(PRWEB UK) 12 June 2012

The Fiat 500 is the most vandalised car in Britain, according to analysis of more than 1,500 vandalism claims for online car insurance provider swiftcover.com’s 2011/12 Vehicle Vandalism Index (1).

This year’s annual index revealed that the Fiat 500 rose to the top spot by a considerable margin in 2011/12 with a rating of 3.62 (2), followed by the BMW Z4, Peugeot 207, BMW X5, and Range Rover. This year’s findings reinforce the trends suggested by swiftcover.com’s 2010/11 index, which was dominated by luxury cars including the Lexus IS, BMW Z4, Mini One, Mercedes CLK and Audi TT.

Although two of the top five cars were ‘everyday’ vehicles, the analysis found that high-end brands were disproportionately likely to be targeted: of the top five most-vandalised brands, three produce prestige vehicles (Porsche, Land Rover and BMW). With some notable exceptions, ‘everyday’ cars were significantly less likely to be vandalised: the UK’s best-selling car for 2011 (3), the Ford Focus, had an index score of just 0.58.
Robin Reames, chief claims officer at insurance provider swiftcover.com, said: “Our analysis shows that although luxury cars are still more likely to be targeted by vandals, owners of everyday vehicles shouldn’t consider themselves immune. The majority of vehicles in the top ten are what we call ‘executive cars’ such as the BMW Z4 and Audi TT, likely to be driven by high earners who see their car as a status symbol, and it probably won’t surprise many to learn that there are two 4x4s in the top ten.

“Vandalism results in significant costs to insurers and motorists – although the average claim sits at £972.75, they can reach several thousand pounds and the most expensive claim we saw this year was £5,604.31 for a BMW 125.”

The make and model of your car are factors that help to negate the cost of your car insurance, and swiftcover.com aim to help you choose a car that will reduce your car insurance cost.

swiftcover.com analysis shows the top ten car models most likely to be targeted by vandals:

1    Fiat 500    
2     BMW Z4    
3    Peugeot 207    
4    BMW X5    
5    Land Rover Range Rover    
6    Volkswagen Beetle
7     Audi TT
8    Fiat Punto    
9    Mini Cooper    
10    BMW 3 Series

Reames continued: “While vandalism is difficult to prevent, there are several measures that motorists can take to protect their cars and make them less likely to be targeted. Firstly, anyone lucky enough to have a garage should use it regularly to keep their car safe. However, there are some steps that motorists can take that don’t require a huge investment: special sheets designed to cover cars are an inexpensive way to make your car less prominent, and a motion activated light will deter would-be thieves as well as vandals.”

“We hope that the index gives some insight for those considering their next car.”

swiftcover.com analysis shows the top ten car brands most likely to be targeted by vandals:

1    Porsche
2    Saab
3    LandRover
4    BMW
5    Suzuki
6    Fiat Total    
7    Jaguar Total    
8    Kia Total
9    Mini Total
10    Mazda Total

A full breakdown of the 2011/12 swiftcover.com Vehicle Vandalism Index results is available on request

Ends
Notes to Editors
(1)    Based on analysis of approximately 1,500 claims for vandalism and malicious damage among the UK vehicles insured by swiftcover.com in 201-12. Figures adjusted to take into account numbers of cars on the road and cars with less than ten instances of vandalism/malicious damage per year removed.

(2)    Based on the percentage chance that the car would be vandalised in a one year period from February 2011 to February 2012. The most popular car on the road in the UK, the Ford Focus, has an index score of 0.58. A full breakdown of all the cars on record and calculated is available on request.

(3)    http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/gallery/2011/oct/06/top-10-bestselling-cars-uk

(4)    In 2010-11, the BMW 330 and 318 were listed as separate cars and were ranked 11th and 12th respectively. This year’s survey grouped them into one entry (3 Series)

swiftcover.com provides cover for malicious damage as standard.

For press enquiries please contact:
Luke O’Mahony or Sean Williams
Brazil (PR agency for swiftcover.com)
020 7785 7383
swiftcover(at)agencybrazil(dot)com

About Swiftcover:
Based in Cobham, Surrey and employing more than 1,000 people, swiftcover.com started trading in June 2005 and was born out of a desire to revolutionise the general insurance market by making insurance quick and easy to use.

swiftcover.com offers car, home, travel and pet insurance online, and is the only insurance provider in Britain not to use call centre’s, which provides cost savings that can be passed directly onto the customer, keeping premiums low. swiftcover.com was named Best Value for Money Car Insurer in the UK in the 2010 Lovemoney.com awards.

This powerful operating model combined with successful marketing and competitive pricing has proven to be a tremendous success. In 2008 swiftcover.com achieved over half a million live policies and in May 2009 sold its millionth policy. swiftcover.com is considered to be one of the fastest-growing online insurance providers in the UK and, as of February 2011, has more than 800,000 policy holders.

In 2007, AXA UK acquired swiftcover.com. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of AXA Insurance UK PLC which forms part of AXA Group.

About AXA:
AXA UK is a part of the AXA Group. The AXA Group is a worldwide leader in insurance and asset management serving 101 million clients. It is ranked the largest insurer in the world by net written premium and the top insurance brand globally.

In the UK AXA operates through a number of business units including: AXA Wealth; AXA Commercial Lines, AXA Personal Lines, AXA PPP healthcare, AXA Ireland and an independent distribution business Bluefin. AXA employs over 13,000 staff in the UK.

For full year 2011, IFRS revenues amounted to Euro 86.1 billion and IFRS underlying earnings to Euro 3.9 billion. AXA had Euro 1,079 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2011.

The AXA Group is included in the main international SRI indexes, such as Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) and FTSE4GOOD.

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