Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Following on from a conversation I had with a constituent with regard to renewal of car insurance, I want to raise the issue of car insurance. Despite no change in circumstances in terms of no penalty points and no accidents, the constituent's premium had increased. It is stated on the coverinaclick.iewebsite that the average motor insurance premium secured for customers at renewal is down, on average, 8.5% since June 2020 and 24.5% since June 2019. The decline in premium reflects the final premium paid, not the initial renewal quote offered by the current insurer. The online broker warning states that drivers who opt to auto-renew their cover are missing out on savings. This is an issue, in my opinion, in that insurers are automatically issuing a renewal that is not the actual premium amount they are prepared to accept. They are doing this in the hope that people will auto-renew. A percentage of the population will auto-renew and not move their insurance to another company, particularly the elderly citizens in our community. The joint committee with responsibility for this area needs to bring in the insurance companies. They need to be quoting the actual premium. With the reduction in accidents and claims, we are being told that there are significant decreases in premiums, but the insurance companies are not passing this on to the customers. They are sending out renewals in the hope that a significant number of customers will auto-renew and they can make bigger profits. I ask that the relevant joint committee with responsibility for this matter would bring in the insurance companies. There was significant engagement a number of years ago when the insurance companies were brought in with regard to claims, etc. We are now hearing about significant reductions but that is not the case for everybody.