Young driver sees red over insurance

A YOUNG motorist is threatening to take the Government and the insurance industry to the European courts over his frustration at the high cost of insurance for male drivers.

Cormac Vaughan, a logistics manager from Knocklyon, Dublin, has decided to take legal action at being forced to pay over €1,500 a year for his car insurance.

He is angry that his motor insurance premiums have continued to increase every year despite the fact that he has been accident-free since he began driving eight years ago.

“I switched to a smaller car to lower my insurance costs, but even driving a one litre Seat Ibiza I am still paying over €1,500,” said Mr Vaughan.

The 25-year-old decided to take action after he discovered that a 20-year-old female friend who only holds a provisional licence is paying around €100 less for her car insurance.

He contacted the Gerry Ryan Show on 2FM yesterday to highlight what he believes is a loophole in equality legislation. Mr Vaughan believes insurers cannot justify the higher charges they impose on males, compared with females of the same age, under the Equal Status Act 2000.

“It states it clearly in the Irish law that people cannot be discriminated against on the basis of gender,” he said. “I am prepared to take this issue to the European Court if necessary. I want to punish this Government, and Bertie Ahern in particular, because I’m sick to the teeth of how car insurance has got higher and higher since 1987.”

Despite recommendations contained in the Motor Insurance Advisory Board Report to lower insurance costs, Mr Vaughan said he did not believe the Government really wanted to take on the insurance and legal professions to lower the cost of car insurance.

“How do you explain that similar insurance for me in Germany would only cost around €600,” he said.

However, legal sources said Mr Vaughan was unlikely to succeed in any action because insurers had successfully argued in similar cases that the higher risk profile of young male drivers allows them to charge higher premiums.

The Motor Insurance Justice Action Group, which campaigns for lower insurance costs for young drivers, has initiated a number of cases against insurers. It is understood that decisions on around 25 such cases are pending with the Office of the Director of Equality Investigation.