Land Rover Insurance

Car insurance whilst compulsory often leads to frustration for both private and business customers. 

This frustration is often driven by price but there are increasingly new reasons to raise people’s blood pressure.

Last week Luker Rowe received an email from a major insurer to advise they will no longer insure any Land Rovers located in central London.  Whilst the issues with keyless vehicles and in particular Range Rovers have been well documented in the press, this is the first time we have seen a blanket ban on a vehicle type.  The email made clear that this ban will apply from renewal and will impact all Land Rover products not just the newest high-end vehicles.  It will apply regardless of age and model from a 1950’s classic to a 10 year old Freelander as well as the newest models.

It is not uncommon for high value theft attractive vehicles to carry additional terms and conditions such as the fitment of tracking devices but in this instance the impact is to make a whole brand uninsurable with this insurer. 

Land Rover recently announced that they have an order book with over 200,000 confirmed orders.  If this curtailment of insurance availability spreads geographically or across the market it could have a wide ranging impact from the cost of insurance to the long term residual value of vehicles.

There are further challenges as technology moves us forward.  We’ve recently had experiences where clients have experienced key theft where the keys to vehicles were stolen but not the vehicles themselves.  This in turn has lead to claims totalling thousands of pounds per vehicle for the replacement of keys, changing locks and reprogramming keys for each vehicle. 

All of the above feeds into what is already a highly pressured market for vehicle insurance.  The supplies of many new vehicles remains constrained along with spare parts available to repair vehicles.  This is leading to longer repair and replacements times and higher claims costs for insurers as a result.  Insurers are in turn pushing these increased costs onto fleets and consumers in their renewals.

At Luker Rowe our broad panel of insurers means we are well positioned to give you an honest appraisal of the market and provide a realistic perspective on your renewal circumstances.