Allianz to slash insurance costs by 7.5%

LEADING motor insurance company Quinn-direct which has already cut its premiums by 19% this year is planning to make further reductions.

And yesterday Allianz Irish Life said it will cut motor rates by 7.5% from January 1. The cuts follow growing pressure on motor insurers to reduce premiums in response to the penalty points system which Transport Minister Seamus Brennan says has already saved almost 100 lives this year.

In its submission yesterday to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on eEnterprise and sSmall business, QuinnUINN-direct said it had already reduced premiums by 19% in the year to date and there were more reductions coming. The firm said it would “continue to proactively reduce premiums in response to the improving claims experience”.

Asked what the rate reduction would be, Quinn- -direct general manager Kevin Lunney said: “We cannot be overly specific. If the success of the Government programme continues we will continue to reduce premiums. We have also cut premiums by 25% for young drivers this year.

“We have supported Government initiatives fully with significantly lower prices and our submission today points to other measures that can lead to even more price reductions in the future,” Mr Lunney said. As part of its submission, the company said it wanted to see the implementation of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board.

A spokesman for Mike Murphy Insurance, one of Dublin’s leading brokers, said the reductions indicated a growing trend in rate reductions over the past 12 months.

“We did a survey recently which showed that, for example, a premium of 800 a year ago was now in the order of 700. That represents a significant saving.”

However, the spokesman added many insurance companies were still not doing enough to relieve the burden on young drivers.

“While rates for younger drivers are now coming down, you must remember that they rose hugely from 2000 to 2002.”

Other motor insurers have not signalled any reductions but insist holding premiums to current levels represents a reduction in real terms.

A spokeswoman for Hibernian Insurance said the company had no short-term plans to make any announcement for 2004 but they had not imposed any increase in line with inflation in the past year.

“We have also offered 10% discount for drivers without penalty points and are offering up to 50% discount for inexperienced drivers who take part in a one-day training programme under our Ignition scheme.”

Hibernian is the only company to base premium cuts on drivers’ records under the new penalty points system.

Last year the insurance industry made profits of 183 million on motor insurance, after three years of losses for the industry.

The chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business, Fianna Fáil TD Donie Cassidy, said it was time for the industry to “stop whingeing” and help to deliver cheaper premiums.