Prisoners struggling to get car insurance upon release
Released prisoners are struggling to get car insurance due to insurers being concerned about the ‘moral risk’ they could pose.
Prison governor John De Carteret said the issue was having a big impact on some former inmates trying to their lives back on track after a custodial sentence.
‘This was explained to me as you are more inclined to break the law and would therefore take more risks driving, it did not matter if the original offence had nothing to do with driving,’ he said.
‘It’s not just that premiums are high, they won’t even offer a policy. It just provides another barrier to employment and for people to re-integrate in the community, it’s another part of the hidden sentence.’
Prisoners are already known to have issues with getting housing, securing bank accounts and sometimes finding work on release.
Mr De Carteret said he was now trying to work with people from the insurance industry to find a solution and talking to other Crown Dependencies to see if car insurance had become available in their jurisdictions.
Getting car insurance can be more difficult for individuals with a conviction, even if not related to a motoring offence, due to their perceived risk.
The prospect of increased premiums at least is seen as high.
All insurers have their own risk data, but all follow a similar path.
Insurance companies assess risk when offering policies and having a criminal conviction may suggest a higher likelihood on of making a claim.
There are limited options for people with certain types of criminal convictions, and they may find that only specialist companies are willing to cover them, which limits their options and increases costs.
Oliver Goater, managing director of insurance brokers Network, said that the difficulty stemmed from how insurance companies viewed criminal convictions as a potential indicator of higher risk, affecting their willingness to insure an individual, as well as the pricing of the policy.
‘Network as a broker does provide insurance to customers who have motoring and non-motoring criminal convictions, however we can only do so if an insurer on our approved insurer panel is willing to offer cover,’ he said.
‘As a company we might also take a business decision on whether we might wish to take on a client with a certain conviction, which would be on a case-by-case basis.
‘Ultimately persons with serious motoring or criminal convictions will mostly likely need to use a specialist insurer who offers cover for these risk types.’
Not all convictions need to be disclosed due to the Rehabilitation of Offenders legislation.
In Guernsey, endorsements remain on licences for 11 years from the date of conviction for offences relating to drink or drugs, careless, reckless or dangerous driving, and other offences resulting in a disqualification.
Other motoring offences are taken into consideration for four years from date of conviction.
In Jersey, motoring convictions resulting in a licence endorsement or ban are required to be shown on the licence for three years.
