Adrian Webb: Scots can weather the storm of price hikes on insurance

INSURANCE claims doubled in December to £1.4 billion as the weather took its toll on our homes and cars. Burst pipes caused most problems, with more than 100,000 claims totalling £680 million, according to the latest figures from the Association of British Insurers.

More than 250,000 vehicles were damaged as a result of the snow and ice on the roads, leading to 530m of claims. In all, this year's claims bill dwarfed last December's of 650m.

There's no getting away from it, we have a problem with the weather. Anyone who suffered the Canadian-style blizzard in Glasgow on 6 December or the record arctic temperatures in the highlands in the same month will testify to this. However, the clouds that brought the snow may turn out to have a silver lining for Scots in the long run - thanks to insurance.

The same December that brought misery to many areas of Scotland was also the country's sunniest since 1929. So perhaps our dismay at recent meteorological traumas should be turned towards the way that forecasters describe and calculate weather events. The real problem is how these predictions are interpreted. Forecasters and insurance companies focus on "return periods" when considering the likelihood of major climatic events. They apply to floods, windstorms, snowfall and other elemental perils and estimate the length of the "normal" gap between events. In the case of floods, a 1-in-50 return period means that looking back over history, a flood of a certain size should only occur once every 50 years. Or, in any one year, there's a one-fiftieth chance it might happen again.

As many insurers sit at their desks scratching their heads at the impact of two winters in one - as we saw in December - there has been an obvious increase in the frequency of extreme weather events, across the UK.

While return periods are becoming narrower, the Scots, unlike England and Wales, have done a few sensible things with their planning and flood laws in recent times that should help the cost of their home insurance cover to become cheaper relative to the rest of the UK over time.

Two things stand out. Firstly, the requirements in Scottish planning laws that require a "belt and braces" approach to roofs. Quite simply, roofers will usually ensure every tile is double-nailed down. In England and Wales, on millions of homes only every third tile gets the nails! When storms wreak havoc more Scottish properties are better prepared. We secure the future of our homes by safeguarding their structure. Money invested in roofs, insulation, guttering and wall-tie maintenance will pay you back handsomely.

Secondly, flood planning and prevention. Scottish local authorities have a statutory obligation to take flood risk into account. They have a statutory duty to maintain water courses. They have Flood Liaison and Advice Groups and building regulations on flood resilience. All of these are lacking south of Hadrian's Wall. If or when abnormal weather becomes normal, these differences will help to keep the brakes on Scottish premiums while the rest of the UK sees the rises that result from under-funded flood planning and protection.

There is only one fly in the ointment - but it is easily corrected: burst pipes. Scotland is particularly prone to the sorts of overnight temperature swings that can cause frozen pipes to thaw, crack, burst and cause destruction. Insurers call escape of water claims "floods from within". An undetected burst pipe causes worse damage than most river floods. An attic burst while a family is away may leave mains water flowing into the house from the top down for days eventually bringing down floors and utterly destroying all contents. And it is invisible to neighbours and passers-by.

The usual advice is to leave the heating ticking over. This can help but if you have a traditional boiler (combis tend to have a winter tickover mode) the sure way to prevent the problem is to turn the mains water off at the stop-cock. This limits any damage to what is already in the pipes and won't affect a closed central heating system.

Many insurers now insist on measures to prevent burst pipes if your home is going to be unoccupied for five days or more in the winter.

For millions of Scots, however, better insurance is within reach. Research by esure has shown that Scots often suffer from insurance inertia. There's no excuse these days with price comparison sites making premiums completely transparent to homeowners. Inertia is never your friend in insurance.

So while we look with anxiety to what the weather may throw at us, it is easier to cheer yourself up than you might think. Switch on the computer, tap in your details and you're likely to find that your current insurer is not giving you the deal you are due today. Relatively speaking, Scotland is low risk - and low risk equals better premiums: weather or not.

Adrian Webb is an insurance manager at Esure