Friday 11th December 2015: 12.32am. So annual car insurance quote time, and my oh my is this year a nasty shock! Last year these were the results for our year 2000 Ford Focus 1.4L petrol for both me and Megan driving, fully comp, full NCD protect, can drive any car:
FBD €569, Aviva €480, Liberty €444, AXA €429, RSA €401, AIG and Allianz €351
We ended up going with Allianz as unlike AIG they don't require tracking apps installed onto your phone.
Last year seemed bad because our insurance had jumped up from €310 the year before so I was sweating a 13% price hike - well, this year is spectacularly worse:
Aviva, FBD, RSA, Allianz: Quote refused [1]
AXA: €578
Liberty: €655 (third party fire and theft only)
Asgard: €780
Kenco: €870
[1]: Allianz sent me a letter offering to renew last year's insurance for €524. I never normally take up those offers as they are generally uncompetitive to introductory deals, but this year I think I will take that offer!
Anyway, still ouch at a 50% price hike over last year! Both of us have full Irish licences for 6 years, never had any accident or claim so full no claims bonus, so it's not like we're risky.
The problem is the age of the car, so now it's 15 years old a whole load of insurers will no longer touch the car except as a classic vintage car, and unfortunately those are the price competitive insurers. I tried as a laugh a year 2009 Ford Fiesta with RSA and insurance came in at €380 which I would still consider a bit pricey, but it shows the enormous effect of the age of the car.
And why does the age of the car matter, as they are all roadworthy and safe thanks to EU annual safety checks? According to the insurers, the correlation between claims and age of the car has spiked last two years, hence the spike in premiums.
However car insurance premiums have risen heftily in general in Ireland this year for everybody, with the average premium increase being about 25% over last year. One insurer last year went bankrupt, so all the other insurers had to bail it out, plus as the Irish economy recovers more journeys are happening which means more crashes. Most policies here are underwritten in Britain, and the Euro to Sterling exchange rate has shifted by a good 15% over last year against the Euro.
Still, we are seeing a 50% increase in car insurance, and that's a lot of money. Can't say I'm pleased about it :(
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