Limerick City Car Insurance quotes much higher than the rest of the country

Landoflemon

Hello,

I'm open for correction on this quick study I've done through the Liberty Insurance Website, but I believe the data is correct.

I was looking for a quote for my 1.3L Toyota Yaris (2006), and decided to record data for each of the counties by changing my address.

Limerick (County and City) appears to be much more heavily weighted than nearly anywhere else in the country. How can this be justified? I have a separate set of data for all the regions in Dublin City D1-24 (Average €702) and Dublin County (Average €707.5). No major jump between city and county there. Highest in Dublin is D11 (Ballymun) at €850.

Is Limerick City and County an Insurance claim black spot for some reason? I haven't heard this discussed before.

Special Circumstances

Good work. Ive never chased it through in that much detail but I've seen 4k+ (total price pay by month) for a 9 year old focus for a 40year old full time employed person with a perfect driving record in limerick city environs.

Tried changing a few variables but there were two standout features of my ad hoc experiments... liberty hate limerick people and electrical engineers.

The whole thing is a farce really. I don't expect our impotent government to make much effort there though.


http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057689434/

Landoflemon

Actually, I forgot to comment below on my employment which is described as 'Researcher' which, as far as I can tell, is in their lowest bracket, along with 'Priest'. If you put 'Undertaker' as your employment it shoots up, and they wouldn't quote me when I entered 'Actor'!

It's mainly the bias against Limerick that really bothers me though.

Special Circumstances

Landoflemon wrote: »

It's mainly the bias against Limerick that really bothers me though.

You'd swear twas Mad Max out there like.

steveon

Nothing surprises me about this...but Limerick has terrible roads and terrible drivers so Id imagine there's a lot of claims in this city to drive the costs higher.

zulutango

These figures would have to be compared with claims and payouts for Limerick I guess. Personally, I'm skeptical that it's to do with this though.

Landoflemon

I agree, it would be great to see the data on claims and payout for Limerick, to be able to compare with other locations. I just doubt that claims and payouts in Limerick are almost triple the national average.

Jofspring

I can't believe how much higher we are than Donegal. I drove up there recently and some of the driving was mental. Definitely the worst I had seen anyway for speeding, overtaking on bends etc...

peckerhead

Landoflemon wrote: »

I agree, it would be great to see the data on claims and payout for Limerick, to be able to compare with other locations. I just doubt that claims and payouts in Limerick are almost triple the national average.

In fairness, I suspect the claims are higher; I know a couple of actuaries (God help me) and they confirm unequivocally that the level of personal injury and other claims is disproportionately high in Limerick; presumably payouts too? (dunno about treble the national average...)

City of Compensation Culture? I know I long ago identified as "a Limerick thing" the tendency for pedestrians to suddenly step into the path of a car trying to reverse into a parking spot. And I know many, many people here (but almost none elsewhere) who have been on the receiving end of utterly spurious compo claims.

Don't get me wrong; I love Limerick, and I fúcking hate insurance companies with a vengeance. But the stats paint a picture that's hard to explain otherwise.

[Edit: no, I won't be posting any links, sorry; if you don't like/believe what I've suggested, tell me to fúck off back to wherever I came from and don't be knockin' our citaaaay... (I'll disregard both, of course!) ]

Landoflemon

Thanks for the response, I believe you are probably correct and I recall reading articles about the council having to pay out a lot in personal injury compensation for people taking falls in buildings and similar events. It would make sense that there are also significant claims for personal injury with people intentionally walking into reversing cars (as an example) which would cause insurance claims in the city and county to be so high.

If that is the case, then it's unfortunate that people milking the compensation system have dragged an entire city down with insurance costs which are much higher than the national average. Bearing in mind the already volatile nature of car insurance costs nationally.

I posted on the Liberty Insurance boards.ie page and the response was:

"Hi Landoflemon,
Our prices are based on analysis of the claims experience across a number of factors including the area where the vehicle is kept. Generally the higher the frequency of accidents and claims within an area then the higher the rates.
These statistics are regularly reviewed and depending on the frequency of accidents and claims the rates can decrease as well as increase."

Special Circumstances

Liberty have a competition running here, with a prize for the best driving tip.


Despite their own pricing structure showing Limerick to be on par with Aleppo, they keep deleting my "Avoid driving in areas rated as high risk by Liberty" tip.
It seems perfectly valid and on topic. Anyone think it isn't?

I mean - either the loading is justified and they should let valid advice stand, or the loading is an error that nobody has noticed for months but I'm sure they'll fix it any decade now.

Special Circumstances

Hahahahahahaha

Land of Lemon - I've mentioned your findings TWICE in that competion and both times it has been deleted.

I now have a warning as well.

How can Liberty say that it ISN'T a safer driving tip to avoid areas that they themselves regard as abnormally dangerous for their profits?

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote:

Dear Special Circumstances,

You have been warned for ignoring a moderator's instructions.

Discussion can become heated, we don't object to that, but when a moderator issues a warning on a thread to reign things in, it stops a heated discussion from turning into a mess.

For more information please refer to the Boards.ie FAQ.



Boards.ie: Niamh

Moderator Note

What's 'bizarre & strange' is that you chose to ignore my post telling people not to post in the thread unless it was a genuine competition entry. We have a motor insurance forum if the state of insurance in Ireland is something you wish to discuss.

Your post:

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Isn't that just soooooo strange. My first post here seems to have disappeared.

Anyway, it was basically saying that Liberty regards Limerick as an extremely dangerous place to drive, so my tip would be "Avoid driving in Limerick if at all possible".

I'm not the only one to have done research on this, another helpful poster even put together a graph of how much more dangerous Limerick is compared to all other areas in Ireland.

Landoflemon wrote: »

Hello,

I'm open for correction on this quick study I've done through the Liberty Insurance Website, but I believe the data is correct.

I was looking for a quote for my 1.3L Toyota Yaris (2006), and decided to record data for each of the counties by changing my address.

Limerick (County and City) appears to be much more heavily weighted than nearly anywhere else in the country. How can this be justified? I have a separate set of data for all the regions in Dublin City D1-24 (Average €702)  and Dublin County (Average €707.5). No major jump between city and county there. Highest in Dublin is D11 (Ballymun) at €850.

Is Limerick City and County an Insurance claim black spot for some reason? I haven't heard this discussed before.

It would be just beyond bizarre if this completely on-topic and valid advice was deleted again, but they... this is boards.ie :-(

Harambe

My faincee moved down from Dublin this year and received her car insurance renewal from AA last month.
She rang them to change her address from Dublin to Limerick and they immediately added €400 to her quote!

OfTheMarsWongs

Harambe wrote: »

My faincee moved down from Dublin this year and received her car insurance renewal from AA last month.
She rang them to change her address from Dublin to Limerick and they immediately added €400 to her quote!

What kind of car does she have? I live in the city and my fully comp was €440. She needs to shop around.

Harambe

OfTheMarsWongs wrote: »

What kind of car does she have? I live in the city and my fully comp was €440. She needs to shop around.

08 Nissan Tiida 1.6L

She's shopping around at the moment, if you recommend any places let me know.

Special Circumstances

Harambe wrote: »

if you recommend any places let me know.

Indeed, it's just "I know something you don't know na na nanana" otherwise.

OfTheMarsWongs

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Indeed, it's just "I know something you don't know na na nanana" otherwise.

🙄 Aviva.

Special Circumstances

I can't get insurance with Aviva as somebody crashed into me through no fault of my own within the last three years

"Have had no claims made against you in the last three years, have no outstanding claims, nor been involved in any accident or loss"

panda100

I'm with aviva too and my insurance in Rathkeale is far cheaper than when I lived in Dublin.

Irish_rat

Mine went up 200 quid changed my address from Kerry to Castletroy last year and I shopped around

moleyv

I got ca. 8% refund from Aviva when I changed address from limerick co. to Dublin city.

Irish_rat

steveon wrote: »

Nothing surprises me about this...but Limerick has terrible roads and terrible drivers so Id imagine there's a lot of claims in this city to drive the costs higher.

I dunno about that. The city has a better road network than Cork and Galway. The secondary and regional routes are fairly decent.

Like another poster been up to Donegal a good bit in the past and its a nightmare up there. Some of the roads in Mayo are awful too.

I can't defend the drivers though, a very high % can't use a roundabout. Still its unjustified to have the insurance this high

Mc Love

Ive heard that an post insurance is quite good value

testicles

This post has been deleted.

Special Circumstances

testicles wrote: »

I can't get a quote from them.

Me neither. Can't remember if it was the country of manufacture or the power of the car (or both, a 180hp BMW seems to fine to insure though).

Or maybe the fact that it has "non standard audio equipment" aka a €120 radio with bluetooth hands free from halfords to replace the banjaxed standard cd player.

Mc Love

What were ye trying to insure??

Mr E

My renewal is due this month and my car has passed the 10 year old mark.
17 years driving with no claims, but that stands for nothing. I'm dreading my quote...

Special Circumstances

Mc Love wrote: »

What were ye trying to insure??

Doesn't matter:

Assumptions:
You and Your Named Drivers have not been involved in any accident or loss, or had any claims in the last 5 years.
Your car does not have a non standard audio equipment or a car phone.


I have an aftermarket head unit (replacement for the banjaxed factory radio) and both myself and one of my named drivers have had to make a claim against a third party within the last 5 years.



You'd want to be VERY VERY VERY careful that you read the assumptions and conditions attached to policies these days!

Mc Love

Mr E wrote: »

My renewal is due this month and my car has passed the 10 year old mark.
17 years driving with no claims, but that stands for nothing. I'm dreading my quote...

Mine was 10 last year and quote was normal. Expect a 200-300 increase.

Special Circumstances

Of course the insurance industry guys on Boards.ie continue to tell people that there are no punishments for making a "100% not your fault" claim against a third party, despite the "You and Your Named Drivers have not been involved in any accident or loss, or had any claims in the last X years" condition turning up all over the place.

testicles

This post has been deleted.

Special Circumstances

testicles wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

But I bet you could insure a DERV BMW of the same power or more no problem.

bazz26

Special Circumstances wrote: »

But I bet you could insure a DERV BMW of the same power or more no problem.

Apples and oranges. Hot hatches have traditionally attracted higher insurance premiums than diesel tractors due to their fondness with thieves.

Special Circumstances

bazz26 wrote: »

Apples and oranges. Hot hatches have traditionally attracted higher insurance premiums than diesel tractors due to their fondness with thieves.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/watch-moment-keyless-bmw-stolen-from-driveway-of-dublin-home-34668315.html

bazz26

Plenty of articles out there about hot hatches being stolen too. Hot hatches have always drawn higher premiums so this isn't anything new.

Special Circumstances

Again, it comes down to "I'd love to see the stats but ..."

I suspect the insurers are the only ones with the granularity to separate "fiesta st" from "fiesta lx".

bazz26

Well as insurance is mandatory in order to drive, they probably feel they are not required by law to prove how they arrive at their figures despite being asked nicely by the Government who want to look like they are tackling the issue. Doesn't help the OP in the short term though.

Landoflemon

Thanks for the response and discussion, but I would like to clarify that my problem is not in getting reasonable insurance (my renewal with AnPost was fairly reasonable), but that I was just drawing attention to the huge bias that Liberty Insurance had against Limerick city. Other insurers that I did a similar smaller study on did not show the same bias, at least not to the same degree.

mgbgt1978

**hurler32 deleted his post. Doing the same here.

Special Circumstances

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

**hurler32 deleted his post. Doing the same here.

There was a certain kernel of truth in there all the same under all the drama. But the issue of "professional claimants" needs to be tackled without unduly* punishing genuine cases.


*Without punishing them at all in my opinion but this is Ireland, the people will always suffer for big business.

MarkR

If there's easy money out there, people will take it. Need to get the gardai adequately equipped to combat insurance fraud. ANPR should be able to check insurance and licence status, presumably tax too?

homingbird

Did YOU try Allianz as my brother inlaw was getting mad Quote's from all other insurers . He was looking to insure a 04 diesel Octavia has high as 1300 euro broker was giving him 3rd party with allianz for 700 he got a quote online from them for 430 3rd party. Broker told him they had a deal with insurer ( allainz ) that they would not give lower quote than broker. So if you dont shop around you wont get the deals.

Mr E

Mr E wrote: »

My renewal is due this month and my car has passed the 10 year old mark.
17 years driving with no claims, but that stands for nothing. I'm dreading my quote...

Just FYI I got my renewal yesterday. Up from €430 to €650. Not a complete disaster, given the fact that most premiums have gone up considerably in price since this time last year.

johnnyryan89

Mr E wrote: »

Just FYI I got my renewal yesterday. Up from €430 to €650. Not a complete disaster, given the fact that most premiums have gone up considerably in price since this time last year.

Can I ask who from? Mine will be 11 years old this year but have gotten lucky that the insurance has remained under a grand. Had it with FBD who originally quoted me 840e after AXA hit me with an increase and then FBD hit me with a 400e increase before Christmas so went back to AXA who quoted me 900e so probably gonna be looking for another insurance company when AXA hit me with an increase when it comes to renewal time.