Car insurance quotes for Limerick City

zulutango

I'm renewing my car insurance.

For years it's been in the €300 - €400 range. Last year, I was living in Kildare and the insurance was €308.

This year, using that same address in Kildare and for the same level of cover, I'm being quoted €450.

But, here's the thing. If I change the address to Limerick City, it jumps up to about €750 euro.

What the **** is this about? I'm living in an uneventful middle class area of Limerick. I haven't heard of a car being robbed here in years. Can anybody who knows the industry explain this bull****?

bazz26

Insurance companies obviously see Limerick city as a higher risk address than your old address in Kildare. Densely populated areas will always attract higher levels of crime including vandalism, robberies, etc. They most likely have statistics that show this so it's not as simplistic as just having your car stolen. Have you tried putting in a Dublin city or Cork city address, my guess is that you will get a similar hike.

BTW go over to the motors forum and have a read of the daily "my car insurance has increased" threads, there are thousands of them. Insurance premiums have gone up across the board.

Silentcorner

I actually don't think it is anything to do with crime....I think it is due to our very high claims rates, one of our more unfortunate stats is that we top the claims league nationally.

It really irritates me I have to say, there are very simple ways of clamping down spurious claims...but then the legal sector would be out of pocket and we can't be having that!!!

bazz26

You will find that crime figures would be a factor, one of many. Places like cities have a higher population which in turn tends to have a higher risk of crime, vandalism, etc than say out in the country. Insurance companies work off statistics from a number of sources.

Silentcorner

bazz26 wrote: »

You will find that crime figures would be a factor, one of many. Places like cities have a higher population which in turn tends to have a higher risk of crime, vandalism, etc than say out in the country. Insurance companies work off statistics from a number of sources.

Ya I'd agree with that actually, but a big factor would also be our high claim rates, certainly doesn't help...

bazz26

Definitely, another one is that we are all paying in our premiums for the Quinn Insurance fiasco too.

zulutango

I gave three different addresses just to see what the increases would be.

Kildare (Maynooth) - 50% increase
Limerick City - 200% increase
Kerry (Killarney) - 200% increase

The idea that it's increased number of claims doesn't really stack up unless there has been spectacular increases in claims in these areas.

pnpweirdo

My insurance went up by nearly 200 euro in the last year. Zurich wouldn't budge from there quote. The rise is across the board no matter where you live. I did get a way better quote off of 25plus.ie. They seem to be a broker that use AIG.

Reputable Rog

Some people living in Shannon Banks and Westbury are confused and keep putting down Limerick as their address which means a more expensive quote.
I moved from Clare into Limerick a number of years ago and was advised by the broker to put down the old address in Clare.

Clareman

Most insurance companies are wise to that now and if you put in Clare it'll ask if you're in the Corbally area.

zulutango

Reputable Rog wrote: »

Some people living in Shannon Banks and Westbury are confused and keep putting down Limerick as their address which means a more expensive quote.
I moved from Clare into Limerick a number of years ago and was advised by the broker to put down the old address in Clare.

The stupidity of assessing risk based on one's county is mind boggling. Actuaries are meant to be smart people too.

thebiglad

zulutango wrote: »

The stupidity of assessing risk based on one's county is mind boggling. Actuaries are meant to be smart people too.

Once Eircodes take off they will be able to rate more precisely if they want then people will complain because they are in a good area next to a 'poor' one or that they are being targeted by the insurance companies...

Right now the Actuaries have not much to go on other than Towns/Cities/ Counties and rate accordingly

Its clearly not working for them right now as they cannot make profits, if they knew where best risks were they would cut premium to get those drivers onto their books for sure.

zulutango

well, I take you points, but to begin with they could assess risk based on population centres. Counties don't represent population centres so they're not going about it in a very clever way. They may as well discriminate on the basis of what colour eyes people have.

thebiglad

zulutango wrote: »

. They may as well discriminate on the basis of what colour eyes people have.

Don't think Europe would allow it unless they could statistically prove it made a difference:)

thebiglad

zulutango wrote: »

well, I take you points, but to begin with they could assess risk based on population centres. Counties don't represent population centres so they're not going about it in a very clever way. They may as well discriminate on the basis of what colour eyes people have.

You have to look at how they capture their data for analysis

they will know male/female, age, car type and an address - without Eircodes or something similar it is not easy to differentiate the numerous areas of a city or country - perhaps an Insurance Actuary will stumble across this thread and fill us in how it's done.

It really could be good or bad once the insurers get another field which they can use for underwriting.

zulutango

thebiglad wrote: »

Don't think Europe would allow it unless they could statistically prove it made a difference:)

Statistics can prove anything!!

thebiglad

zulutango wrote: »

Statistics can prove anything!!

Obviously couldn't prove men are a worse risk that women...