22nd January 2010

New research into the types of accidents motorists have has shown people in Lincoln are the most likely to collide with a tree, those in Durham are the most likely to hit a lamp post and those in Halifax the most likely to crash into a wall.

Although rear end bumps are by far the most common road accidents, car insurance specialist elephant.co.uk . looked into the more unusual types of crashes, in particular where they happen.elephant.co.uk looked at data from over 1.3 million claims over five years and found the top three postcode areas for accidents involving trees were the leafy, county towns of Lincoln, Shrewsbury and Taunton.Durham, followed by Blackpool and Halifax has the highest incidence of lamp post claims, and Halifax is closely followed by Orkney and Huddersfield for claims where the driver has collided with a wall.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, due to a considerable rural landscape, Scottish motorists are the most likely to hit an animal with the top five postcodes all in Scotland. Inverness tops the list, followed closely by Perth, Dumfries, Orkney and Aberdeen.Some of the more unusual claims dealt with at elephant.co.uk include incidents of vehicles striking badgers, monkeys, swans, horses, cows and one policyholder hit a rabbit which despite its small size, wrote off the car.

elephant.co.uk managing director, Brian Martin, said, "Of course, any car accident is distressing, whether you hit another vehicle, an animal or an inanimate object, but we were interested in seeing if there were any trends. "Not surprisingly, Scots were the most likely to hit an animal, as you would expect to find more wild and farm animals in more rural areas. However, it was unclear why we would see more collisions with lamp posts, trees and walls in the other areas. It's difficult to see why these towns in particular would top the list for these types of accidents."

2. elephant.co.uk researched names where it had more than 5,000 policyholders with that name.

3. elephant.co.uk was launched in August 2000 and has over 500,000 customers. elephant.co.uk is a trading name of EUI Limited and is part of the Admiral Group plc.

4. elephant.co.uk specialises in providing car insurance on the Internet. It not only offers quotes and sales online, but can handle some aspects of after-sales services and claims through its website. The site targets 20-35 year-olds living in cities, who traditionally pay higher premiums for car insurance.

5. elephant.co.uk writes its motor insurance business to a consortium of insurers, these being:
a. Admiral Insurance Company Ltd
b. Admiral Insurance (Gibraltar) Limited
c. Great Lakes Reinsurance (UK) plc

Issued by: elephant.co.uk, Capital Tower, Greyfriars Road, Cardiff, CF10 3AZ.
Date: 22 January 2010

Please note, all details on any of the Insurance industry Press Releases displayed on this site are provided by insurance companies, organisations, Government departments and media and jml Property Services does not take any responsibilty for their content or accuracy.   

LOOKING FOR CAR INSURANCE? CLICK ON LOGO  

Return to Press Releases from the insurance industry

See also

Insurance Industry Press Releases 2009

Insurance Industry Press Releases 2008

Insurance Industry Press Releases 2001 - 2007

jml Insurance Press Releases

Media Coverage - jml Insurance

jml Insurance Independent Insurance Articles

jml villas.com Press Releases  

jml villas.com / euro-rentavilla.com Media Coverage

jml Training and Consultancy Press Releases     

jml Group Blogs sites — add your comments to the appropriate site:

jml Villas Holiday Homes

jml Property Insurance

Car hire excess insurance

jml Training & Consultancy

Find us on twitter: jml Insurance   -  jmlvillas - jml training - insurance4carrental

Find us on facebook:   jml Insurance  - jml villas