Have you ever wondered how an insurance company arrives at the insurance group rating for your vehicle? Well 70% of the information used to determine what group rating is given to a particular private vehicle is provided by the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre, more commonly known as ‘Thatcham’ after the town in Berkshire where it is located.

The information is obtained from Thatcham’s assessment of the vehicle and takes account of a vehicle’s security and the ease of repair of the vehicle. Other information that affects a vehicles group rating includes

• The price of the car when new, accounting for variations in trim level and of the settlement cost in the event of a ‘total loss’.
• Vehicle performance, both the top speed and the acceleration between 0-60 mph
• The availability of a replacement bodyshell

The Association of a British Insurers (ABI) website has a full list of group ratings for private vehicles and light commercial vehicles and can be found at www.thatcham.org/abigrouprating.

Thatcham is a non profit making organisation and is funded by the member companies who contribute a percentage of their motor insurance premium income. The member companies consist of the following insurers (all major private motor insurance companies in the UK):-

• Admiral Insurance CompanyLtd
• Allianz Insurance Plc
• Amlin Insurance Services
• Ansvar Insurance Company Ltd
• AXA Insurance UK Plc
• Brit Insurance Ltd
• Chaucer Insurance
• Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd
• Ecclesiastical Insurance Group Plc
• Equity Red Star
• Esure Insurance Ltd
• Fortis Insurance Ltd
• Groupama Insurance Company Ltd
• Highway Insurance Group
• HSBC Insurance UK Ltd
• Illium Managing Agency Ltd
• Insurance Corporation of Channel Islands
• Jubilee Motor Policies at Lloyds
• KGM Underwriting Agencies Ltd
• Landmark Insurance
• Legal & General Insurance Ltd
• Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society Ltd
• MIT Syndicate 3210 at Lloyds
• MMA Insurance Plc
• NFU Mutual Insurance Society Ltd
• Norwich Union Insurance Ltd
• Provident Insurance Plc
• QBE Insurance Company (UK) Ltd
• RBS Insurance
• Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Plc
• Trafalgar Insurance Plc
• UK Insurance Ltd
• Zenith Insurance
• Zurich Insurance Company