you are fluent in the country's language.

A few years ago this would have been a major problem, however today it is straightforward since companies like Intasure, Andrew Copeland International and Staysure entered the market.

Back in the UK, Rentguard will insure your property and of course these companies will often insure your main residence in the UK or outside the UK in other parts of Europe as well.

To find out more about these companies follow this link

Don't under value your insurance levels either.

Tenants in London are now paying twice as much as those across the rest of Britain

Average rents across the UK rose by 6.3% over the past year and now stand at £862 a month compared to £811 a year ago, the HomeLet Rental Index study found.

Tenants in the capital face average monthly rents of £1,412, compared to £694 for the rest of the UK once London is excluded, and saw prices soar 11.2% in the year up to June 2014.

Out of the country's 12 regions, only the North East of England and Scotland saw minor falls in rental prices, with year-on-year drops of 2.3% and 3.8% respectively.

As well as information on rental amounts, the HomeLet Rental Index also provides information on tenant demographics, such as their average age, income, previous residential status and property type they’re applying to live in.
HomeLet is one of the leading sources of support for the UK’s vibrant private rented sector. It is part of the Barbon Insurance Group and based in Lincoln. There are now more than 300 members of staff working hard every day to support letting agents, landlords and tenants.

They offer tenant referencing services plus Landlord Insurance and Tenant Insurance products. Find out more about these insurance products here.

Source:HomeLet 

Seasonal holiday tips from Economy Car Hire and Staysure Insurance

With the holiday season in full swing and the English coastline fading away in the distance two companies have been sending out tips for travellers in the past couple of days.

First of al Economy Car Hire . They offer great deal car hire in numerous locations in Europe. They said "How to avoid long queues at the airport"

They went on to say " Now that the summer is here, people are queuing at some car rental desks in major Spanish Airports for up to two hours. What a way to start your holiday!

Many of the suppliers that we work with in Spain operate offsite. Simply hop on a shuttle bus. Your first few minutes on unusual terrain will be a in quieter spot, instead of having to deal with heavy traffic straight away.

We do also work with suppliers that facilitate airport collection, where the queues are more reasonable. Watch out for the blue desk in airport tag on the quote results. Whichever option you choose, make sure it's with us!"  Find out about Economy Car Hire Here  

Then there was Staysure Insurance who offer travel insurance and holiday home property insurance products. They said "Stay safe when travelling". Their tips had been prompted by  the campaign to help find pensioner Arthur Jones over the past few weeks. The 73-year-old granddad went missing on the Isle of Crete during a walking trip on 19th June.

Staysure  have put together these 20 Tips

 Be Safe 1. Always tell someone where you are going—even if it's the hotel reception.
2. Stay in touch with family regularly via phone, email or even social media.
3. Take a fully charged mobile phone with you when exploring.
4. Keep to open public places, especially at night.
5. Avoid looking like a typical tourist—don't walk around with a map outstretched in front of you or taking photos of everything that moves!

Planning Ahead 6. Scan all your important documents and then email them to yourself.
7. Book your first night's accommodation in advance.
8. Visit your doctor before you leave and ask about vaccinations you may need.
9. Know what buses, planes and trains you need to take and how much they will cost.
10. Arrive early in the day, so that you are not wandering around at night in an unfamiliar place.

Watch Your Valuables 11. Don't put all your cash/cards in your wallet/purse. Leave some in a safe if you have access to one, so that if you lose any, all is not lost.
12. Don't keep your wallet/purse in your back pocket.
13. Use a padlock to keep your luggage secure.
14. Try not to show off your valuables or flash money around, as this could make you a target for thieves.
15. Be wary of giving money to beggars as people will see where your wallet/purse is. If you want to help out, donate online or when at home.

Be Smart 16. Try not to use your credit card at an Internet café or with Wi-Fi, as your information can be stolen.
17. Slow things down when necessary. If a stranger is rushing you to make a decision, just tell them to talk slower.
18. Use the same common sense that you use at home.
19. Trust your gut feeling. If it doesn't feel right, don't do it.
20. Most importantly of all, get good travel insurance.

Following on from number 20  Find out More about Staysure Insurance products here

Sources: Economy Car Hire and Staysure Insurance.

School is out and holidays finally here have you got the insurance you need?

Schools finally break up today for the six week break. Of course many broke up much earlier than this including those in Scotland, Ireland and France.

In Britain the airports, roads and ferry ports will be very busy this weekend. Are you completely prepared?

Have you packed everything,? Taking your car, have you adjusted the tyre pressure to allow for extra weight? Did the passport you were waiting for finally arrive?  Have you purchased your travel insurance and if you are hiring a car your car hire excess waiver insurance?


If you have not arranged your insurance yet, it is easy to do by visiting www.jml-insurance.co.uk  This is a specialist site that promotes a great selection of individual insurance company's insurance products and like the Irish version  www.irishpropertyinsurance.com also offers access to holiday home property insurance as well.

You make all the arrangements direct with the individual insurance company so if you have forgotten that important "something" - "insurance" it is very easy to get it arranged  straightaway.

Remember insurance for travel, car hire excess and your holiday home is one essential you can not be without.

Enjoy your holidays.

   

Blue Insurances is working with Transport Media on the London Underground

According to a media report issued yesterday by Pressat and published on the Motor E Magazine website, " Irish insurances group Blue Insurances is working with  Transport Media  to launch a summer campaign on the London Underground, protecting holiday makers planning on travelling abroad. A two week campaign will launch on July 14th across the capital’s Underground network, displaying Blue Insurances’ advertising on tube car panels throughout the network’s carriages. 

Two different designs are being used to promote carhireexcess and multitrip; two insurance websites dedicated to protecting travellers abroad. carhireexcess.com provides car excess insurance for people planning on hiring a car in Europe or worldwide. 

Award winning travel insurance site multitrip.com covers passengers when experiencing flight delays, and is using the campaign to promote its annual travel insurance deal. As the advert explains: “ We can’t stop your flight being delayed, but we can cover you, when things go wrong! ” The colourful, eye-catching adverts are perfectly positioned to attract the interest of London’s commuters and tourists during the summer holiday period. 

The advertisementsalso highlight that each site and its services are accessible from a smartphone – an ideal functionality for Blue Insurances’ target market of audiences on the move. Positioned at the top of a tube carriage, advertising on London’s tube cars panels creates highly visible advertising that is viewed at close proximity. With an average duration of 13 minutes spent in a carriage per journey, audiences will have plenty of time to read and absorb Blue Insurances’ campaign messages.

Lee Dentith, CEO of Transport Media’s parent company, Media Agency Group said: “Tube car panel advertising is a fantastic way to guarantee exposure across the city to a huge, captive audience. Perfectly timed to coincide with the summer holidays, this campaign will be sure to engage with passengers either planning, or on route to their holiday abroad.”  

Blue Insurances Travel insurance / Car hire excess insurance / Pet Insurance / Gadget Insurance / Wedding insurance and breakdown insurance have been promoted at various jml Insurance websites including Irishpropertyinsurance.com and insurance4carrental.com for the past couple of years. They offer products for the Irish and UK markets and are based in Dublin, Ireland and Cardiff, Wales. 

To find out more about their range of products for the UK market and arrange your purchase on line follow this link

For the Irish market follow this link

Source: Pressat , Motor E Magazine, jml Insurance

British tourists are facing sky-high car hire costs in some of the most popular summer holiday destinations

The "Express and Star" published a topical article yesterday "Britons warned about car hire costs -British tourists are facing sky-high car hire costs in some of the most popular summer holiday destinations.

According to this informative article "Costs in Majorca, for example, are almost twice as high as those in Cyprus, which has the lowest charges among 16 resorts surveyed by Post Office Travel Money.Other popular spots where charges were particularly high include Faro in Portugal, Split in Croatia and Dublin."

There are a lot of similar travel articles about at the moment at the start / well into the summer holiday season (depending on whether you have youngsters at school or not or when they broke up or are about to).

The article went on to say "After Larnaca in Cyprus , the best value destination was Luqa in Malta (£317), followed by Marmaris in Turkey (£325), Copenhagen (£335) and Salzburg in Austria (£362).

Post Office Travel Money said its survey of 2,106 UK adults showed that in hiring a car, 56% failed to take out excess waiver insurance that reduces the excess payable for accidents or theft to zero.

Even more (76%) did not take out insurance cover for tyre, undercarriage and window damage.
Andrew Brown, of Post Office Travel Money, said: "These figures make it clear that it is a false economy to cut costs by sticking to the basic cost when booking car rental online.
"We advise against taking a risk that could cost hundreds of pounds if your hire car suffers damage or is stolen."

There was no reference as to whether the Post Office offers  excess waiver insurance, however you can find a great choice of competitive providers here.

To view the article follow this link to the Express and Star. 

Can you spot the difference in these two insurance4carhire ads?

 

The image on the left (A) is very similar indeed to  the one further down the page (B) 

They are both offering insurance4carhire's range of car hire excess insurance products.
UK and Europe - Worldwide -USA and Canada.

However there is a difference - In image A the cost of the UK and Europe is £39.99 - You would come across this if you typed in insurance4carhire into your favourite search engine.

The difference however is that if you were
to buy the product from a link from insurance4carrental.com, jml Villas, jml Insurance etc you would actually come up with image B

The price here is only £38.00 for UK and Europe. Not a fantastic saving, but a saving all the same. In this day and age of saving money then this will be a better deal. What is more the fact you are buying car hire excess waiver insurance from an independent insurance company like insurance4carhire means you will usually be saving a great deal more than if you bought it from a car hire company direct.

It is rather annoying that when you hire a car there are add ons you have to pay extra for. Sat navs, chilkd seats, ski racks etc and of course car hire excess insurance.

With the first three in that list you can avoid these - take your own equipment with you, however the one bit of equipment that is essential is the car hire excess insurance. To buy your discounted car hire excess insurance for UK and Europe just follow this link 

Protect your holiday home with Staysure Insurance

That is the message just received from Staysure Insurance.

For those fortunate enough to have a holiday home, making sure it is appropriately covered with specific holiday home insurance is essential, as most household policies do not provide cover if you leave your home empty for more than 30 consecutive days.

What is moree, they may not protect you against liability claims if a holidaymaker injures themselves while staying in your property. Staysure’s Holiday Home Insurance policy offers you all this and more...
 
 What extra protection does Staysure Insurance  provide the holiday home owner with?  
 Getting holiday home insurance is simple and takes just a few minutes with Staysure. Their policies offer you peace of mind and protection for:
 
 • Buildings and contents – even if your home is empty for more than 30 days
• Legal liability of up to £5 million – vital if you’re letting your home to holidaymakers
• Emergency travel costs should you need to travel to your holiday home
• Replacement locks if your keys are stolen or lost
• Replacement of garden furniture and barbecues
• 24-hour Emergency Helpline in English, Home Assistance and a designated claims handler

What countries does Staysure Insurance cover?

They can cover holiday homes in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria* and the UK or Ireland.

What properties does Staysure Insurance cover?

They can insure your house, cottage, flat or apartment** in the countries above.

*Properties built after 1975 in the following resorts: Bansko, Varna, Golden Sands, Albena, St. Constantine and Elena, Riviera and Rusalka, Sunny Beach, Sveti Vlas, Nessebar, Primorsko and Sozopol.
** They cannot cover you if there are more than 30 apartments in a block. In France, they can cover no more than 10 in a block.  Source Staysure Insurance 5-6-14

Find out more Here

One of the jml Insurance sites is currently down.

We have just received an email from the web company we use saying "Just to let you know there is a BT line fault that has disconnected the internet to our servers, resulting in various web and email services being offline.

The fault occurred around 14:00 today and BT engineers are investigating.

We would hope to have service resumed sometime tomorrow morning" 

Please note this is for jml-insurance.co.uk and jmlvillas.com however
www.jml-property-insurance.co.uk
www.insurance4carrental.com and   
www.irishpropertyinsurance.com are all functioning as normal although some of the onward links to jml-insurance.co.uk will not be working.

Trust the issue is resolved very quickly. 

Criminal Convictions and the effect on Insurance

Being involved in the Insurance Industry for almost 30 years I have seen that the way ex offenders are treated has changed in the last few years. For the good in some cases, but in certain cases obtaining insurance can be impossible. Hopefully,  someone will change this in the near future.

Major problems faced by ex offenders with convictions for Fraud are obtaining any form of insurance whilst the conviction is unspent. There is maybe one insurer that will insure a car whilst business insurance and public liability, and home insurance are becoming impossible to place.

Fire arms, Arson and Sexual offences are now more frequent and the ex offenders have no chance now in obtaining any form of cover without having either a having  huge portfolio of properties or spending £5000+ in going to Lloyd's of London. Most companies use the excuse that the reinsurances will not allow them to do this. The fact that some insurers that have links to the red telephone are owned by the tax payer has no bearing.

Issues speaking to clients I have found are:

• Internet based quote engines don't ask about criminal convictions before people start inputting the information. Therefore, the person assumes if they don't read all the material facts pages that they have cover if they hit the button. 
• Insurers that deal online only will not normally offer terms to any ex offenders! (Car insurance Convictions are not criminal in most cases)
• Internet based insurers should disclose prior to starting a quote if they don't insure anyone with criminal convictions.   

For the good there has been progress made in the form of the new rehabilitation of offenders act, where minor sentences have a shorter period of time before they are spent and the offender now has a chance to live a normal live after paying their dues.

Home Insurance - if you have committed a criminal offence you must inform your current insurer whatsoever, the offence is. A very few companies will allow the cover to go to renewal and then ask you to obtain new insurance. This is not a refusal to insure if the offence happened during the term of the policy, however if you did not disclose that you had a conviction pending the insurers are within their rights to cancel the policy from inception.

Please note that any mortgage on a property whether it is a private house or commercial property is subject to the property being insured. If the mortgage company find it is uninsured they may repossess the property.

Source Dave Burn of T R Youngs / Allstyles Insurance

To contact Dave Burn for your insurance requirements please follow this link here

Driving Other Cars or Vehicles Third Party Only Insurance Cover.

Driving without insurance the current system only fines the offenders a ridiculously small amount of money, I for one would like to see the offenders charged twice the cost of the lowest insurance quotation and community service orders. Main offenders are young drivers who assume its cheaper to take the chance than drive with it.

We need a system in place where ownership of a car can not change hands unless proof of insurance has been obtained. The Third Party driving other cars clause on all policies needs to be scrapped all together or made compulsory for all Car insurers. As currently some insurers with give it to Under 25s and other will not. If you have a occupation in the Motor trade field then the policy generals excludes driving other cars.

Plus the industry needs to have one common wording which is not up for discussion and can not be altered by the insurer.

With all the advance systems the police have in place for stopping motorists lets make sure that the offenders pay the real price for the insurance they avoided paying.

Source Dave Burn of T R Youngs / Allstyles Insurance

To contact Dave Burn for your insurance requirements please follow this link here

 



 

Renting now cheaper than buying in many areas according to recent research

The May edition of Rentguard Insurance's "Property Eye" has an article saying that according to research released by Countrywide Residential Lettings, rising house prices mean that the cost of renting relative to buying has fallen.

The report suggests that in 2014, the average tenant pays 93p in rent for every £1 spent repaying a mortgage which represents a year on year decrease of 3p.

It also shows that house prices have risen more quickly that rents over the last 12 months across 87% of England, Scotland and Wales.  The 13% of areas where the cost of renting rose relative to buying were mainly in the North East of England or South West Wales.

In London the average tenant spends 86p on rent, down from 93p a year ago, for every £1 spent by a homeowner.  And it is now cheaper to rent than buy in 30 out of the 33 London boroughs, up from 25 in 2013.

Nick Dunning, group commercial director at Countrywide said: “As house prices rise, renting increasingly allows people to live in areas they would otherwise be unable to afford to buy.  In more expensive cities, such as London, the cost of renting in more central areas can be just half the cost of buying.  The result is that in the most central areas of London, and many other global cities, over half the population now rent.”

“While homeowners can benefit from increases to the value of their home over the long-term, homeownership itself doesn’t automatically equate to large financial returns.  The money saved by renting can be invested in other ways.  The reality is that tenants, far from being priced out of the market in the long-term, have benefitted from the flexibility this growing and increasingly professional sector offers.”

In the meantime Why not visit Rentguard Insurance Here and access their website for property insurance requirements?

Buy-to-let now 18 years old in the UK

Back in 1996 ARLA The Association of Residential Letting Agents came up with the "Buy-to-Let" concept. This was to encourage investors to buy property and let it out. This had followed on from an earlier Government's scheme called "The Business Expansion Scheme" BES. The objective of this earlier investment model was for specialist BES Companies to be established, they had their own tenancies and the properties could be bought for a given amount, kept for three to five years and sold on for a profit.

Then the housing market collapsed, double mortgage relief for couples was abolished and many BES Companies found that there was no way they could sell off their property portfolios without heavy losses.

Many landlords / investors had to continue letting out under normal assured shorthold tenancies of the era and wait (and in many cases wait for years) till property prices recovered again.

So this time around it was not a Government imitative , but one set up letting agents, after all ARLA was established by letting agents for professionals in that business. You did not have to set up a company for this and you did not need to buy a portfolio of property, just one.

I remember loads of leaflets arriving at our office from the various financial institutions behind this scheme. Well 18 years later it is still going strong and last Saturday "The Independent" like other newspapers had a feature on the subject.

They said "Over the past 18 years buy-to-let has provided average returns that outstrip those of comparable major asset classes, according to a report from the Wriglesworth Consultancy - It reckons that every £1,000 invested in an average buy-to-let property, purchased with a 75 per cent loan-to-value mortgage in the final quarter of 1996, would have been worth £13,048 by the final quarter of 2013, a compound annual return of 16.3 per cent".

With the rental market the way it is in the UK at present, it looks like buy-to-let will be with us for a long time yet.

If you are going down that route, consult a professional letting agent, one who is a member of ARLA. Follow guidelines on how to present your property. Keep it updated, after all if it was brand new ten years ago, there might been a lot more smarter properties built since then in your area.

Pay particular attention to upgrading kitchens and bathrooms and of course make sure you take out specialist landlord insurance. Rent protection / legal protection products should also be considered.

Find out more about these here.   

Questor Insurance among the judges of Kent Teacher of the Year Awards 2014

Kent OnLine has just reported that 480 nominations have been made and the winners of the Kent Teacher of the Year Awards 2014 will be announced on Wednesday, May 14.

Rita Lawrence, organisational development manager at Questor Insurance is one of the judges and is pictured on the left with husband Andrew Lawrence. More information Here

Questor Insurance is based in Rainham, Kent and provides an excellent  range of insurance products including:

Car hire - Van hire - Minibus hire - Motorhome hire excess insurance products, excess insurance products and Travel insurance.

The company  was set up in 2006 and has grown in size over the past few years employing over twelve people.

If you are looking for car hire excess insurance and want to save 10 per cent follow this link -  http://www.insurance4carrental.com/questor.htm#Discount

For all their other insurance products including Lifestyle insurance, insurance for golfing holidays, car club hire excess insurance follow this link  http://www.questor-insurance.co.uk/affiliate/?ag=105097

Lambretta - Scooter - Motorbike Insurance



For the past three years jml Insurance has been promoting scooter and motorcycle insurance products.

One of the popular enquiries is regarding "Lambretta" insurance.
According to "Wikipedia" Lambretta was a line of motor scooters originally manufactured in Milan, Italy by Innocenti.

Innocenti was the company that used to build Minis under licence and  they offered wind down windows, quarter lights and smart bumpers on their models. It was an experience going to Italy to see the much smarter Mini than you could find back on the roads in England.

Today there are still numerous owners worldwide and this site has plenty of useful information.

Many owners have been finding jml Insurance and following a link to the specialist motorcycle insurance company  Allstyles Insurance.

Allstyles Insurance are able to provide insurance cover for most types of scooter and motorcycles from a panel of insurers which includes specialist providers for those more unusual scooters and motorbikes.
Cover Can Be Provided On The Following Basis:

• Insured Only, Named Driver or Any Driver Policies
• Comprehensive
• Third Party Fire & Theft
• Third Party Only
• Multi Bike Policies

Optional Covers:

• Protected No Claims Bonus
• Legal Expenses
• Gap Insurance
• UK & European Breakdown Covers
• Loss of Keys

They Can Provide Cover For The Following Types Of Vehicles:

• Scooters
• Motorbikes
• Custom Bikes
• Custom Scooters
• Modified Scooters/Bikes
• Imported Scooters/Bikes
• Classic Scooters / Bikes
• High Value Bikes/Scooters

To find out more visit their page http://www.jml-insurance.co.uk/displayproduct.php?id=381&sec=2