Motor insurance - Action not reviews needed

ANY motorist about to renew his or her insurance will be in for a shock as premiums have soared over the past year.

According to the insurance industry, this is because claims have increased along with associated legal and other costs.

Whatever about the legitimacy of the industry’s argument, the bottom line is that those costs will, as ever, be passed on to the motorist.

This is particularly the case when motor insurers become insolvent. The latest insurer to come to grief is Enterprise Insurance, which has gone into liquidation, and there remains the outstanding issue of claims arising from the failure of Setanta Insurance, which collapsed in 2014.

There are still almost 2,000 motorists who have yet to have their claims settled as a result of the Setanta collapse, and the total amount concerned is more than €90m.

Last Friday, the Department of Finance published its Review of the Framework for Motor Insurance Compensation in Ireland. This is part of an effort to address how future claims are settled but the last thing we need is yet another review.

Of particular concern is the fate of taxi drivers, some of whom have seen their premiums increase threefold in the space of a year.

The fact remains that the insurance industry in Ireland is dysfunctional and the Government is doing little or nothing to address this.