US no claims bonus

Saladin Ane

Hi, does a US no claims fit into the Irish Insurers' algorithm? Returned 4 months ago and am insured as a named driver.

coylemj

Will have no value here.

galwaytt

'fraid not.....unless you were in the Forces, I believe there's an insurer here that covers ex-servicemen

Saladin Ane

Rang around and got the lowest quote from 123.ie. Fully comp for just over a grand but they are going to fit some sort of speed yoke (three strikes and you're out). Also, they asked how many miles per annum, so I picked 10K.

It would have been less if I had been a named driver for a year. The car is a 10 yr old Skoda Octavia 1.3, hatchback.

Saladin Ane

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118176321#Comment_118176321

It should have read just over Eu2000. Plus increments of 5000 kms @ E230. As I did a lot of driving the total cost was over E3,500

They asked for over E1600 plus the added kms for my renewal. Before shelling out I rang CHILL.They gave me the same fully comp (without the added kms) for under E800. The insurers are a well known company. How the hell do these figures add up?

Watching the Sean Quinn drama few weeks ago,he stated that when he entered the insurance business his profits went stratospheric.

Pierce Doherty did some fine work in addressing this issue but where were the two main parties when these excessive profits were being squeezed out of the voters pockets?

coylemj

Watching the Sean Quinn drama few weeks ago,he stated that when he entered the insurance business his profits went stratospheric.

I bet he did. Quinn wrote uneconomic motor policies that were destined to bring his company down, it was just a matter of time. He urgently needed a cash injection to shore up his debts and writing cheap motor policies was a way of quickly bringing in lots of cash. The problem with his business model was that they delayed taking large claims onto the books and then understated them so the accounts always said that they were making lots of money and premium income was more than enough to cover the claims backlog. Which was not the case.

Motor insurance involves taking in bucketloads of money in premiums and in the early days, it can appear that you're making huge profits. Quinn's statement shows that that's what happened once he started in the business. But with motor insurance, the high level of profitability early on is an illusion because large personal injury claims don't work their way through the system for several years and they need to be accounted for with significant reserves that are carried forward from year to year.

Quinn's insurance company stuck it's head in the sand by delaying putting prospective large claims on the books and when they did, they understated the probable size of the claim. He never employed an actuary so there was nobody in the company capable of accurately evaluating the backlog of personal injury and death claims. So he helped himself to a measure of 'plausible deniability' when it came to claims. It was just a matter of time until either the company collapsed under the weight of claims that couldn't be paid or (what actually happened), the regulator stepped in and put a stop to his game.

If he was making 'stratospheric' profits, how come he left us with a deficit that we are still paying for by a surcharge on our motor policies?

Eggs For Dinner

Quinn also created (IMO), the compo culture in Ireland. Any little tip caused by one of their drivers and they were on your doorstep with the chequebook to try and avert solicitors getting involved. The word on easy money soon spread

Saladin Ane

Any newspaper stories regards this?

coylemj

Lawyers for the Irish regulator told the (UK) court in Dublin the insurance subsidiary had moved from a position where it had an excess of assets over liabilities of more than €200m to a position where it had €200m of liabilities over assets.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2010/mar/30/quinn-car-insurer-administration

A further €300 million of the increased costs relates to adverse provisions for potential claims on liabilities in Ireland and the UK, while €152 million is to cover actual and possible write-downs of the value of the insurer’s assets.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/quinn-culture-led-to-208m-of-extra-costs-to-state-1.532580

Quinn Insurance liability may surpass €1.65 billion

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/quinn-insurance-liability-may-surpass-1-65-billion-1.729402