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Insurance body ready to bow out after delivering significant results

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) is expected to seek representatives and organisations to sit on consumer panels to replace the Motor Insurance Advisory Body (MIAB) after it publishes its final report later this year.
With the MIAB soon to report on commercial insurance before disbanding, the body has helped prompt some of the greatest changes the private motorist has seen in recent years.
These range from improving road safety to monitoring the insurance industry, protecting the consumer and changing the process and culture of personal injury claims here.
CSO data earlier this year suggests motor premiums on average are down by 13 per cent since last July. Record profits of E747 million, confirmed by the insurance industry last week, show it benefited hugely from lower claims in 2003 out of income derived from then higher insurance premiums. And half of last year's net profits for non-life insurance came from motorists.
But Fine Gael spokesperson Phil Hogan maintains that many drivers are still being offered only modest premium cuts though insurers are reporting huge profits. He also maintains customers are losing out as the Government is taking too long to implement the MIAB's recommendations on tackling the costs of insurance.
It appears that about half the MIAB's 67 recommendations have yet to be implemented in full. And a small number will not be progressed - the Department of Finance says it has no plans to abolish the 2 per cent government levy on insurance which every driver pays.
Since April 2002 three government departments and the IFSRA have been charged with implementing the report.
A spokesperson for Tanaiste Mary Harney, who chairs the Cabinet Sub-Committee spearheading the process, said her office has been concentrating on those initiatives most likely to reduce costs, such as the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB), road safety and reform of court procedures.
The PIAB now looks after work accident claims but September is the planned date for taking on motor accident claims.
It will be October before the Civil Liability and Courts Bill becomes law. It aims to penalise those making fraudulent and exaggerated claims.
It also plans to reduce the time limit for submitting claims from three years from the date of accident to one year.
The PIAB and the Civil Liability and Courts Bill are widely regarded as the most significant measures to cut the cost of claims. The PIAB strips legal fees from personal injury compensation awards. This will save insurance companies about 8 per cent of their total claims costs according to Irish Insurance Federation estimates.
At last week's results for non-life insurance companies, Michael Kemp, chief executive of the Irish Insurance Federation, said that a number of other key issues need to be addressed to ensure that consumers continue to get more "favourable" premiums. As well as implementing the Personal Injuries Assessment Board and Court reform, these include setting up a dedicated road traffic corps to reduce accidents and deaths which "remain stubbornly high".
The Department of Transport is working on the new road safety strategy, new rules on supervised driving under a provisional licence and heavier sanctions for those caught without insurance. Road-safety education is also on the to-do list.
Dorothea Dowling, chairperson of the MIAB, is confident premiums will fall further here. "Insurance companies looking at entering the Irish market are basing their future cash projections on falling premiums resulting from the changes here," says Dowling, in what must be good news for drivers.
She believes that customers are also much better informed about the benefits of shopping around, seeking more favourable comparative quotes and not just accepting the price on a renewal notice.
Fine Gael's Phil Hogan is less optimistic. He believes further competition is vital arguing there can be no really meaningful cuts in premiums in a market with only six or seven major motor insurance providers.
But, with the two most significant pieces of reform yet to take effect, as well as several others from the first MIAB report to be fully implemented, it seems motorists must wait somewhat longer for more price cuts from an industry whose mantra has been "insurance premiums are dictated by claims costs".


Insurance body ready to bow out after delivering significant results
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) is expected to seek representatives and organisations to sit on consumer panels to replace the Motor Insurance Advisory Body (MIAB) after it publishes its final report later this year.
With the MIAB soon to report on commercial insurance before disbanding, the body has helped prompt some of the greatest changes the private motorist has seen in recent years.
These range from improving road safety to monitoring the insurance industry, protecting the consumer and changing the process and culture of personal injury claims here.
CSO data earlier this year suggests motor premiums on average are down by 13 per cent since last July. Record profits of E747 million, confirmed by the insurance industry last week, show it benefited hugely from lower claims in 2003 out of income derived from then higher insurance premiums. And half of last year's net profits for non-life insurance came from motorists.
But Fine Gael spokesperson Phil Hogan maintains that many drivers are still being offered only modest premium cuts though insurers are reporting huge profits. He also maintains customers are losing out as the Government is taking too long to implement the MIAB's recommendations on tackling the costs of insurance.
It appears that about half the MIAB's 67 recommendations have yet to be implemented in full. And a small number will not be progressed - the Department of Finance says it has no plans to abolish the 2 per cent government levy on insurance which every driver pays.
Since April 2002 three government departments and the IFSRA have been charged with implementing the report.
A spokesperson for Tanaiste Mary Harney, who chairs the Cabinet Sub-Committee spearheading the process, said her office has been concentrating on those initiatives most likely to reduce costs, such as the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB), road safety and reform of court procedures.
The PIAB now looks after work accident claims but September is the planned date for taking on motor accident claims.
It will be October before the Civil Liability and Courts Bill becomes law. It aims to penalise those making fraudulent and exaggerated claims.
It also plans to reduce the time limit for submitting claims from three years from the date of accident to one year.
The PIAB and the Civil Liability and Courts Bill are widely regarded as the most significant measures to cut the cost of claims. The PIAB strips legal fees from personal injury compensation awards. This will save insurance companies about 8 per cent of their total claims costs according to Irish Insurance Federation estimates.
At last week's results for non-life insurance companies, Michael Kemp, chief executive of the Irish Insurance Federation, said that a number of other key issues need to be addressed to ensure that consumers continue to get more "favourable" premiums. As well as implementing the Personal Injuries Assessment Board and Court reform, these include setting up a dedicated road traffic corps to reduce accidents and deaths which "remain stubbornly high".
The Department of Transport is working on the new road safety strategy, new rules on supervised driving under a provisional licence and heavier sanctions for those caught without insurance. Road-safety education is also on the to-do list.
Dorothea Dowling, chairperson of the MIAB, is confident premiums will fall further here. "Insurance companies looking at entering the Irish market are basing their future cash projections on falling premiums resulting from the changes here," says Dowling, in what must be good news for drivers.
She believes that customers are also much better informed about the benefits of shopping around, seeking more favourable comparative quotes and not just accepting the price on a renewal notice.
Fine Gael's Phil Hogan is less optimistic. He believes further competition is vital arguing there can be no really meaningful cuts in premiums in a market with only six or seven major motor insurance providers.
But, with the two most significant pieces of reform yet to take effect, as well as several others from the first MIAB report to be fully implemented, it seems motorists must wait somewhat longer for more price cuts from an industry whose mantra has been "insurance premiums are dictated by claims costs".


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