Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 February 2019
33. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Finance the steps he will take to end the practice of insurance companies charging excessive premiums for cars over ten years old; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9843/19]
View answerBoth I and the Minister of State for Financial Services and Insurance, Mr. Michael D’Arcy T.D., are aware of problems experienced by some consumers in respect of insuring older vehicles.
However, neither I nor the Central Bank of Ireland can interfere in the provision or pricing of insurance products, as these matters are of a commercial nature, and are determined by insurance companies based on an assessment of the risks they are willing to accept. This position is reinforced by the EU framework for insurance which expressly prohibits Member States from adopting rules which require insurance companies to obtain prior approval of the pricing or terms and conditions of insurance products. Consequently, I am not in a position to direct insurance companies as to the pricing level or terms or conditions that they should apply in respect of particular categories of vehicles.
Notwithstanding this, my officials have engaged with Insurance Ireland in order to get a greater sense of this specific issue and, as a follow-up exercise, Minister of State D'Arcy held a series of meetings with the Chief Executives of the major motor insurers. At those meetings, insurers pointed out that in making their individual decisions on whether to offer cover and what terms to apply, they will, aside from the age of the vehicle, use a combination of other rating factors, which include the age of the driver, the type of vehicle, the relevant individual claims record and driving experience, the number of drivers, and how the car is used. In addition to the above factors, they indicated that they will price in accordance with their own overall past claims experience and in this regard, almost all insurers stated that their data indicates a notable deterioration in the levels of claims associated with vehicles once a certain age threshold is reached.
However, I also understand from the above engagement that it would appear that there has been positive movement in respect of the acceptance criteria and the vehicle age threshold levels used by some providers in recent times, particularly at broker level and in respect of renewals. This is an issue which my officials will continue to monitor.
