Half a Million Irish Motorists Facing Higher Motor Insurance Costs After Clocking Up Penalty Points

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Today with David McCullagh 6 min 2 speakers 7 chapters transcribed 2 hours ago

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What does the new research reveal about penalty points and insurance premiums in Ireland?

David McCullagh 0:00

Data out today shows that half a million motorists in Ireland with three or more penalty points on their licence could be paying hundreds of euro extra on their car insurance premium as a result and many don't even realise. Also out today, research from the ESRI showing how most drivers vastly underestimate the cost of running their car, sometimes by up to 50%. I'm joined now by Paddy Common who is Head of Communications for Dundeele Cars. Morning Paddy. Morning. How's things? Good, thanks. This research into penalty points, it's from car insurance insurer Outsurance. How much could having penalty points increase your premium by?

Paddy Comyn 0:41

Well, I had a broker run the numbers for me because I thought the real numbers would be more useful. So we used the same female driver, same car, clean, no claims bonus, and all we changed was the penalty points. So on a clean license for that female driver, the quote was 586 euro a year. I had three points and that went up 15%, six points. up nearly 40%.

How much can three, six, or nine penalty points increase a driver’s annual insurance cost?

Paddy Comyn 1:03

Nine points, the premium jumped to 1,447. So that's 147% higher, nearly two and a half times the clean licence price. And crucially, at nine points, the mainstream insurers were backing away and wouldn't even quote in some cases. So the driver got pushed to a specialist. And obviously at 12 points, you have legal disqualification. So quite a big jump there.

David McCullagh 1:27

Which most people would say is probably fair enough.

Paddy Comyn 1:30

Well, I mean, look, it is to a degree. Obviously, at the lower end, you know, a hiccup isn't punished that radically. But, look, you're looking at risk. So if someone is clocking up points for speeding in particular, which is the main offence, you would see that. But when people start racking them up, obviously, you become a higher risk.

David McCullagh 1:51

Yeah. Now, thankfully, the research would indicate that most of us are relatively compliant.

Why do mainstream insurers stop quoting drivers with high penalty‑point totals?

David McCullagh 1:57

We're not on that many penalty points.

Paddy Comyn 2:00

Yeah, of the half a million drivers with points, the vast majority, 370,000 are sitting at three points, which is the minimum you can pick up, usually a single speeding offence or something like that. About 911 points and 1,000 right on the 12 points. So most people with points aren't serial offenders. They've won't blemish. The bad news is that the numbers are

David McCullagh 2:20

moving the

Paddy Comyn 2:21

wrong way. 40,000 more drivers picked up points this year than last, which is about 8% up.

David McCullagh 2:25

OK, do we know why? I mean, there's obviously there's more people on the roads, but we keep hearing that there isn't as much enforcement as there needs to be. That would suggest something a bit different, would it?

Paddy Comyn 2:35

Yeah, the data's not there, but I mean, anecdotally, you would imagine that there's more phone offenses because people are glued to their phones. We

David McCullagh 2:42

see it

Paddy Comyn 2:42

all the time. We see people watching Netflix and doing all sorts of daft things on the road, unfortunately. So yeah, I think that would account for some of it.

What did the ESRI study find about how Irish motorists underestimate their true car‑running costs?

David McCullagh 2:49

But the vast majority of offenses are speeding, about 65%, I think. So that suggests that's the most common bad behavior we see on the roads.

Paddy Comyn 2:58

Yeah, of course. And look, that could be 35, 40 in a 30, you know, which again is a serious event. But in the grand scheme of things, it can be a hiccup. But yeah, look, you know, we're not surprised. I wouldn't be surprised with these numbers. You know, they certainly tell a story that we would all fairly well know.

David McCullagh 3:17

And as you say, in terms of getting insurance when you have points on your licence, it adds to the cost. And if you rack up enough points, it's going to make it very difficult to get insured at all, isn't it?

Paddy Comyn 3:27

Yeah, absolutely. Look, for most people who might be on three or six, it's an issue. The price will go up, but you're not into the realm of not being quoted. It's when you get into the nine and beyond territory that it starts being more difficult.

Which offences are driving the rise in penalty points and how many drivers are affected?

Paddy Comyn 3:41

And fewer insurers are going to offer pricing and that could mean that the pricing is quite significant.

David McCullagh 3:46

Now, as I say, we also have this research from the ESRI. People were asked how much they spend on their cars. The median estimate was €2,000 per year. The actual cost added up to almost €3,000.