Motor insurance firms face no hard sanctions for ‘anti-competitive’ behaviour

16 comments
  1. “Competition watchdog says the companies’ commitment on pricing is a more effective outcome than fines or litigation”

    Someone should have told my mother my commitment to stop acting the prick was more effective than her batin my arse with a wooden spoon

  2. I’m of the opinion that because motor insurance is required by law it should be provided by the state and not for profit companies. For example have the cost of 3rd party, fire and theft rolled into your motor tax, if you want more then you can go private.

  3. I know this is against popular orthodoxy so I’m willing to accept my downvotes, but the reason insurance prices are so high is because Irish consumers are a collection of dopes.

    If I put a gun to my dad’s head and told him to switch insurers, he’d stick with AXA and take the bullet.

    “They should reward their loyal customers for staying with them”

    Why should they? Why should you be rewarded for refusing to look for cheaper options? If I shopped in Supervalu every week, I’m not going to start complaining that people who shop in Aldi pay less. Supervalu wouldn’t be expected to reward my loyalty by taking 30c off the price of milk. I would just switch to Aldi, and if enough people switched, Supervalu would be forced to lower prices to remain competitive.

  4. And yet the lapdogs for the insurance industry are rolled out by the state broadcaster to heap opprobrium on the oppressed people’s of Ireland for not being competitive-shoppers enough. Well, the market is skewed, you see?

  5. We’re just going to have to wait for the european investigation to run its course then.
    Same as always, needing the EU to do our governments job for us.

    https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_21_3081

    Here’s the relevant bit:

    The Commission’s preliminary view, outlined in its Statement of Objections, is that lack of access to Insurance Link has the effect of placing companies at a competitive disadvantage on the Irish motor vehicle insurance market in comparison to companies that have access to the database. This affects negatively costs, quality of service and pricing. It also acts as a barrier to entry and thus reduces the possibility of more competitive prices and choice of suppliers. Lack of access to the relevant data contained in Insurance Link also has an effect on cross border trade between Member States, resulting in the potential partitioning of the Single Market.

    If confirmed, this would infringe Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The sending of a Statement of Objections does not prejudge the outcome of an investigation.

  6. “In a report published today, the CCPC says it did not have the power to issue fines to the companies…”

    So the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has absolutely no power to protect consumers. That makes sense alright.

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