Rising insurance costs may force machinery dealers to close

FARM machinery dealers have been badly hit by increases in insurance costs, it was revealed yesterday.

At the National Ploughing Championships in Ballinacolla, Co Laois, Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association president Edwin Pratt said that if insurance premium costs continue to rise at the same levels as the last two years, many farm machinery dealers will be forced to either scale down their operations or close.

Increases in the cost of renewing insurance premiums are now proving prohibitive for some companies, Mr Pratt said.