New drivers, especially young ones, are often advised that they should go on to take their Pass Plus course in order to minimise their insurance premiums. This advice, however, could prove to be costly.

The Pass Plus course, designed to be taken by newly qualified drivers within a year of passing their test, aims to give them experience of driving in towns, bad weather, on country roads, at night and on busy roads such as dual carriageways and motorways. This does not come cheap at an average of £171, which may explain why last year only 13% of new drivers took the test. For more information on what the Pass Plus test involves see the website.

However, this 13% may well have found that the savings on the premium can be less than the money spent on acquiring the qualification. Whilst the discounted insurance should not be the only reason to take the course, it is no doubt the motivating factor for many. Although this extra experience should in theory make you a safer driver, statistics from the ABI show only a 1% difference in the chances of being in an accident in the first year of driving.

Recent research from uSwitch has demonstrated that the qualification is only taken into account for the first year after passing and only fifteen insurance companies give a discount. Sadly these fifteen are not the most competitive by any means and young drivers can find far cheaper deals with other insurers. Kwik Fit, for instance, came out as being far more competitive despite offering no discount, than the likes of The AA, Norwich Union and Direct Line, all of whom offer discounts.

If you have ever phoned your motor insurers to amend a minor detail, such as a change of name or address, you may have been shocked to find that not only will your premium be adjusted but you will also be charged a mid-term adjustment fee, which averages out at around £22.

Research carried out by uSwitch.com has revealed that 14 million of us boost the insurance industry’s profits by a staggering £333 million a year. Not so long ago, this practice was unheard of and now LV (Liverpool Victoria) are making a stand by not charging their customers for amending names, addresses etc. or for switching from fully comprehensive cover to third party and vice versa. Prior to this, the company levied a charge of £15.

uSwitch’s Ashton Berkhauer hopes that other insurance companies will follow suit and remove the fees which he feels are “wholly unfair and excessive”.

Another area where uSwitch feel the motorist is being unfairly penalised is the cancellation of a policy part-way through the year, often treated by insurers as a special case mid-term adjustment, where the fee charged can be so high that it is not worth cancelling.

Unfortunately, the levying of fees for any adjustment is wholly legal. When the old "Insurance: Conduct of Business" was changed on the 6th of January this year to the new "Insurance: Conduct of Business Sourcebook", section 2.10 which had governed excessive charges to retail customers was removed, to “simplify” the rules, giving insurers carte blanche to charge as much as they want. uSwitch in the meantime is continuing its campaign for motorists to be treated fairly.

Confused.com has announced the winner of its £1 million giveaway

Eve Olive from Hertfordshire thought that somebody was playing a joke on her when she got the call to tell her she was now a millionaire.

The trainee beauty therapist was at college with her friends when she got the call. It was just hours after finding out she had passed all her exams.

"I am not sure what I’ll do with the money yet, but I have always loved horses and now I will be able to buy one of my own, plus a nice big horsebox and all the other extras – I’m so excited," said Eve who was understandably surprised when she heard the news, but soon came round to the idea.

The competition has been running now since Valentines’ day and entrants needed to simply log on to Confused.com and get a quote for car or home insurance to be in with a chance of winning the cash.

“We are delighted to award Eve £1 million and hope that this will give her a wonderful opportunity to indulge her passions, plan for the future and make all her dreams come true! This really is a life-changing amount and we wish her the best of luck in the future,” said Debra Williams, managing director for Confused.com.

Confused.com was launched in 2002 and is an online price comparison service that compares prices not just for car and home insurance, but also travel insurance, pet insurance, van insurance, motorbike insurance, breakdown cover and energy, as well as financial services products including credit cards, loans, mortgages and life insurance. The site dominates the price comparison market and generated over 1 million quotes last year and saved customers an average of £206 on car insurance.

If the thought of putting lives at risk is not enough to make you stop using your hand-held mobile phone whilst driving, then maybe the thought that it could hit you in the pocket will do the trick.

It is not just the £60 fixed penalty that you will have to fork out for. Insurance companies, like the police, take a dim view of this offence and in a recent piece of research carried out by the AA, it was found that of the eight insurers surveyed, seven would increase the premiums of an offender by between 4.2% and 8.1%, whilst one would go as far as refusing to cover them altogether. In terms of hard cash this means an increase of around £40 a year on average, or £120 over the three year period of the offence.

Worse news is in store though should the police decide to charge you with careless driving. In this situation half of the eight insurers would refuse cover whilst the other four would increase the premiums by up to 50%.

It is now standard practice for the police to check mobile records when an accident happens so don’t think that your call will go unnoticed. Even if you are convinced that the phone was not a contributory factor to the accident, it will be hard work convincing anyone else that this was the case. According to ROSPA, users of mobiles at the wheel are four times more likely to crash, regardless of the fact that the phone may be a hands-free type.