High car insurance for young queried - Irish Independent (9/May/2001) Bill Corcoran THE Irish Insurance Federation was yesterday accused of profiteering from young people by charging them excessively high motor insurance premiums by members of a joint Oireachtas committee. The accusations were predominantly based on a recent Motor Insurance Advisory Board interim report which claimed that insurance companies are making bigger profits on drivers under the age of 25 than any other category. However, the IIF's chief executive, Michael Kemp, denied the accusations and claimed the MIAB interim report was based on incomplete data. He also said an independently compiled report commissioned by the IIF concluded that young male drivers are a "significantly higher" insurance risk, while provisional licence holders make more claims than full licence holders. Members of the committee questioned Mr Kemp on how both reports could infer opposite conclusions and also suggested that the IIF had been "dragging its heels" when asked to provide the necessary statistical data for the MIAB's report. "On this occasion," replied Mr Kemp, "they were looking for raw data the issue was how to protect the commercially sensitive while still providing it. At the moment MIAB have exactly the same information that our commissioned report availed of." Back to Media Index