Mr. Gary Dunne:

Until very recently, I was driving 16 year old car so I was in that category. Like everything, these things are quite complex. This is a general standpoint rather than a specific one because the Society of Actuaries in Ireland does not have access to the data. However, an insurance company might do something like on the basis of what is termed "an underwriting reason". Is is trying to underwrite out a particular segment. One particular reason, anecdotally - and I am loath to use that word because we are really pushing for evidence-based decisions here - is that there can tend to be more fraud where people have recently purchased cars that are quite old with the intention of making fraudulent claims.

My recent experience, despite having an old car, was that I had no issue renewing. I did not bother going elsewhere because at the time the premium was relatively low. I did not look to see if there was going to be an issue changing insurer. If it is the case, and I am not aware that it is, that insurance companies are refusing in cases where one has had a car with the same company for ten or 15 years, I do not know a reason behind that. It would be unusual because if it is a profitable policy, why would it not want to keep it? I can see an argument for it if there is a recent purchase of a very old car. From an underwriting perspective, one could say one cannot even price for it. That is the only anecdotal explanation I can proffer.