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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 15 Mar 1960

Vol. 180 No. 4

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Horse Power Rating of Motor Car.

23.

asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that the recently produced Ford Anglia car can be insured on a rating of eight horse power in the Six Counties and in Great Britain while the same car is insurable in the State on a 16 h.p. rating, even by subsidiaries of insurance companies offering the lower rates in the Six Counties and in Great Britain; and whether he will take steps to correct this anomaly.

I understand that insurance companies, generally, operating in this country made no change in the rating of motor cars for insurance purposes following on the revision of ratings for the purposes of road tax, which took effect from 1st January, 1953. Consequently, the horse power rating for insurance purposes may be higher in some instances, as in the case of the recently produced Ford Anglia, and lower in other instances than the rating for the purposes of road tax. The matter is one of detailed insurance operation in which I do not feel called upon to intervene.

Does the Minister not deem it more reasonable that the insurance companies should accept the horse power rating of the manufacturers rather than fall back on an antiquated system of diameter measurement of the cylinder?

It is a matter for the insurance companies themselves and those who do business with them.

Might I ask the Minister would he not consider that, as Minister for Industry and Commerce, he has some function? If a British insurance company is charging one rate of insurance on a Ford Anglia in Strabane and a higher rate of insurance on the same car in Lifford, which is 50 yards away from Strabane, might not he at least inquire?

I understand that, in this country at any rate, there is in general a loss to insurance companies on motor insurance.

They lose on every branch of insurance.

According to them.

The Minister said he had no function——

I did not say I had no function.

I beg the Minister's pardon. In view of the fact that he has a function in this matter, would he consider it an undue strain upon that function at least to ask the insurance companies why two neighbours living beside each other on the Strabane-Lifford border should be charged two different rates of insurance on the identical car?

I shall consider that suggestion.

In view of the Minister's undoubted personal interest in the city of Cork, where the Ford cars are assembled, does he not feel that he should take every step available to him to ensure that this anomaly is removed?

I could not put my sectional interest before the general interest.

I appreciate the point of view.

The Minister has promised to take one step in any case.

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