Well I guess it was inevitable but the rollover of yesterday into today saw my car taken off the road due to the unjustified cost of insurance in this country. You’d think that with a couple of years claim/accident free driving with a full licence that it would make some difference towards reaching a realistic figure for my premium. Alas, no! This is the country we live in; an unregulated farce in which commercial entities have free reign over legally enforced items such as car insurance.
Insurance costs have only risen since the introduction of the MIAB report. The points system is praised for its effect yet no insurance benefits have been seen. Since the equal status bill of 2000 was passed more and more insurance companies are blatantly discriminating against gender and age. I cannot name these companies for legal reasons but it doesn’t take long to compile this evidence from web-based quotes. Give it a try enter your details as a female and then the same details except as a male. Some companies won’t even quote you, others will have roughly Eur 1000 in the difference. Then mess around with the age issue for a bit of rage inspiring fun.
So much has been said about this issue over the past few years that somebody should have heard it but since the elections have passed it seems to have been dropped. Why is this so? Why is such a burning issue being ignored by public representatives? It’s not just motor insurance it’s all kinds of insurance. This is even putting some Irish companies out of business. False information on learner drivers was given in a public address, false information about young drivers is continually being used to keep prices high. Read the statistics from the National Safety Council for driver road deaths for 15-24 year olds and for 25-44 year olds. There are less under 25 drivers killed!
Young people are being wrongly tarnished in advertising campaigns by a certain national authority sponsored by a certain majority insurance underwriter in Ireland. Have you seen the ad for wearing seatbelts? Why were they all young and why didn’t we see the ad from the perspective of the guy on the wrong side of the road who crashed into the young drivers? Why is the drink driving ad featuring a young male when then “real” demographic shows that those over 50 are more likely to drink and drive. Can we please have an advertising campaign that doesn’t use only young people? Or would this go against some heinous plan to make everybody think that only the young are the problem?
I ask everyone who reads this entry to comment on it and try to get something said about this. I am trying by legally pursuing every company who refuses to quote me based on age or gender. I am trying to involve the insurance ombudsman and the director of consumer affairs. Try pitching your arguments based on the equal status bill of 2000 (you cannot be discriminated against due to age, gender or race), The constitutional right to fair procedures (why is your age or gender placing you in a highly malformed demographic that suits only insurance companies?), the constitutional right to personal liberty (you should be allowed to have a car without penalty if you have done no wrong). Check out MIJAG.com for more factual information on what is happening in this country.