Insurance Companies Ireland

SDK

Hi All,
Does anyone know why Motor insurance companies in this country are a bunch of bastards when it comes to insuring cars? Im 23 and I got an insurance quote from AXA for 2900yoyo on an ST170, only to be told today "Sorry we dont insure that unless you're 25 with 5years no claims? why did I get the quote in the 1st place then? I rang up to confirm with them my quote the first time and they said no sorry thats a 2.0 ltr zetec, so I then told them it was an ST170 and then the guy recalculated for the ST and gave me the above quote fully comp, but when I rang today, they told me no, sorry we dont insure that car. I cant get an insurance quote for an ST170 anymore?.....because of the "specifications of this car". The St170 is a 2.0ltr non turbo and is only 170bhp. I have been given quotes on cars with 190bhp+ that arent as new or safe as the ST....does anyone know why they do this to us young drivers? why do we have to have 5 years to prove im a safe driver? why do I have to be over 25 to get this quote? a person could go 5 years no claims and then have an accident on the 6th.....Is it because 25year olds are more mature?? because ive mates that are 25 and they're just like myself!!

Sorry im beginning to rant, but this is head wrecking....anyone had similar problems?

fletch

Sounds like they're hearing ST Focus and thinking of the MkII ST with the 2.5ltr turbo.

Anan1

Everyone has gone through it, myself included. The reason for it, quite simply, is that young male drivers have lots of big accidents.;)

mik_da_man

And a lot of insurers might not have the ST170 on their system as it is a rare enough car.
The closest match may be the ST and they see a 2.5 turbo FWD car :eek:
A big no no

Try FBD or xsdirect

Mik

SDK

Anan1 wrote:

Everyone has gone through it, myself included. The reason for it, quite simply, is that young male drivers have lots of big accidents.;)

A lot of "mature" people have crashes too though. I have never seen a crash involving a young driver, the crashes Ive seen are either mature women or mature men!! Whats the point in having insurance companies if they dont insure us? howcome insurance is cheap for young drivers everywhere else in the EU? what is wrong with this country??? :mad:

mik_da_man

Well the facts are hard to deny.
In reality and in my expierence most crashes involve young male drivers.
And are mainly caused by driving too fast.

skyhighflyer

That said, insurance has in general gone down in the past few years. 4 years ago you wouldn't have gotten 2900 on a 1.6 focus. Could try something a bit smaller for the year.

Also have you tried Britton Insurance or XS direct for a quote?

sonners

its not just young male drivers that they wont insure on 'fast cars'. I'm 23, female and up to 2 months ago was driving a 180bhp Celica-the only company that would quote me for the 3 years I had her was Hibernian and that was only cause I was an existing customer. Everyone else just gave out the line 'its a class A car (insurance wise) and your under 25' none of them would even quote me.

What really confuses me is that I'm now driving a 225bhp TT and I've loads of insurance companies willing to quote me, and their reasonable prices too! The mind Boggles :rolleyes:

SDK

mik_da_man wrote:

Well the facts are hard to deny.
In reality and in my expierence most crashes involve young male drivers.
And are mainly caused by driving too fast.

But im sure young drivers all over the world crash and im sure all mature adults crash too. why dont they setup driving schools and teach us young "dangerous" drivers how to control a car and to teach us how to prevent crashes etc? like this "http://www.mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=30644" we could be thought how to control sliding out and controlling a car properly....rather then 10 and 2, feed the wheel bull****! but if you try 10 and 2 and feeding when the car is sliding out, what chances do you have?

SDK

skyhighflyer wrote:

That said, insurance has in general gone down in the past few years. 4 years ago you wouldn't have gotten 2900 on a 1.6 focus. Could try something a bit smaller for the year.

Also have you tried Britton Insurance or XS direct for a quote?

I got an estimate for 2400yoyo. Interesting. I have the ombudsman on the case with quinn because they messed me around for a month.

SDK

sonners wrote:

its not just young male drivers that they wont insure on 'fast cars'. I'm 23, female and up to 2 months ago was driving a 180bhp Celica-the only company that would quote me for the 3 years I had her was Hibernian and that was only cause I was an existing customer. Everyone else just gave out the line 'its a class A car (insurance wise) and your under 25' none of them would even quote me.

What really confuses me is that I'm now driving a 225bhp TT and I've loads of insurance companies willing to quote me, and their reasonable prices too! The mind Boggles :rolleyes:

Are you still with hibernian? for the TT?

Anan1

SDK wrote:

But im sure young drivers all over the world crash and im sure all mature adults crash too. why dont they setup driving schools and teach us young "dangerous" drivers how to control a car and to teach us how to prevent crashes etc? like this "http://www.mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=30644" we could be thought how to control sliding out and controlling a car properly....rather then 10 and 2, feed the wheel bull****! but if you try 10 and 2 and feeding when the car is sliding out, what chances do you have?

In my personal experience, the reason young male drivers crash more is not due to a lack of skill but rather to a combination of inexperience and risk-taking behaviour. For example, being able to control a car in a slide is well down the list of things one needs to be a safe driver. Things like reading the road ahead, anticipating the actions of others, and taking account of conditions, although perhaps less glamorous, are in fact far more useful in keeping you out of the scenery.

Henry Ford III

Anan1 wrote:

In my personal experience, the reason young male drivers crash more is not due to a lack of skill but rather to a combination of inexperience and risk-taking behaviour. For example, being able to control a car in a slide is well down the list of things one needs to be a safe driver. Things like reading the road ahead, anticipating the actions of others, and taking account of conditions, although perhaps less glamorous, are in fact far more useful in keeping you out of the scenery.

Lack of skill, overconfidence, showing off, excess speed, drink and drugs are all possible factors.

mik_da_man

Anan1 wrote:

In my personal experience, the reason young male drivers crash more is not due to a lack of skill but rather to a combination of inexperience and risk-taking behaviour. For example, being able to control a car in a slide is well down the list of things one needs to be a safe driver. Things like reading the road ahead, anticipating the actions of others, and taking account of conditions, although perhaps less glamorous, are in fact far more useful in keeping you out of the scenery.

Very true espically - reading the road ahead, anticipating the actions of others

This is something which I personally did not know much about when starting to drive and it is really important - it does not matter if you have Michael Schumacher reactions if you can't read the road ahead of you

Mik

sonners

SDK wrote:

Are you still with hibernian? for the TT?

Yeah, like I said I only have it 2 months so I just changed over cars on the policy and I actually got money back!! The Celica was 1400 tpft and the TT is around 1100 fully comp! Makes absolutely no sense, I was checking my insurance before I bought the car as I was afraid they might'nt even renew when my policy was up so was fairly shocked to hear my insurance will actually go down! I queried the girl on the phone and she said it was because the Celica was more popular than the TT. Absolutely ridiculous, what popularity has to do with insurance I'll never know.

I've checked around a few online systems since I bought the TT so I know what kind of money I'll be talking when I go to renew and for once they actually quote me, when I had the Ceilca I always got a message to ring the company and would then be told they could'nt do it.

Keith C

SDK wrote:

But im sure young drivers all over the world crash and im sure all mature adults crash too. why dont they setup driving schools and teach us young "dangerous" drivers how to control a car and to teach us how to prevent crashes etc? like this "http://www.mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=30644" we could be thought how to control sliding out and controlling a car properly....rather then 10 and 2, feed the wheel bull****! but if you try 10 and 2 and feeding when the car is sliding out, what chances do you have?

Insurance is based on risk, younger the male driver & the more powerful the car, the higher the risk.
Insurance companies are like any other business, they're out to make a profit for there shareholders & take on business accordingly.
Why do you need a car with that much BHP, get something smaller.

Keith C

sonners wrote:

I queried the girl on the phone and she said it was because the Celica was more popular than the TT. Absolutely ridiculous, what popularity has to do with insurance I'll never know.

What she meant was they're more popular with young drivers, how many male drivers will pick a TT over a celica?? not very many, hence the higher premium & the stat always thrown up is young male drivers have more accidents. I know ive seen way more people doing doughnuts in a carpark in a celica rather then a TT.

slumped

I was 24 when I insured myself first.

Age 24 - Toyota Corrola Hatch 1.4 - €3100 (prov)
Age 25 - Toyota Corrola Hatch 1.4 - €1900 (full)
Age 26 - BMW 318i 1.8 - €1300
Age 27 - BMW 318i 1.9 - €850

You have to go through it !

S

Keith C

slumped wrote:

I was 24 when I insured myself first.

Age 24 - Toyota Corrola Hatch 1.4 - €3100 (prov)
Age 25 - Toyota Corrola Hatch 1.4 - €1900 (full)
Age 26 - BMW 318i 1.8 - €1300
Age 27 - BMW 318i 1.9 - €850

You have to go through it !

S

Kids nowadays expect everything to be handed on a plate

sonners

Keith C wrote:

What she meant was they're more popular with young drivers, how many male drivers will pick a TT over a celica?? not very many, hence the higher premium & the stat always thrown up is young male drivers have more accidents. I know ive seen way more people doing doughnuts in a carpark in a celica rather then a TT.

Thats fair enough but I dont see how that effects me, given that I'm a young FEMALE driver. I was just showing the op that its not just young MALE drivers that have to pay huge premiums and sometimes even have trouble getting insurance.

I do agree though that the premiums are'nt as bad as they used to be for drivers starting off. Five years ago a 17/18 year old male would have paid anything over 3000 for his car insurance and that was probably on a punto or fiesta or something. Now I hear of fella's giving out that they cant insure cars with 150+ bhp and they may only have Provisional licences! Insurance is only ridiculously expensive if your insuring a higher powered car, which is fair enough.

Like others have said, I started out paying E2800 for my insurance, it only dropped under 1500 this year and I'm on the road four years with a full license, full NCB and no penalty points. Its something all drivers have to go through.

Seth Brundle

Head over to the MIJAG forum - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=229

Noelie

sonners wrote:

Thats fair enough but I dont see how that effects me, given that I'm a young FEMALE driver. I was just showing the op that its not just young MALE drivers that have to pay huge premiums and sometimes even have trouble getting insurance.

Thats not quite true.

I just done a little test on 123.ie I put in a 28 year old driving a 1.2 Punto worth 12K, exact same details for both male and female all i done was change the sex.
For the Male the quote comes in a 1541, while the cheapest for the Female was 958, which is 33% less for an unproven Female compared to a unproven Male

sonners

Noelie wrote:

Thats not quite true.

I just done a little test on 123.ie I put in a 28 year old driving a 1.2 Punto worth 12K, exact same details for both male and female all i done was change the sex.
For the Male the quote comes in a 1541, while the cheapest for the Female was 958, which is 33% less for an unproven Female compared to a unproven Male

Your test relates to a driver over the age of 25 (that magic number) in a low powered car.

Try insuring a 22 yr old male/female in anything over 170 bhp - you most likely wont even get quoted. I'm just highlighting the fact that its not just young male drivers with these problems. Its ALL young drivers in HIGH-POWERED cars, which in reality is to be expected.

Noelie

I'll still disagree, While insureance may be expensive for both Male and Female in this country. Female always either get it cheaper or get a better deal out of it.

I don't think age should impact on Insurance quote it should be experience. On a Motorbike a full licence is restricted for two years after passing, this should also be the case with a car,

sonners

Noelie wrote:

I'll still disagree, While insureance may be expensive for both Male and Female in this country. Female always either get it cheaper or get a better deal out of it.

I don't think age should impact on Insurance quote it should be experience. On a Motorbike a full licence is restricted for two years after passing, this should also be the case with a car,

Yeah, fair enough, females get it cheaper but its not a walk in the park for us either! The op is a young male trying to insure a high powered car and is understandably having difficulty doing so. What I'm trying to point out is that everyone has difficulty insuring high powered cars.
If you want a fast car, you have to pay big money for insurance
(if your lucky enough to get quoted at all) simple as.

EDIT: with regards to experience over age, I definitely agree with you there. A friend of mine, female, 25, just passed her Provisional theory test, rang to enquire about getting put as named driver on her boyfriends '96 Carina E 1.8 Petrol. The cost: absolutely nothing! She's allowed just get into a 1.8 ltr car and drive away with no cost watsoever. I was shocked to say the least!

I started driving at 18 with a provisonal license and it cost 1800 (on top of what my mam was already paying) to go as named driver on my mam's 1.6 Laguna. I know my friend may be older and wiser but that has no reflection on her driving experience.

Mickk

Try eagle star, they quoted me 1600 on a 230bhp volvo t5 and I am 24 with no ncb... Everyone else said no. The other thing that works is if you are insured on anything (buy a junker for 100 euro) take out insurance on it and them change over they HAVE to quote you. Doesn't matter what you drive, the only thing is they will only tell you the price after you buy it

Anan1

Noelie wrote:

I don't think age should impact on Insurance quote it should be experience.

Age impacts on risk, why wouldn't this be reflected in insurance quotes?

SDK

Keith C wrote:

Kids nowadays expect everything to be handed on a plate

I like to think of myself as a safe driver, but I think we should be trusted more based on our no claims because you can learn a lot in 2 years and I doubt anyones driving skills change after that.

I know 2 people over 25 that only have 1 years no claims with a full license and their insurance is cheaper than someone with 2 years experience driving just because they're younger. Insurance companies should judge by the driver, not the drivers in general! every person is different! they should stop categorizing people based on age.

Anan1

SDK wrote:

I like to think of myself as a safe driver, but I think we should be trusted more based on our no claims because you can learn a lot in 2 years and I doubt anyones driving skills change after that.

Rubbish. I've been driving 20 years, and i'm still learning.

SDK wrote:

Insurance companies should judge by the driver, not the drivers in general! every person is different! they should stop categorizing people based on age.

Do you not understand that younger people represent a higher risk?

Seth Brundle

SDK wrote:

Insurance companies should judge by the driver, not the drivers in general! every person is different! they should stop categorizing people based on age.

Yeah! They should conduct interviews to find the better drivers. :rolleyes:

peasant

German insurance companies publish insurance data for every vehicle available on the market.

Their basic quote takes into account the value of the vehicle, the cost of repair and the likelihood of it getting stolen.

Then they apply some statistical wizzardry and and add or subtract special bonuses for the area in which the vehicle will be mostly driven (cities are usually more expensive than country locations)

At the very end they take a look a t the driver: A beginner pays 175% of the quote. Over the years, by not having a claim you can work yourself down to as low as 40 or 30 % in steps of 25% in the beginning and 5% near the end.

If you have a claim, you premium goes up by one to four steps, depending on the amount on the claim.


The main difference between insurance companies then are special incentives for garaged vehicles, women drivers, etc and different additional services like breakdown cover etc


I think that is a much fairer system than the "straight from the air" figures that get applied in Ireland.