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THE COMPETITION AND Consumer Protection Commission has summoned motor insurance providers to appear to give evidence over suspected breaches of competition law.
The commission is beginning an investigation into possible breaches of competition law, due to industry players openly signalling upcoming increases in premiums.
In a statement, CCPC chairwoman Isolde Goggin said these sort of statements could result in “a degree of unspoken co-ordination” between rivals.
“Statements by senior industry players have raised serious suspicion as to whether there is a link between these messages and subsequent price increases,” she said.
The evidence collected through both the witness summonses and the information requests will assist us in establishing whether there has been a breach of competition law.
Fianna Fáil welcomed the decision.
“Over the last 18 months, Fianna Fáil has been consistent in highlighting this,” Transport spokesman Robert Troy said. “Over this period of time, Fianna Fáil used its private members time to raise, and discuss, this issue in Dáil Éireann.
“Unfortunately, the Government have been asleep on the job, putting the interests of big business ahead of motorists,” added Troy.
The last 18 months have seen premiums sky rocket, as the Government dragged its feet on this crucial consumer issue, putting more and more pressure on motorists.
Not too put out
Sinn Féin Finance spokesman Pearse Doherty also welcomed the CCPC’s witness summonses. “This is not the first time the CCPC has called in the industry over the ‘signalling’ of price rises,” he said.
The fact that they have acted now is, I believe, down to public pressure after a series of public hearings held at my request in the Oireachtas Finance Committee this week and last.
“It is concerning though, having given a warning to the industry for the same offence only recently, the CCPC has to act again.
It seems the insurance industry is not too put out by the CCPC.
“We have heard an incredible amount of spin from the insurance industry in recent times. It does not stand up to any scrutiny though.
“They have been fundamentally dishonest in not accepting any responsibility for their actions. The insurance industry has gambled badly and is losing out on dividends from investments. That is the core reason drivers are facing incredibly unfair premium hikes.”
Blaming
Fine Gael MEP Brian Hayes welcomed the investigation, but cautioned against blaming insurers.
“Consumers are angry at this growing problem and rightly so,” he said.
“There needs to be more transparency as to why premiums are being increased.
And I think we need to aim for a system which allows for fairer pricing. A rise of 38% in premiums in one year does not represent fairness.
“This is a complex issue however, and it should not be a case of laying blame at the feet of insurers. Insurers are facing rising regulatory costs as well as an increase in the level of claims to be paid out.”
In a statement, FBD Insurance said it welcomed the investigation, but blamed the high cost of motor insurance on “the relatively high cost of bodily injury awards”.
They also called for increased powers for the Personal Injuries Assessment Board.
Tomorrow, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on finance, public expenditure and reform, will meet with the Taoiseach, representatives of the Injuries Board and with the Society of Actuaries in Ireland to resume hearings on the rising cost of motor insurance in Ireland.
The meeting will be broadcast live on Oireachtas TV at 11am.
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Some amount of talking being done the last few days but will we ever see a change? Of course not. Talk is cheap. Insurance isn’t
Go on the Cathal. Footy Thursday?
I thought the idea of the EU was to encourage competitiveness. Allow insurances companies from other EU member states to do business here and in turn drive the costs down. Surely the European court can intervene and stop this rip off by the insurance sector?
Watch what happens at the end of this. Insurance companies get fined and yay ho they increase our premiums even more to offset their losses..
The insurance crisis is about vested interests with their snouts in the trough. Unfortunately the so called Competition and Consumer Protection Commission [CCPC] is another with its snout in the trough. Don’t expect anything to come from CCPC masquerading as a serious regulator. This year actually celebrates 25 years of overpaid, zero performing, parasites on the state. Suppose it had to be seen to do something about car insurance, so it “mobilised” but will do absolutely nothing for consumers.
Chris – go to the Central Bank Website and look at the number of Authroised Insurance companies in ireland. The number is incredible! There is competition. Then ask yourself the question – if the insurance companies in Ireland are making cash hands over fist – why do more not come and do business here?
The price increases are due to a large number of factors – not just one or two. These factors are linked to Solicitors, Judges, Doctors, Fraudulant claims, Central Bank regulations, Insurance companies and white label companies like AA, Tesco, etc selling Insurance under their own brand.
You can’t just blame one of the above but it’s a collection of bits from them all.
Possible? The entire industry raised prices at the same time. Many things feed in to a corporate price increase, this is obviously cartel behaviour
Of course it’s a cartel. Just like the excessive and inflated interest rates the banks charge on all Irish mortgages. Remember the time Enda rolled up his sleeves and went to meet them? They told him to sling his hook.
As usual Pat kenny supporting the establishment blaming the people claiming of insurance policies. Their tactic is to force peole to call for a reduction in claims thereby reducing payouts for insurance companies. All the emphasis should be placed on the corrupt insurance cabal and not unfortunate people who have to make claims. As usual the mefia are weighing in to protect the cabal . blaming people who make claims ! Now they want our money but don’t want to pay out when there is a claim
Insurance is all a cartel, 100%. It’s a shambolic indictment of life in this country, the screw tightens year after year and this is just another means of assault on consumers. I’ve never had a claim in my life and my insurance has risen by almost 50%. And then if you do have a claim, you’re paying through the nose for the next few years to recompense the insurance company. It’s the definition of a racket. It’s little wonder that emigration rates are at the level they are. Crippling rent aside, more and more people can no longer make ends meet and can no longer afford to live in the country they call home.
Insurance companies have a nice little cartel going on here..it’s the law to have car insurance so it’s a win win situation for them…I’m sure it’ll come out in the wash eventually but will people be reimbursed for being ripped off..Not at all…Law is a peculiar old thing.
Apart from the greed and mismanagement of the insurance companies there are too many Irish drivers who view any sort of road incident as a cash bonanza.
Bullshat don’t blame the claimants blame the CARTEL.
I have heard more than a few stories over the last few years of drivers that had accidents with only their car damaged. They ended up forking out from their own pocket rather than report the claim because their premiums would skyrocket for life, on top of the already high costs. Kind of defeats the purpose of having insurance to begin with. The companies have a nice system in place now.
Fact is…a lot of people…probably mostly young drivers..are driving without insurance because they cant afford it…some of these will have their cars confiscated and end up with convictions that will compound their predicament and follow them through the rest of their lives….some may be involved in accidents….all because our govt allowed this situation to deteriorate to this…
There is no excuse for driving without insurance…it is the law and other road users suffer.
Winston….it is the law…but increasing numbers of uninsured drivers is a fact….and some of these will be criminalised…because – indirectly – the insurers are gouging and our elites are cool with it.
They will be criminalised for breaking the law ie being criminals. Its like saying the bottle of Moet was out of my price range so I had to steal it, your honour
A Cartel? Surely not. Next you will be saying the country is corrupt!
Why does everything under investigation in this country turn out to be a ” Complex issue” ? Straightforward .. Ripoff , Cartel , brown envelope etc, etc. Typical politician waffling on as usual .
Ha ha “possible”..
CARTEL
Brian Hayes says not to blame the insurance companies? WHAT?!
He is right as he said they are facing higher regulatory costs and claims. Yet the government set these costs/levies and the legal profession from solicitors to judiciary know that the insurance racket is yet another gravy train to jump on. Someone getting a small dint that could be buffed out claims for whiplash and a five figure payout ensues.
I drive a 25 year old high performance Jap import, my insurance was 950 last year my renewal was 2160 for this year. I rang another company for a quote and they gave me an identical quote as my renewal I thought that was extremely odd.
You think it’s the most boring tv of all time, but i swear to god watch 5 minutes of that committee hearing and you’re hooked. I ended up watching about an hour today.
when i was 17years old I didn’t have clue how to drive, I learned myself from cutting grass at the weekends on a ride-on lawnmower, i was always excited to drive on the road my first time was back in the 90′s my first car was a Toyota yaris 1.0 my insurance was €3k as a name driver, and i worked my way up from 1.0litre to 2.0litre and now paying €1k a year
we were always told more experienced and older driver pay less insurance and its 2016 if I wanted to drive something serious insurance would be ripp off, when you’re young and you look foward to driving something serious when u get older but why bother insurance companies will rape every single person no such thing as No claims driver anymore its all money money money corruption
Well put Nasir.
No sh!t sherlock!
The insurance companies are doing this because of the inaction of our government to correctly legislate for the sector . Why did they allow companies that were not in a position to cover liabilities operate in this state with a licence from a different country ? Why was there no minimum capital control in place ? They passed Quinn and setanta costs on to the other companies so basically this is two fingers back . The compo culture is out of control and still the government does nothing to introduce harsher punishments for false claims and better guidelines for how much claims should be . Although the legal profession and the public lodging the claims are not blameless for this either.
If we members of the EU why can’t we get insurance from any insurance company in the EU
Because the EU was set up for big business and not for the little people Anastasia..
Don’t worry folk’s insurance will go up another 15% or so and then the government will announce a temporary price freeze…. It will be hailed as a huge victory for the people. FFS
Everyone is ignoring the elephant in the room. One of the problems we have is with personal injury claims and the high amount of out of court settlements way above the amount of being claimed for or the courts handing out huge amounts for minor injuries. The other cosy cartel still in existence of course is the legal system. Despite the trioka telling us to tackle the high legal costs here. Nothing was done either.
It’s literally a joke how little people know about the Irish insurance motor insurance industry, about the insurance market and the legitimate reasons for the increase in policy premiums. I guarantee not one person has looked at these figures or the insurance cycle but they’re first to make ridiculous accusations of price fixing! Utter shagging nonsense! Easier to jump on rumour and speculation; buzz words like ‘cartel’, ‘scam’, ‘greed’, rather than actually look at the raw facts!!
Facts? 35 years no claims/convictions/penalty points yet 25% increase in premium…..an actuary would agree i pose minimal risk yet i must pay more….thats a fact.
The same way you pay more for petrol or diesel as the price goes up. Do you bitch and moan to Maxol?
I would love it if a couple of overseas insurance companies came over and charged realistic premiums. If they charged 50% less than the others which would be more in line with other countries, the corrupt “Irish” companies would soon change their tune as people switched in their tens of thousands.
Like Setanta or Enterprise? How that go again?
Dude. Am insured with Axa in France, 4.6 ltr 340 bhp home built 1999 Rangie OPEN DRIVE €467 fully comp. A mate with Allianz, AMG 63 MK 1 open drive 450 fully comp. Its not the companies, its the fekin government not making the right laws.
Will this include health and house insurance?
Did it mention home or health insurance?
Pearse Doherty is an idiot. He’s alleging that insurance companies invest their reserves in volatile high risk markets which is blatantly false. Once again a politician trying to sensationalise a situation for his own gain and to drum up more hype. Low returns in the bond market is completely different to what he describes as losses reckless investment. Lying and exaggerating to the public
FFS. Just got my renewal. At the moment €672 tpft. With no claims and 2 points(removed in March 2016) now they want €3017.64 tp only. Plus 29.9% as I would need to pay monthly. Rang around and guess what same quote +/- €38. I live in a small town with no transport links at all..Nothing.. so can someone explain how I now get my kids to school. Do shopping. Visit family.. basicly just live a life.
copy uk eventually you will its only way set the limits for injuries so claims will go down
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