Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 8 September 2016
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion
11:00 am
Mr. Conor Faughnan:
Broadly, yes. While we are not the same organisation, our British equivalent organisation produces a motor insurance premium index quarterly and has done so over the years. It produces what it terms a shop-around index, which is an index of competition for switchers, and there are other data in there as well. Moreover, there are plenty of other data that will tell a similar story. However, I would caution that while the British do some things very well and it is worth copying them - they are world leaders in road safety, for example - I do not think they are a best-case example when it comes to motor insurance. They have a legal profession that is even more rapacious than its equivalent here. If members ever find themselves watching British advertisements on daytime television, they will see it features "Injury lawyers for you" and all that sort of nonsense. Moreover, they have a significant problem with claims farming and with a legal industry that is subtracting even more value from the equation.
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