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The police will breathalyse over 12,000 motorists this December,
as many as 20% are expected to test positive. Leading car insurer,
elephant.co.uk, is warning that not only will they face a
fine and a ban, they will find it very expensive to get insured
when they get their licence back.
elephant.co.uk has looked at the cost of insuring a motorist
with a drink driving conviction with nine different companies. Four
would not even consider insuring them, and the average cost of the
rest was £576, a 74% increase on the cost without the conviction.
| Company |
Premium with drink driving conviction |
Premium without drink driving conviction |
Percentage difference |
|
| elephant.co.uk |
£820 |
£288 |
185% |
| Churchill |
£379 |
£267 |
42% |
| Zurich |
Will not quote |
£392 |
--- |
| More Th>n |
Will not quote |
£393 |
--- |
| Endsleigh |
£632 |
£407 |
55% |
| Direct Line |
£382 |
£274 |
39% |
| Esure |
Will not quote |
£260 |
--- |
| Masterquote |
£668 |
£327 |
104% |
| Norwich Union Direct |
Will not quote |
£372 |
--- |
|
| Average |
£576 |
£331 |
74% |
Based on male, 28-year-old married accountant with wife as named
driver, living in Bracknell (RG12), driving a 2000 Golf 1.6S, with
full no claims bonus.
elephant.co.uk managing director, Tanzie Oliver, commented:
"People who are stupid enough to consider drink and drive should
remember that the police will be out in force this Christmas and
if they are caught, it won't be just a matter of paying a small
fine. They will pay with increased premiums for many years.
"Although we are one of the companies who will insure a previous
drink driver, we increase their premiums by a great deal. This is
because they become a higher risk as soon as they are convicted."
elephant.co.uk also conducted its own research on attitudes
to drink driving. It surveyed 1,000 motorists and found that over
two-thirds of them consider drink driving worse than drug possession,
criminal damage, fraud, theft and tax evasion. One-third consider
it worse than physical assault.
Unfortunately, the survey also revealed that 9% of men and 2% of
women still think themselves safe to drive after three or more drinks.
Tanzie Oliver, said, "Thankfully drink driving has become
socially unacceptable to most people. But there will always be a
hardcore of motorists who will continue to do it."
Issue date: 26/11/2004
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