car insurance for the uk

[naflharrison]

why is it that car insurance companies that are meant to be insurers for the uk dont cover n.ireland??? its sooo annoying!!!

[gouldc]

Northern Ireland is still a huge risk for insurers, so it's normally simply not a market most insurers want to get into.

There is also a huge element of insurance fraud in both Northern and Republic - due to the heavy religious affiliations there, the courts simply do not accept that people would commit insurance fraud, and as such it is prevalent to a huge extent - we wouldn't touch anyone with a barge pole, and our customer base over there reflects this

[naflharrison]

this is what i find so unbelievable as the car crime etc risk in the uk is by far greater than in n.ireland. it does pee me off when you go to get quotes and get to the end and they tell you they dont insure here. im paying less now than when i lived in england but still its so stupid there is virtually no trouble here at all apart from the usual wkend pub brawls that you get anywhere but in england they are stabbing, shooting, car-jacking etc left right and centre, well thats my point made!!

[TCL-MUMPING]

Direct Line covers cars in Ulster.

[Whickerman]

gouldc - sorry - your argument is ridiculous. Insurance rates in the Irish Republic are very competitive compared with most EU countries, and we have some of the most stringent anti-insurance fraud laws. The fact is most of the major european insurance companies quite happily operate here.

As to the North - it's a part of the UK, but insurance companies treat it as a separate country, and a war zone at that, despite the past generation of relative peace.

What's the excuse for offers not applying to the channel isles?

[gouldc]

Sorry Whickerman, this is the part of the insurance industry I work in - fraud. We were considering offering cover in the Republic, but we've managed to persuade the company otherwise - it's too big a risk. Whilst most of the major insurers operate there, it does not necessarily reflect the findings of surveys that I have seen in regards to fraudulent activity - a prime example being a case of one man allegedly paralysed in an accident. The investigator was convinced he was faking it, it went to court, and he got a multi-million payout. The investigator still wasn't happy, and continued to follow him in his spare time. Months after the payout, he boarded a flight to Lourdes - he entered the water, and miraculously could walk again. The courts upheld the payout on the basis that he ''wouldn't have lied about this being a devout catholic'' (I am catholic myself). They still have a photo of him on a dartboard in the insurance office.

Fraud in mainland UK is bad enough (I think we need to withdraw all cover in West MIdlands, Luton, and East London personally), but it is simply less prevalent here, and easier to prove.

Channel Islands - pass, no idea.

[naflharrison]

anyhow the question wasnt about the republic as its not part of this country so i could give a hoot hoe much they charge for insurance, but how fraud has anything to do with it is beyond me. i mean its car insurance simple as that you either have it or you dont. just dont see why northern ireand is still disregarded as a cast off island than the part of the uk that it is. takes the p a bit really. there has been more peace in northern ireland this last yrs than i even saw in england news wise!

[gouldc]

The fruad issue is mainly why we are avoiding Southern Ireland. It is an issue in Northern Ireland, but I think the troubles still cause underwriters issues when considering insuring residents of Northen Ireland.

There are other aspects such as the way insurance law differs in Northern Ireland (and Scotland for that matter) in comparison to Wales and england - the cost of a claim (solicitors costs, injury payouts, etc) is considerbly higher north of the border and in Ireland, and obviously the amount we could potentially pay out on any claim affects annual premiums across the board - we have a very small exposure in Scotland customer wise, and this is probably due to that in part.

The best person to answer this is going to be someone who works in a pricing or underwriting department of an insurer - claimswise, this is one of the reasons, but there will be many other factors as well

[naflharrison]

also the general cost of solicitiors etc in england is considerably more expensive than it is here for anything!

[BenDToy]

The simple reason is that levels of personal injury claims are significantly higher in NI than in the rest of the UK. I don't know why this is, and I am told that there is no simple explanation, but apparently it is massively more.