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The 10 car theft hotspots

People who live in parts of northeast London are amongst those most likely to have their car stolen, according to research.

Moneysupermarket.com, the comparison website, analysed 3.8 million motor insurance quotes made by drivers in the past year. It found that riskier spots include Redbridge, Romford and Buckhurst Hill, as well as northern cities and towns such as Manchester, Sheffield and Doncaster.

Here are the ten places where drivers are most likely to claim on their insurance for theft of or from their car.

Postcode district	Town	Area	Percentage of residents claimed on insurance
BR7	Chislehurst	Bromley	3.82%
TS28	Wingate	Cleveland	3.72%
IG4	Redbridge	Ilford	3.39%
DN7	Hatfield	Doncaster	3.34%
BS29	Banwell	Somerset	3.16%
BD1	Bradford City Centre	Bradford	3.16%
S2	Arbourthorne	Sheffield	3.15%
NP24	New Tredegar	Newport	3.14%
RM7	Romford City Centre	Romford	3.10%
IG9	Buckhurst Hill	Ilford	2.99%

Win £25: How can I insure my iPhone?

 

Each Saturday, as part of Times Money's expanded consumer affairs section, we publish your questions and invite other readers to suggest solutions. 

This week Markus Johansson wrote to us. He says: "I recently bought an Apple iPhone, but didn't realise until it was too late that you can buy the tailored O2 insurance only up to 28 days after the date you acquire your phone. I now don't have any protection. Is it still worth me shelling out for insurance? I'm worried I won't be able to get suitable cover on a non-O2 policy. Where should I look?"

A selection of the best responses will be published in Times Money on Saturday Oct 31 with the star answer receiving £25 of vouchers. 

The five most bizarre rural insurance claims

You might have thought that living in the countryside was a peaceful existence but you would be wrong.
As the rural insurer NFU Mutual, reports, it can be dangerous out there. With the help of NFU Mutual, Times Money has compiled a selection of the five most bizarre rural insurance claims.

1) Headstrong livestock

A ram took a dislike to a man and head butted him, breaking his false teeth. A new set was quickly dispatched after the individual claimed on his contents insurance.

2) Bovine lucky dip

The owner of a house with a swimming pool thought he would have a nap on a pleasant summer’s day, unaware that a neighbouring herd of cows was preparing to invade his garden. He awoke to find his garden furniture had been trashed and one cow in the pool. He was compensated for the damage.

3) A shattering experience

A farmer's dog chased one of his sheep through a set of patio windows. Sadly, the patio doors were closed at the time and the sheep smashed all the glass. Thankfully the sheep was not hurt. The claim was covered and was settled.

4) Snow joke

A snowdrift against the side of a farmer's house enabled one of his horses, that was grazing in a nearby field, to get on to the roof. Needless to say, the horse made a few holes in the roof. Although the NFU Mutual didn't insure the building it did insure the contents and the claim was paid at a cost of £469 for a new computer damaged by water form the hole on the roof.

5) Meal with extra bite

One NFU Mutual customer wanted to know if he could claim for his false teeth that he had left on the table of his caravan which his sheep dog had then chewed and eaten. This was in August 2008 and unfortunately the customer did not have Personal Belongings so the claim could not be paid.

 

More from Money Central:

Ten tips to avoid a tax investigation

e-Poll: Should there be a brake on bank bonuses?

The 10 best mortgage lenders ... and the five worst

The dog breeds that cost the most in vet bills

The 10 best ways to cut petrol costs

Five reasons why gas prices are set to rise

The top 20 burglary hotspots

Ten tips to cut the cost of your holiday

The top 10 financial freebies

The 10 highest paid politicians in the world

 

The top 20 burglary hotspots

The number of burglaries is soaring in the recession, with £100 million worth of insurance claims in the first quarter of 2009 – the most expensive quarter for the insurance industry in five years.

Homes in London and Nottingham are the most likely to be burgled, according to research from Moneysupermarket.com, after it analysed 2.6 million home insurance enquiries on the site last year.

Here are the 20 UK postcode districts most likely to fall victim, with the percentage of homes in that district claiming for theft or burglary on their home insurance.

The five strangest caravan insurance claims, ever...

 

If you are travelling in a caravan this bank holiday weekend, be sure to secure your corn on the cobs and check there are no east European immigrants hiding inside…

Towergate Bakers, the insurer, has provided us with these five very bizarre caravan insurance claims.

Ten tips to cut the cost of car insurance

 

Drivers are often encouraged to use a comparison website when buying car insurance - but there are also other ways of cutting the cost of premiums. Here are Money Central's top ten tips.

The top 20 burglary hotspots

Doncaster and Bristol have been named as the UK's thieving hotspots in a study by Moneysupermarket.com, the financial comparison website.

The study highlights the postcodes where the highest proportion of homes have made an insurance claim for a burglary in the past 12 months.

Almost six per cent of homes in areas of Bristol and Doncaster have made a claim. Canvey Island, which lies off the south coast of Essex, comes in a close third place at just over five per cent.

Do you feel cheated by your insurer?

Insurers regularly wriggle out of critical illness and life claims on the basis that policyholders have failed to disclose full medical details when they applied for cover, even where these are apparently irrelevant to the claim. Companies such as Norwich Union, which was voted Scrooge of the Year 2008 in our annual reader poll, say that the number of claims rejected for "non-disclosure" has fallen. But we want to hear about your experiences.

Have you or your family or friends been affected by non-disclosure? Or has your insurer shown discretion and paid up? Email us at moneyletters@thetimes.co.uk (including contact details) or post your stories as comments below

20 of the world's most expensive body parts

Whose boobs are worth £350,000? Why did a South African soap manufacturer insure Princess Diana against "death, disability and disgrace" to the tune of £50,000? And whose partying lifestyle has left them virtually uninsurable?

Stars have been insuring bits of themselves since the 1920s. There are now so many people with commoditised appendages that Lloyds of London, the world-famous insurance market, has its own celebrity body part underwriter - Jonathan Thomas.

Water-tight confidentiality agreements mean it is impossible to know with absolute certainty whose assets are worth what, so the below list is based on those most widely reported. And the value is at the time the policy was taken out rather than in today's prices. Here are the top 20.

The 25 most outrageous insurance policy exclusions ever

Insurance policies are designed by lawyers with one thing in mind - to boost the odds in favour of the insurance company so you stand as little chance as possible of having your claim paid.

The lawyers do this by hiding "get-out" clauses, otherwise called policy exclusions, in the small print of the insurance contract. Sometimes, insurers will take pity and pay a claim, despite being legally entitled to deny it. However, this is not always the case. Reading the small print of your policy or enlisting the services of an insurance broker when buying a policy is the only way to stay a step ahead of the lawyers.

Here, Times Money has compiled 25 of the more outrageous insurance exclusions to watch out for.

The 25 Most Bizarre Travel Insurance Claims Ever

What links a tourist who lost 84 kilograms of Bombay mix on holiday with another who had his camera stolen by a monkey? Both are among the more unusual claims received by travel insurance companies. Times Money has trawled through the files of some of the UK’s biggest insurers to bring you the 25 most bizarre travel insurance claims ever.

Top ten professions most likely to cause a car crash

If you are a lifeguard or surgeon - look out, your car insurance could be about to get more expensive, because according to a new survey, these are the professionals most likely to cause a crash. Astrologers and, surprise surprise, driving instructors, are among those least likely to cause accidents, the research by moneysupermarket.com found.  Richard Mason, of moneysupermarket.com, said: "If there is any logic to it, astrologers, watchmakers and chimney sweeps should be paying a lot less than systems analysts, insurance inspectors and statisticians." Find out if you are in the list of best and worst drivers below.

Banks still getting fat on PPI...

You might remember a few months back that a number of lenders were accused of running a “protection racket” by the consumer watchdog Citizens Advice. It made an official “super complaint” to the Office of Fair Trading about the way lenders were selling, or mis-selling, payment protection insurance (PPI), the cover tacked on to loans.

A cure for sick insurance

Insurers have been stung by accusations that they are too quick to weasel out of paying insurance claims - and appear to be taking small steps to make amends.

Has your insurer let you down

“Heartless” – a word that sums up how one family whose story we cover on Sunday describes their insurer.

Banks braced for billions in claims

Banks are braced for a surge in the number of complaints about useless debt insurance.

Ten tips for cheaper car insurance

In the unlikely event that any Times Money readers are tempted to upgrade their car – or in the parlance of the street, "pimp their ride" – they might like to think again after research indicates that modifications such as adding a rear spoiler or lowering the suspension could add up to 171 per cent to car insurance.

Have you been ripped off by debt insurance?

It seems that one of the biggest rip offs in the financial services industry is finally about to be resolved. Four firms, including one high-street name, are set to be fined by the City watchdog within days for mis-selling debt insurance.

Norwich Union windfalls - who deserves the cash?

A fight is brewing between Norwich Union, Britain’s biggest insurer, and hundreds of thousands of its customers over how it will share out £4bn of surplus assets in its with-profits funds. And we want to know where you stand?

Has your insurer denied your claim?

Insurance is supposed to provide peace of mind - a much needed financial payout at time of distress, be that a death in the family or the diagnosis of a serious illness.