The insurance industry has been slammed following new evidence which has revealed that drivers in Donegal are being charged substantially more for insurance cover than motorists living outside of the county.
Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty revealed the shocking practice by the industry that is resulting in drivers here being hit with higher premiums.
One Donegal motorist has already been charged over €1,200 more to insure his vehicle compared to the same driver living in Co. Kilkenny.
The exposé comes as insurers face growing criticism over the exorbitant premiums they are charging customers, and follows recent Oireachtas Committee appearances at which industry bosses were, when questioned by Deputy Doherty, unable to substantiate previous suggestions that the issue of fraudulent claims was responsible for premium hikes.
Pearse Doherty said: “While nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to the insurance industry, I have to admit that even I was taken aback when I first saw these figures.
“The online quote of €5,843.58 was issued to a 24-year-old first-time driver living in Letterkenny, whose held a full Irish licence for two years, has no premiums claims or penalty and drives a Volkswagen Passat.
“However, had the man in question lived in Kilkenny City then his insurance would only have cost him €4,641.04 for the exact same level of cover – that’s a whooping €1,202.54 less.
“And similar discrimination is being faced by even experienced drivers in Donegal, with a quick search online resulting in a motorist from rural Donegal who holds the maximum no claims bonus receiving a quote which was 20 per cent higher than had the same person resided in rural County Kilkenny.
“And using insurance companies’ instant online quote facilities we can see that time and time again the quotes generated for a driver in Donegal will be considerably higher than when compared to those living elsewhere.
“For example, a quick search for insurance for a newly qualified driving living in Clonmel generated a quote which was over €420 less than had that same driver been living in Letterkenny, while a quote generated for a motorist in Carrigaline, Co. Cork issued a quote which was over €460 cheaper,” he added.
“This is despite the fact that statistically both Tipperary and Cork had a higher number of road fatalities last year than Donegal, with Cork also having the second-highest number of motor-related personal injury awards in 2018, second only to Dublin.
“Similarly, when we enter the details of a driver living in Knock, Co. Mayo, for example, we are issued with a quote which is almost €300 cheaper than that of the same driver been resident in Raphoe.
“There is no excuse imaginable that the insurance companies can possibly use to even begin to justify these huge cost differences,” Doherty said.
“This is particularly true when you consider that Donegal and Kilkenny were two of the counties which had some of the lowest personal injury award levels by the head of population last year, coming 24th and 26th respectively according to data compiled by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board.
“Clearly, these quotes prove that insurance companies are engaged in discriminatory practices which are seeing drivers living in this county being charged way more for insurance cover simply because they live in Donegal – that is deplorable, unfair and simply wrong.
“The practice of charging drivers here ridiculously more for cover has revealed a phenomenon which could be called a ‘Donegal Surcharge’ being levied by the industry on policyholders living in the county – this is unacceptable.
“Many people will by now be familiar with the scenes we witnessed last month when, during an Oireachtas Committee hearing, industry representatives were caught out by my line of questioning for exaggerating the impact which the issue of fraudulent claims was having of pushing premiums up.
“I have repeatedly called out the ‘spin’ being peddled by insurance firms operating here because ordinary people have had enough of being gouged by their shameless profiteering,” the Sinn Fein TD added.
“I am also on record as being extremely critical of the government’s failure to properly tackle the issue of rocketing premiums and while some of the efforts made over recent months aimed at reforming the sector are to be welcomed they have been far too slow to materialise.
“As a result, insurers here continue to make huge profits all the while their customers are being fleeced, with drivers in Donegal being some of the worst affected simply because of their postcode.”
