Ms Dorothea Dowling:

I am talking about what is compulsory. It is very important that when people get their renewal notices, and I gave the Senator the number of the statutory instrument that can be used for that, they should state that of the premium quote, this is the amount that is compulsory insurance and this is the money for all the other bells and whistles.

It is the same when it comes to one's car. My car is 12 years old and those in the industry would write it off. What is the point in my paying for comprehensive cover? I would not submit a claim in any event because I would be afraid of losing my no claims bonus. One can see from an insurance renewal the insurance cover that is compulsorily required by law and one can pay that amount. However, one would say, for example, that they do not want the breakdown cover as they already have AA membership and that they do want personal accident cover as they have that cover on their household insurance. All that is enforced by law is the compulsory insurance component. In other member states of the EU, that cover can be unbundled whereby one can get compulsory cover with one company and comprehensive cover with another. One can get cover for one's test and one would lose one's bonus on that but one would not lose one's 60% no claims bonus on the big part of the premium, which is for third party injury cover.

Many people do not understand the insurance cover they buy. The compulsory insurance cover is nothing to do with themselves or their car, it is to cover for somebody else being injured. One gets a huge number of documents with one's renewable, which is mandated by the Central Bank. I got 19 pages with my motor renewal. I could understand the detail because I am a chartered insurer but it did not give me any of the information I needed. It is a complete waste of money, a burden on the industry and of no benefit. I always haggle. I telephoned another company regarding household insurance and I got a scripted call from the person to which I responded that I was busy, I am a chartered insurer and that I understand all about averages and the duty with respect to misrepresentation. The person apologised and said that they had to go through all that. Most people have to listen to such scripted calls and we have no regulation effectively where we need it. We have lots of burdensome, costly regulation. That is not doing anything except doing a CYA for the insurance industry whose staff say that they told the caller about the small print during the course of a scripted telephone call. It is meaningless.