swiftcover.com celebrates 5 years in business
Online car insurer swiftcover.com is celebrating its first five years in business; a half-decade in which it has insured enough vehicles to form a line of family hatchbacks stretching more than 42 times around the M25 motorway and enough drivers to fill Wembley Stadium nearly 16 times over.
And as the insurer looks forward to the next five successful years, swiftcover.com is also predicting how the insurance industry may develop, forecasting massive growth in the number of people buying insurance using their mobile phones, as well as warning that the UK's growing compensation culture could result in soaring legal bills pushing up premiums.
Since its launch in June 2005, swiftcover.com has insured more than 1.8 million vehicles, which, if parked end to end, would stretch from Land's End to John o' Groats nearly six times. Over the same period, swiftcover.com has insured more than 1.4 million drivers, equal to three times the population of Liverpool, the UK's fourth most populated city.
Tina Shortle, swiftcover.com's marketing director, says: "To have insured that many drivers and that many vehicles is quite a feat for an insurance company that was only created five years ago. It's testament to our commitment to making car insurance hassle-free and cheap - just imagine how much time and money all those people will have saved over the years by choosing swiftcover.com!
"We believe that the next five years provide a lot of opportunities for swiftcover.com as well as challenges for the insurance sector as companies strive to offer cost-effective insurance and great customer-service, whilst keeping costs down by targeting fraud and keeping legal costs in check."
swiftcover.com has made five predictions of how it thinks the insurance industry will change between now and 2015.
swiftcover.com predicts:
More people will get quotes and buy their insurance using their mobile phone - swiftcover.com was the first UK insurer to develop a mobile quoting system
Technology could also be used to make the claims process simpler and quicker, with minor claims being dealt with via smartphones, helping to boost customer satisfaction
Smarter quoting systems means that insurance cover will become more personalised and tailored to a policyholders specific needs and circumstances ensuring that drivers only pay for the insurance they need
If the explosion of the compensation culture goes unchecked we will see more legal cases resulting from car accidents, leading to higher legal bills and bigger insurance claims which will ultimately push up the cost of motor insurance
Electric cars will grow in popularity as manufacturers improve their driving range, and we'll see more cars using alternative fuels, such as hydrogen, all of which will provide insurers with new challenges when it comes to assessing risk and valuing vehicles