Car insurance in Ireland with non Irish company?

rizzodun

Probably asked to death already (can't find a recent thread)

Is it possible to insure a car with a company outside of Ireland?

That is:
Irish driving license
Irish registered car
Irish resident.

I'm guessing the answer is no, so what barriers are in place that do not allow this to happen?

It would be helpful for motorists in Ireland, and drive prices down, not to mention the majority of insurance policies are done nowadays without ever stepping into an office, so it could easily be arranged.

biko

Ring a broker in Northern Ireland and see.
Let us know what they said.

Sue Pa Key Pa

rizzodun wrote: »

Probably asked to death already (can't find a recent thread)

Is it possible to insure a car with a company outside of Ireland?

That is:
Irish driving license
Irish registered car
Irish resident.

I'm guessing the answer is no, so what barriers are in place that do not allow this to happen?

It would be helpful for motorists in Ireland, and drive prices down, not to mention the majority of insurance policies are done nowadays without ever stepping into an office, so it could easily be arranged.

There is only 1 Irish insurance company (that I am aware of), FBD.

Do you think that AXA, Allianz, Zurich, Liberty, Royal Sunalliance etc are going to charge you less than their sub-offices here? Each territory quotes premiums based on local conditions (claims & competition)

To answer your question specifically, there are no barriers to prevent insurers from outside Ireland doing business with Irish motorists. They are either here already, eagerly looking for your business or they don't want to touch us with a barge pole

rizzodun

Of course, I mean, a company not established here, as in, ring a German broker and see what they offered - Is that possible?

With all the comments on various threads about anything over 10 years being untouchable, imports impossible to insure etc, I would argue the case slightly that they aren't eagerly looking for business.
I know local conditions dictate a lot, but I do know from personal experience that it can be pretty hard to secure insurance on some older cars, in spite of a full valid NCT, clean driving license, full no claims, and I'm not talking cars from the 70's, some companies are reluctant to touch cars from early 2000's, even with multiple airbags and safety features like ABS, hell, a 2005 Volvo is probably a lot safer on the road than a new Dacia.

Also, to oppose this, I have also secured very good value insurance for many cars just by picking up the phone and shopping around, so I do understand that with some effort you will find cover to suit, most of the time, so I just find it a bit baffling at times, and can never really work out the logic if looking for insurance, it seems to change like the wind.

Sue Pa Key Pa

The large foreign insurers (like those above) are already here. Others appoint Irish brokers to sell their policies as an Underwriting Agency, with a good few then losing a fortune and leaving our market.

You won't get a German, Italian, French broker doing business directly with an Irish customer.

Charles Babbage

rizzodun wrote: »

Probably asked to death already (can't find a recent thread)

Is it possible to insure a car with a company outside of Ireland?

That is:
Irish driving license
Irish registered car
Irish resident.

I'm guessing the answer is no, so what barriers are in place that do not allow this to happen?

It would be helpful for motorists in Ireland, and drive prices down, not to mention the majority of insurance policies are done nowadays without ever stepping into an office, so it could easily be arranged.

Why would it drive prices down? The foreign company would have exactly the same probability of a claim and of a given payout as any company already operating.

rizzodun

Charles Babbage wrote: »

Why would it drive prices down? The foreign company would have exactly the same probability of a claim and of a given payout as any company already operating.

Usually, its safe to assume more competition drives prices down. Merely an assumption, but usually a valid one.

RGS

rizzodun wrote: »

Usually, its safe to assume more competition drives prices down. Merely an assumption, but usually a valid one.

Unfortunately if price is driven down, but claim costs stay at the same level, underwriting losses will be incurred after a period, which is unsustainable and requires fixing.

And the cycle of increased premia and angry motorist starts again.

coylemj

RGS wrote: »

Unfortunately if price is driven down, but claim costs stay at the same level, underwriting losses will be incurred after a period, which is unsustainable and requires fixing.

And the cycle of increased premia and angry motorist starts again.

+1 but it doesn't even need new entrants for this to happen. A few years ago FBD started to go for more market share, they especially aimed to increase their penetration into urban markets since their heritage (the 'F' in FBD stands for Farmers) was mainly rural. So they setup an internet channel called nononsense.ie and started to attract lots of shiny new customers.....

The only problem was that increasing market share in a relatively small market like Ireland meant that they ended up taking on customers that other insurers would prefer not to have on their books so surprise, surprise, FBD's claims started to go through the roof, they declared a loss for the first time in years and the CEO resigned.

Add to the mix some dodgy claims provisioning practices in RSA Ireland which allowed them to undercut the competition and yet more downward pressure on premia thanks to a relatively unregulated operator (Setanta) in Malta which eventually collapsed and that is why there has been a sudden upward rise in premia in the past few years - the holiday is over.

dev100

coylemj wrote:

Add to the mix some dodgy claims provisioning practices in RSA Ireland which allowed them to undercut the competition, downward pressure from a relatively unregulated operator (Setanta) in Malta which eventually collapsed and that is why there has been a sudden upward rise in premia in the past few years - the holiday is over.

You forgot very bad investments ...

Atlantic Dawn

You might fall at the first hurdle because they need to supply you with an insurance disc for it to be legal, specs are here...

4. (1) Every insurance disc shall be in the shape of a rectangle which when it is exhibited on a vehicle, shall have a horizontal measurement of not less than 85mm and not more than 95mm and a vertical measurement of not less than 70mm and not more than 80mm.

(2) Every insurance disc shall be of paper with a white background and with a green band not less than 8mm wide and not more than 12mm wide extending along and left hand side.

(3) Every insurance disc shall be in the form in the Schedule hereto and shall state the particulars of insurance which are required in the said form to be specified together with the month and year of expiry expressed numerically.

(4) In the case of vehicles owned by a fleet owner the name of the fleet owner may be inserted on the insurance disc in place of the registration number.

(5) In the case of a vehicle which is not yet registered, the chassis number of the vehicle may be inserted on the insurance disc in place of the registration number.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1984/si/355/made/en/print

coylemj

dev100 wrote: »

You forgot very bad investments ...

Less to do with bad investments and a lot to do with the downward spiral in interest rates thanks to quantitative easing. Most insurance companies invest their claims reserves in government bonds.

Sue Pa Key Pa

rizzodun wrote: »

Usually, its safe to assume more competition drives prices down. Merely an assumption, but usually a valid one.

You can be sure that many insurers from abroad have thought about competing in our market, had a laugh to themselves and decided not to bother.

Why has no new foreign insurer come in and offered 20% off all our 'outrageous premiums' and mopped up all the business? That would break the cartel overnight and they would make an absolute fortune.

CiniO

I managed to obtain short term (30 days policy) on Irish car from Polish insurer.
However to do so, I had to present them with Polish address.
Also they would only do 30 days policy, as polish car insurance legislation doesn't allow for full year policies to be attached to foreign registered cars.

coylemj

CiniO wrote: »

I managed to obtain short term (30 days policy) on Irish car from Polish insurer.
However to do so, I had to present them with Polish address.
Also they would only do 30 days policy, as polish car insurance legislation doesn't allow for full year policies to be attached to foreign registered cars.

And while Irish insurers will cover you (as they are obliged to do) for driving your Irish car in the EU, there is usually a limit per trip of 30 days.

CiniO

coylemj wrote: »

And while Irish insurers will cover you (as they are obliged to do) for driving your Irish car in the EU, there is usually a limit per trip of 30 days.

They can't impose time limit on third party cover.
So while longer abroad, they can cease any additional cover like own car damage, windscreen, personal injury, breakdown assistance, driving other cars, etc, but they can't deny your third party cover which will stay valid for the entire period of policy even if car goes abroad for the whole 12 months.

coylemj

CiniO wrote: »

They can't impose time limit on third party cover.
So while longer abroad, they can cease any additional cover like own car damage, windscreen, personal injury, breakdown assistance, driving other cars, etc, but they can't deny your third party cover which will stay valid for the entire period of policy even if car goes abroad for the whole 12 months.

If you take your car out of the country for 12 months then you can hardly claim to be living here and a change of address (especially to another country) would amount to a 'material change' to your risk profile which the insurance company can use to void the policy.

Henry Ford III

Didn't you run into trouble with an insurer regarding address before CiniO?

CiniO

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Didn't you run into trouble with an insurer regarding address before CiniO?

No, why?

I live in Ireland, but Polish insurer is not bothered once I can show Polish address - and I can.

Liam McPoyle

CiniO wrote: »

No, why?

I live in Ireland, but Polish insurer is not bothered once I can show Polish address - and I can.

Didn't you have an issue when a car you had insured here but was kept in Poland? The insurer requested the NCT and you were not able to provide same as the car was not in the country.

CiniO

Rod Munch wrote: »

Didn't you have an issue when a car you had insured here but was kept in Poland? The insurer requested the NCT and you were not able to provide same as the car was not in the country.

Indeed a while ago I switched car on my policy to an Irish registered car which was in Poland at the time and had no nct and tax.
Insurer went with a change, but upon renewal they refused to renew unless I showed them tax and nct.

However this had nothing to do with address as my address was still in Ireland and insurer wasn't aware about current car location.

jimmycrackcorm

CiniO wrote:

Indeed a while ago I switched car on my policy to an Irish registered car which was in Poland at the time and had no nct and tax. Insurer went with a change, but upon renewal they refused to renew unless I showed them tax and nct.

Does the Polish insurer provide an insurance disc as it's illegal here not to display one?

CiniO

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Does the Polish insurer provide an insurance disc as it's illegal here not to display one?

As I said few posts above polish insurer will only cover Irish registered car temporarily for 30 days and no, they won't provide disc. Only certificate.

Henry Ford III

CiniO wrote: »

Indeed a while ago I switched car on my policy to an Irish registered car which was in Poland at the time and had no nct and tax.
Insurer went with a change, but upon renewal they refused to renew unless I showed them tax and nct.

However this had nothing to do with address as my address was still in Ireland and insurer wasn't aware about current car location.

A refused renewal is bad news surely? How did your insurers react when advised of this?

CiniO

Henry Ford III wrote: »

A refused renewal is bad news surely? How did your insurers react when advised of this?

Insurer refused to renew policy based on fact that vehicle covered was untaxed and not ncted.
I called them and switched vehicle again to one which did have nct and tax and then they offered renewal so in the end I didn't have to deal with refused renewal case.