Insurance Myths

A recent survey undertaken by one of the UK's largest insurance companies highlighted just how naive the general public can be when it comes to fully understanding the rules of the road. Being blissfully unaware of certain aspects surrounding motoring can not only put themselves at risk but also run the risk of posing a threat to other drivers into the bargain. There are also certain myths and misconceived ideas that drivers often believe to be true that could also put their driving license in jeopardy as well.

One of the hottest topics for motorists is the dreaded speed camera. Usually placed in high traffic routes in suburban areas these silent witnesses give rise to their own crop of legends.

When asked, an amazing 20% of people believe you can drive fast enough to outsmart a speed camera. Though, in reality, you would need to reach speeds of 170 mph plus to achieve this. Most cars on the road won't even reach 170 mph let alone maintain this in a suburban environment.

Staying with speed cameras, there is also a lot of talk that reflective number plates can give your car some stealth like qualities. There is a lot of speculation that highly reflective registration plates will render the number unreadable on photographs. This is in fact untrue. As far as we know there is not a number plate on the market that can momentarily mask a cars registration successfully from any speed camera photograph.

Another popular myth surrounding speed cameras is that they can only catch cars traveling in the left hand lane. Be warned though, speed cameras do capture images from the full spectrum of lanes, so driving on the outside lane is not a reliable method for avoiding the speed camera. Next time you pass one take note of the markings on the road yourself, you will notice that they do in fact encompass all the lanes of the carriageway.

Did you know a police officer only has to be merely recognisable as an officer when pulling you over for traffic offences? No? Well nearly half of all people questioned thought that unless an Officer was wearing his cap then you could not be booked. However, although this was once perhaps the case things have changed and simply being recognised as an officer of the law is all that is now necessary.

Have you ever wondered if you can pick up penalty points driving a hire car? Well, the answer is of course you can, but there is a much loved theory which says that motorists are exempt whilst driving hire cars. The truth is the hire company is legally obliged to give details of the hirer at the time any offence was committed in that vehicle, so as you are the driver you are liable for any misdemeanors which occur.

And so we come to car insurance myths which is a topic literally bursting with misguided ideas. One of the most common misconceptions is that you don't need to inform your insurance company if you have less than six points on your license. Though, the reality is that you need to, as any points received for previous offences have to be declared, regardless of how many or how long ago.

Finally, any claim on your car insurance policy can lose you your no claims bonus. The truth is though, unless you have only two years no claims bonus this should not be the case. In the event of a claim, most insurance providers will relegate you only two places allowing you to retain some of your no claims bonus. For example, if you have accrued a discount of five years, then the insurer will simply reduce your no claims bonus back to three years.