News bite: Straw grasses on dodgy insurance firms, youngsters priced out of driving and Scottish premiums rise the least – even our car thieves are rubbish

ARE you paying too much for your car insurance? No, don’t turn over, it’s not an advert – you’re not even watching TV, you loon – it’s just a wee story about dodgy claims management companies, young drivers being priced off the roads and premiums being cheaper in Scotland than the rest of the UK. See? It even has a happy ending.

Ambulance chasers first: scary headmaster lookalike and former Home Secretary Jack Straw has branded them “parasites” at a government inquiry into the price of motor insurance. He told the House of Commons Transport Committee that he had been contacted by phone and asked if he had been in a road accident recently.

He added: “Claims management companies are parasitic. In any other walk of life, we would describe this racket by referral companies as bribery. These practices are leading to very substantial [insurance] increases on law-abiding motorists.”

The Committee also heard the findings of a poll it commissioned in partnership with the Young Marmalade insurance company, which found that almost all young drivers feel they are being priced off the road by the cost of motor insurance.

As many as 21 per cent of these young motorists have considered driving without insurance, according to the survey. The committee’s chairman, Louise Ellman, said she was “extremely concerned” at the poll results.

The poll of 1,127 young drivers concluded that 96 per cent felt young drivers were being priced off the road, while 30 per cent had considered altering the information they provided to insurance firms in order to get a lower quote.

In better news for motorists north of the Border, the Confused.com/Towers Watson Car Insurance Price Index data this week revealed that Scotland has seen the lowest annual premium rises in the UK for comprehensive cover, with cover in Perth up just 0.3 per cent on the year to an average £564, compared to the UK average of a 12.3 per cent hike and £843 premium.