Car Insurance

As reported by the Road Safety Authority in Ireland, drivers utilizing their mobile phones are 4 times more likely to be involved in a lethal or serious injury crash. Can any text or phone call actually be worth the risk? The hazards of drink driving are well known and Irish society has developed a powerful stance against everyone who takes such risks. The majority of us would never think about driving soon after having a few drinks. But with regards to our attitude towards utilizing mobile phone devices whilst driving, we still have a long way to go.

Garda, supported by the Road Safety Authority now are specifically targeting motorists making use of mobile phone devices. Unpublished RSA statistics from a recent Irish Independent write-up show that over the past year 41,737 motorists received penalty points for illegally utilizing their mobiles whilst driving. This means Garda are catching on average 110 drivers each day, bringing the overall number of motorists with penalty points for this offence to 96,391. This shocking figure shows the Garda are taking this offence very seriously.

In the USA, Oprah Winfrey is heading up a campaign, The No Phone Zone, to boost awareness of the risks of driving while distracted by your mobile phone. Numerous shows have focused entirely on telling the tales of families who have lost a loved one because of a driver who was too busy chatting or text messaging to concentrate on the road ahead.

In case you feel that talking or texting on your mobile is harmless, take a look at these disturbing statistics from one of Oprah’s programmes:

1. A motorist chatting on a mobile phone is 4 times more likely to get into an accident

2. Should you text whilst you drive you’re eight times more likely to get into a car accident

3. Seven in ten men and women aged between 17 and 49 years text or talk on the phone whilst driving

I do not know about you, but it just does not seem worth it. So the next time you get into your car, put your mobile away. That text or phone call can wait.

If you are planning on using your mobile in your vehicle then you better make sure that you have full comprehensive car insurance. Get a cheap quote from AXA motor insurance in Ireland.

Hybrid cars can be the vehicle of future generations. It drastically lessens fuel prices and it generates lower levels of carbon waste. These benefits have added to the popularity of the Hybrid vehicle. More and more people each day are swapping their every day automobiles in return for a fuel conserving hybrid car.

The hybrid cars have two engines which add to its capabilities of saving fuel. It features a new electric motor and batteries together with the classic petrol/diesel engine. These 2 engines operate alongside each other to cut the amount of fuel utilized along with the amount of toxins released into the environment. With this sort of technology you will have the ability to cut the amount of fuel utilized by 50 percent. With this kind of superb technology there’s little doubt that these cars will likely be the vehicle of the future.

Not only do these automobiles help you save cash and the stress of increasing fuel costs, it is possible to also save money with taxes because the Government declared in the last budget that it was extending the incentive for plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles until 2012.

With all of the advantages of Hybrid cars, of course there’s gonna be a disadvantage in 1 form or another. The principal disadvantage of these vehicles is that even though they do help you save money the retail price is quite high-priced.

Hybrid cars will never go as fast as a regular fuel automobile due to the fact they are fairly heavy because of the heavy batteries that are installed inside the automobile. Another issue with Hybrid cars is that they can be risky in an automobile accident. The cars advantage is also one of its greatest risk factor in any sort of accident. This being that the vehicle stores a high voltage in its batteries which means that there is a really high potential for getting electrocuted in the event you were in an accident; this makes it hard for rescuers to get drivers and passengers to safety because of the high electricity power within the car.

If you happen to have a car accident in that hybrid car of yours then you had better hope that you have motor insurance. Check out BestQuote.ie for a cheap online insurance quote.

As many as one in three imported cars to Ireland have serious problems, according to a new report. We all like to find a good ‘deal’, especially at this time of year – whether it’s searching Amazon for that elusive Christmas gift, darting in and out of shops looking for special offers on gift sets or saving money by finding cheap car insurance.

A road trip across the Ireland will reveal a multitude of yellow number plates passing you by. This is because of the huge amount of people importing cars from the UK and Northern Ireland in particular. These people claim to have gotten the car for next to nothing. What they are probably not aware of it the many defects that come as standard with these imported cars. Arm yourself with the knowledge and you won’t get stung by a rotten deal.

You need to look out for 3 main problems when buying imported cars. These problems are:

1. Clocking – This problem involves the odometer of the car being tampered with to show far less mileage than what the car has done. 2. Repossessed – Many UK imports are affected by this as the cars which have originally been purchased via a finance lease deal have not been fully paid off. 3. Write-off – For all you know the car could have been in a serious accident and could now be totally unfit for driving on the road.

The report was conducted by a website called cartell.ie and the sample taken was of 5,000 imported cars. 1 in 3 cars having problems is a startlingly high total. The report shown that 11.4% of imported cars were clocked, 9.2% were in danger of repossession and 9,1% had been written off.

Jeff Aherne from Cartell warns Irish drivers that there is “a serious risk for Irish buyers hunting for bargains in Northern Ireland.”

Secure your investment and buy car insurance online today. Get a car insurance quote at AXA today.

Belfast, a city growing in culture, tourism, shops and now traffic!!! According to a recent survey Belfast is the 7th most congested city in Europe. It does have its fair share of rush hour but in comparison to other UK and Irish cities it is hard to believe that Belfast features in the top ten alongside the likes of London and Dublin.

People blame different things for this. Some people blame the lack of public transport for this problem. Other people think that we have just become over reliant on cars. While others believe it is the unreliability of public transport that is the problem. No matter what the reason is it is clear that Belfast has now become worse than Paris for traffic jams.

People that are familiar with Paris will always point out how busy the streets are with cars. Traffic congestion has been a major problem in that city for years. This has been recognised by the city mayor and radical steps are being planned to ease Paris’s traffic jams further. Road closures are being talked about. With closed roads the mayor hopes that people will turn to public transport to travel into Paris.

I can’t see Belfast following Paris’ example just yet so for now we just have to accept the fact that we will encounter congestion at some point of our journeys.

With increased traffic jams we will see increased levels of stress. Whenever stress levels go up then the chances of having an accident multiply. Combine this stress and frustration with the increased amount of traffic on the roads and car accidents are much more likely. This is when you need to be sure that you have a great car insurance policy to protect you. You might not be able to solve the traffic congestion problem but you can make sure that you are well insured.

Find out more about AXA’s benefits and get stress free car insurance in Northern Ireland on AXANI.co.uk. We also supply competitive commercial vehicle insurance.

Around 15% of Dublin motorists, almost 10% of motorists nationally, have been the victim of car crime within the last two years, according to new research. This disturbing revelation came from a recent online poll carried out by AA Insurance. From a total of 6,500 responses nationwide, 3.7% of motorists had either had their car stolen or had an attempt made to steal it in the last two years.

Car break in figures were also high with 6.5% of people reporting that their car was broken into or someone tried to break into it. Conor Faughan is a spokes person for AA Ireland, his comments on the results of the survey were that car crime is “clearly a major problem and one that is on the rise.” He added: “It means a big bill and, for those who do not have no-claims discount protection, a rise in insurance costs”.

The fight against car crime is, however, making inroads. Technology has helped reduce the incidence of car crime – for example, most modern cars are fitted with immobilisers. But, as can happen so often, people (i.e. thieves in this case) can always find a way around things.

The main tactic that car crime thieves utilise these days is to be more aware around a person’s house so as to try and steal the car keys if possible. This bypasses any deterrent technology that is placed in the cars. If you leave your car keys in the hall way then the thieves will try and ‘fish’ for them with a pole through the letterbox.

Hopefully being aware of this fishing technique will make you think twice about leaving your key in an unsecure place. This will greatly decrease the chance of you becoming just another car crime statistic.

With frightening statistics like those above you need to ensure that your car is insured. AXA will provide cheap car insurance quotes and commercial van insurance quotes.