Car cover bias highlighted as 19-year-old charged €6,661 (28/April/2003) A 19-YEAR-OLD man can pay as much as €6,661 to get comprehensive insurance for a car worth €7,618, according to a new survey highlighting age and gender discrimination in the Irish car insurance market. The survey, carried out by the Consumers' Association of Ireland (CAI), found that while a 33-year-old woman can get third-party, fire and theft cover for €661, a 19-year-old with the same, address, car and job pays as much as €5,434 for the same cover. The survey, which asked car insurers for quotes for six sample fictional consumers with varied ages, backgrounds, cars and other details, also found that in general a 25-year-old man pays twice as much for car insurance as a 25-year-old woman with the same address, car and job. According to the CAI, its survey results confirm that the Irish insurance market is "fraught with age and gender discrimination". The survey took the example of 33-year-old Mary Burns who can get third party, fire and theft insurance for a Mazda 323 for €661 from FBD Insurance. However it found that 19-year-old Jim Lawlor, who drives the same model of car but is aged 19, has the same job and lives in the same city gets his third party, fire and theft cover for €4,134 with FBD. The survey points out that this means the cover for the 19-year-old man is over six times more expensive than for the 33-year-old woman. Taking the example of Barbara Potts and Paul O'Reilly, two 25-year-olds from Waterford, doing the same job and both driving 1995 Opel Corsas, the survey found his cover was generally twice as expensive. Comprehensive cover for Barbara Potts with Axa Insurance was €864 and €868 with Eagle Star. The same cover for Paul O'Reilly with Axa was €1,762 and €1,690 with Eagle Star, according to the survey. The survey also found that 47-year-old David McLoughlin driving a Ford Mondeo could get comprehensive cover ranging from €668 with AA Insurance to €950 with Quinn Direct. However 19-year-old Jim Lawlor driving a Mazda 323 could only get the same cover for prices ranging from €4,554 from Axa to €6,661 with One Direct. The survey also found that some insurers have pushed up car insurance premiums considerably since July 2001. It found that: * Axa'a comprehensive cover for a 33-year-old woman had gone up by 91pc while third-party, fire and theft cover had increased by 76pc. * First Call Direct increased premiums for the same 33-year-old woman by over 40pc * Eagle Star's third-party, fire and theft cover for a 25-year-old man had gone up by 52pc while his comprehensive cover increased by 49pc. The CAI is warning that despite the pledges from Tanaiste Mary Harney that reform of the insurance market was her number one political priority, young drivers are still being priced out of the Irish motor insurance market and that age and gender discrimination have become the norm. However the association says it is wrong to point the finger of blame solely at insurers and warns there are other urgent problems that need to be addressed including the high litigation costs in this country and rising claims inflation. According to the CAI, between 1997 and 2001, general inflation increased by 15.3pc while the cost of motor insurance increased by 41.7pc. And it points out that Irish people make over six times more insurance claims than the world average. Kathy Donaghy Back to Media Index