Yes, Yesterday Was A Motor Claims Nightmare

As snow and ice affected many UK roads over the weekend, this caused thousands of accidents and breakdowns, leading rural insurer NFU Mutual recorded its busiest day of the year for motor insurance claims. The snowfall and icy weather is likely to create a spike in work for bodyshops and repair centres as the cold spell is predicted to last until the weekend. On the upside, so many people now work from home compared to 2019 insurers can look forward to a relative drop in seasonal claims – at least in terms of numbers of incidents.  Here’s the word;

Monday morning saw twice the usual volume of accident or breakdown notifications to NFU Mutual, and with the Met Office’s Cold Weather Alert in force until Friday 16 December, the leading rural insurer is calling on motorists to take action to avoid endangering themselves and their vehicles.

Dave Rossall, Head of Motor Claims at NFU Mutual, said:

“Different driving skills are needed during icy and snowy weather, and these are not skills we typically use in the UK.

“While thoroughfares will typically have enough traffic passing through to make the road passable, lesser used roads in urban and rural areas may be treacherous, with black ice after snowfall a particular concern.

“Anybody driving in these conditions should also adjust their driving accordingly, leaving more space than they usually would and braking and accelerating as slowly and smoothly as possible.

“Finally, as a campaigner for rural road safety, NFU Mutual is concerned that this icy weather will make our countryside roads even more deadly.

“Unique hazards such as blind bends and junctions, narrow lanes and uneven surfaces mean there are well over one and half times the number of deaths on rural roads than urban roads, and these hazards are made all the more dangerous in these conditions. We don’t recommend driving on rural roads during this time, but those who cannot avoid it should drive slowly and remain wary of sharp bends, oncoming traffic, blind junctions and vulnerable road users like pedestrians.”