A Birmingham MP has accused the insurance industry of “milking the motorist” by excessively charging for car insurance.
Roger Godsiff, Labour MP for Hall Green in Birmingham, said that while the “cost of insurance concerns everybody who owns and drives a car”, in constituencies such as his, safe drivers have been unfairly hit with rising motor premiums as a result of the industry’s method of applying the “cheap and easy option of postcode charging and having box-ticking premiums”.
Speaking in a parliamentary debate on Wednesday, Mr Godsiff said he supported the transport select committee’s recommendations on personal injury claims and uninsured driving, but said the insurance industry is taking advantage of the fact that motor insurance is a compulsory purchase for drivers.
“I got the distinct impression from reading the report that the motor insurance industry was trying to convince the committee—and, indeed, perhaps itself—that it was not making any money out of the motor insurance business and that it was taking on the onerous burden of insuring motorists only out of some sense of public duty,” he added.
Mr Godsiff continued: “I pick my words carefully when I say, to put it bluntly, that having read the report, looked into the issue and considered many representations I have had from constituents whose motor insurance premiums had gone through the roof, I think that the motor insurance industry is just milking the motorist.
“Instead of tailoring insurance premiums to individual driving records and the personal circumstances of the motorist and the vehicle they are using, the industry is taking the cheap and easy option of postcode charging and having box-ticking premiums.
“It is giving scant regard to an individual’s personal circumstances because it knows that to drive on the highway, someone has to have insurance. Motorists are trapped and the industry can do what it wants.”
Source: PostOnline
