Alliance for Insurance Reform welcomes D-Day on insurance premiums 

The Alliance for Insurance Reform has welcomed the implementation of the new judicial guidelines on personal injury payments, which come into effect this weekend.

Peter Boland, Director of the Alliance, said “Monday next, 26th April, the first working day following the implementation of these new guidelines, is D-Day. From this day, we expect the cost of motor and liability insurance policy renewals to drop significantly. The new guidelines, signed off by the Judicial Council in March, do not deliver the 80% reduction in minor injury damages that is necessary to bring us close to comparable jurisdictions. But at an estimated 50% reduction, it is nonetheless significant. Insurance premiums are based on future risk and every accident that happens from Monday and the majority of claims already made will be subject to the new guidelines, so the risk associated with every new motor and liability policy in Ireland will drop significantly and that must be reflected in the cost of those policies.”  

Eoin McCambridge, Managing Director of McCambridge’s of Galway and director of the Alliance said “Insurers have consistently argued that the cost of claims drives the cost of insurance. This has been backed up by analysis the Alliance carried out with the Central Bank which shows that 42% of every single motor insurance policy is currently swallowed up by compensation payments*. From Monday, future payments will drop by an estimated 50% and there will be follow-on reductions in legal costs, broker commissions, Motor Insurer’s Bureau costs and reinsurance costs. So insurers must deliver significant reductions immediately to reflect this new reality.”

Tracy Sheridan, owner of Kidspace play centres in Rathfarnham and Rathcoole and director of the Alliance said “It is difficult to overstate the importance of this Monday for Irish motorists, charities, voluntary & community groups, sports & cultural organisations and SMEs which have long suffered from unsustainably high insurance costs. It is now up to insurers to deliver on their commitments and for Government to ensure they do so. Government must then follow through with reform of the duty of care and of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board so that insurance costs can be reduced to affordable levels and kept that way.”

Further Information

To learn more about the Alliance for Insurance Reform, visit www.insurancereform.ie.