Car insurance drops by 14% thanks to "EU Cartel Busters"

Beta Ray Bill

Read this, thismorning

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/eu-cartel-busters-credited-with-dramatic-fall-in-motor-insurance-805132.html

Car insurance costs are coming down but it could be a while before motorists see an improvement in their bills.
New figures show there has been a 14% drop in prices, the most dramatic decrease since costs began rising three years ago.
The Irish Independent suggests the reduction could be linked to dawn raids on insurance companies by the EU Competition Directorate designed to break up cartels.
The paper quotes Michael Kilcoyne of the Consumers' Association who says the raids have frightened insurers.
He said: "Clearly the EU guys are doing their jobs and the raids are having an impact. Insurers can no longer get away with the hikes.
"The people from Europe should continue to keep an eye on them."

So it looks like on the face of it that there was Cartel type activity occurring.

I don't want to get on the soap box saying "Told you so!"

But what I will say is, that this is fantastic news for Irish Motorists if it's true.

It's just a shame I only renewed about 3 months ago!

dr.fuzzenstein

"There was a raid, magic happened and now insurance is cheaper"
That article is some ball if sh1te.

Sue Pa Key Pa

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

"There was a raid, magic happened and now insurance is cheaper"
That article is some ball if sh1te.

Exactly. I haven't seen any report yet from those raids. Maybe there is something there, maybe there isn't. These reductions follow a RETURN to profitability by insurers, leading to better competition between them. Insurers need to be profitable to allow them offer better premiums

Beta Ray Bill

Trying to find more stats on it.

I've discovered it's based on CSO figures, so might not be as much good news as I originally thought.

Cows Go µ

Weren't the raids on insurance for haulage therefore would have absolutely zero bearing on private car insurance?

Beta Ray Bill

Lots of media outlets claiming insurance is down 14% from last year.
Can't find anything on CSO website though.

Average price for insurance in August 2016 was €909, for August 2017 it was €781
Source.... The Sun






I'll get my coat....

realdanbreen

Absolute rubbish! I was asked for €2000 for TPFT on a 02 Passat by an insurance company yesterday. I have everything in order, no points, no claims, full licence etc. :mad:

Beta Ray Bill

realdanbreen wrote: »

Absolute rubbish! I was asked for €2000 for TPFT on a 02 Passat by an insurance company yesterday. I have everything in order, no points, no claims, full licence etc. :mad:

That's outrageous,
10 Year old car, the insurances goes up a good bit
15 year old car, You literally get shafted.

Why is this?
I don't know, wasn't a problem 5/6 years ago IIRC.

Liam McPoyle

Charlie Weston is a hack of the highest calibre and anyone that takes what he says as gospel needs their head examined.

The raids occurred in the main in broking houses, brokers do not set premiums.

The raids were mainly focused on fleet and heavy haulage risks, nothing to do with the average joe.

The reason there has been a levelling off is because most insurers posted modest profits in the last calendar year. More stringent underwriting and risk management are the reasons for the modest profits.

Lol at the mouth piece from the law society.

There have been a number of cases on the media over the last few months where judges have been taking a harder and more balanced line against people making frivolous/dodgy claims.

I'm sure it's purely coincidence that fraudsters being admonished in a more high profile fashion runs parallel with a reduction for some.

It also helps that the wheels are in motion for things like a unilateral system for verifying no claims discounts.

And that the Setanta ruling was rightly overturned.

To think this lad gets paid for his opinions.

NUTLEY BOY

I am comp with RSA. My recent renewal is up by about 20 % over last year with no material change in the risk.

Sue Pa Key Pa

Not every premium will have dropped 14% (if the report is true) and not every insurers will be bringing their premiums down. Some will be up and others may be down by more than 14%. It's about industry averages. RSA have had a particularly bad time in recent years.

If every insurer dropped every premium by 14%, that would smell like.....cartel activity

soups05

realdanbreen wrote: »

Absolute rubbish! I was asked for €2000 for TPFT on a 02 Passat by an insurance company yesterday. I have everything in order, no points, no claims, full licence etc. :mad:

I got an 02 vectra, fully comp, full lic with 3 points and just got quoted 891 from kennco. thats direct on the phone, not using a broker. give them a try

Fanny Wank

Company I work with (a big one in the Irish market) hasn't dropped prices

On the other hand the increases applied over the last 2 years or so (large) didn't in anyway track the CSO quoted figures.

Is there any info on how the CSO tracks prices? We always had a suspicion it was a basket of new business policies. In the last while there's anecdotal evidence that insurers are focusing on retention rather than new business.

Awaiting "but but MY policy (one of several million in the market) is up X%"

One of the consultancies told us they'd queried with the CSO and had essentially been told they weren't telling



Two last things:

The Indo is a complete rag and Charlie Weston is a spoofer

The media used the word "raid" when a far more accurate word would be "visit". Raid probably got more clicks however

ArthurG

NUTLEY BOY wrote: »

I am comp with RSA. My recent renewal is up by about 20 % over last year with no material change in the risk.

Same here, I was up 25% with Axa. Happily though I gave SuperValue a look and saved several hundred quid. I've got my insurance through AA for almost a decade but this year took the buscuit. The poor fella on he phone didn't know what to say when I told him SV was quoting me 200 quid less than his best offer. "So would you like to go ahead with this quote?" . "No".