Uninsured motorists load €40 on to cost of premiums

DonJose

I just wish the Garda would be more active and setup more checkpoints. Every police should be fitted out with ANPR to keep these scum of the roads.

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UNINSURED drivers are costing honest drivers around €40 each every year. The revelation comes as a new survey shows that one-in-three drivers have never been stopped by a garda. There are some 100,000 uninsured drivers on the roads who cost law-abiding motorists about €60m a year, the Irish Independent has learned. The head of the company that compensates the victims of drivers who have no insurance said yesterday that around 5pc of motorists drive illegally without insurance.

John Casey of the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) warned that those flouting the law on insurance would be pursued through the courts if they caused an accident. He said his company paid out around €62m in 2008 to people involved in accidents with uninsured drivers. Figures for last year have not been audited yet but are expected to show a rise in the cost of claims. Mr Casey said the number of claims had been rising over the past few years. He estimated that claims involving uninsured drivers are loading €40 per premium on honest drivers every year. The MIBI is responsible for compensating victims of accidents caused by uninsured and unidentified vehicles.

All insurers pay into it -- a cost borne by honest motorists. The MIBI is allowed to pursue the uninsured driver for damages. This is separate to any criminal proceedings that may be taken.
Director of policy at AA Ireland Conor Faughnan said some people were not insured due to an oversight but larger numbers were wilfully ignoring the fact that they were required by law to have motor cover. He said the average motor policy was around €550, but up to €44 of this was made up of the cost of covering uninsured drivers. Mr Faughnan said uninsured cars and motors statistically tended to be higher risk as the cars were often stolen or the car was unregistered or had no National Car Test.

He called for more roadside checks by the gardai. A new survey by AA Ireland has found that a third of all drivers have never been stopped by a garda for any reason. The poll, which was conducted among 11,000 motorists, also found that four out of 10 drivers never had to show their driving licence to a garda, and this was most likely to be true in Dublin and Leinster. According to the AA, females were more likely than males to report that they had never been stopped -- reflecting the fact that males drive more miles than females, on average. Mr Faughnan said it was wrong to say that insurance companies pay out on claims. It was, in fact, drivers who pay for motoring claims, he said.

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/surviving-the-recession/uninsured-motorists-load-836440-on-to-cost-of-premiums-2093471.html

EPM

I honestly thought it was a lot higher figure than that

Mr Benevolent

Lazy journalism again. The Independant is a tabloid after all I suppose. I believe the figure is 40%, although I don't have a link for that.

B00MSTICK

I wonder where they get their figures from? I mean how can they possibly know how many uninsured drivers there are?

Oh we did a survey and found 1 in 3 drivers have never been stopped...

MagicSean

The insurance companies have their share of the blame in this. My girlfriend was hit by an uninsured boy racer and her insurance company paid his claim, even after he was convicted for having no insurance on the day in question. Also the insurance companies should be notifying gardai of people who take out a direct debit policy and cancel it after a few months so these people can be recognised because a garda has no way of checking a policy is still valid without ringing the insurance company directly.

Del2005

DonJose2 wrote: »

I just wish the Garda would be more active and setup more checkpoints. Every police should be fitted out with ANPR to keep these scum of the roads.

Since ANPR in Ireland isn't linked to any insurance database it'll do no good. And since we have no central insurance database the Gardaí have to call individual insurance companies to verify insurance details. But the Gardaí are now not using their phones* to make calls so no one will be done for no insurance unless they are very unlucky.




* Not that they should have to, but no job is perfect.

MagicSean

Even if they used their phones it probably wouldnt help them in the middle of a friday night.

BennyBlanko

Whilst what he says maybe be true (in this case), this TWAT does my head in;
"Mr Faughnan of the AA said it was wrong to say that insurance companies pay out on claims. It was, in fact, drivers who pay for motoring claims, he said".

Gary ITR

Del2005 wrote: »

Since ANPR in Ireland isn't linked to any insurance database it'll do no good.

I'm led to believe this has now changed.

This fund also covers hit and runs along with damage done by stolen cars

dubmick

100k sounds like an awful lot. I would have thought it was a lot less than that.

Atomic Pineapple

It cant be just €40?

Voodoomelon

The article also dosn't touch on how over 90% of people stopped for no insurance don't get penalty points. Its also the systems fault.

drunkmonkey

DonJose2 wrote: »

I just wish the Garda would be more active and setup more checkpoints. Every police should be fitted out with ANPR to keep these scum of the roads.

I think the government should include basic 3rd party insurance with your nct or road tax or a minimum charge for having a car registered in your name regardless of if you use it, if you need better insurance you then go to the insurance company.
Doing something like this will mean every car is insured.

Del2005

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I think the government should include basic 3rd party insurance with your nct or road tax or a minimum charge for having a car registered in your name regardless of if you use it, if you need better insurance you then go to the insurance company.
Doing something like this will mean every car is insured.

That'll only work if someone who's willing to drive around uninsured bothers to get the others done.

Add it to the price of fuel. The only issue with this is drivers who do high mileage(what's the metric version of mileage?) will pay more. But maybe they should as they have more risk.

Though make it easy to reclaim once you exceed a certain amount paid. Or give them a device they can use when paying to remove the insurance, over a certain limit, and have it tied to the car reg. Would be something that could be done quite easily, but maybe not by our so called servants.