Motor Insurance Justice Action group (MIJAG) MIJAG Submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business - March 14th 2003. Written by Mick Murphy (National Organiser) MIAB Report, one year on !! The MIAB report was finally published with much awaited fanfare this time last year and just in time for the General Election. Despite the fact that many of the key recommendations have been contained in previous reports and despite the MIAB's interim findings in August 2000, none of the 67 recommendations have been implemented in full. Even the simple proposal to remove the 2% government levy or to ring fence it for Safety use was not implemented in this years budget. When the MIAB was set up in 1998 the going rate for 1st time insurance for young women was £2,200 and £3,500 for young men, the figures are €3,800 and €6,100 respectively now. The MIAB report highlighted that the most profitable sectors despite previous claims to the contrary were the young driver sectors. Despite the clear inference by the MIAB that theses young people are being ripped off, the insurance premiums for beginners have continued to rise. Key recommendations such as the penalty points system and the Personal Injury Assessment Board (PIAB) were made in previous reports as far back as 1997 (see footnote). Despite the fact that these proposals have been agreed for several years now they have so far not been implemented successfully. The penalty points system was started up prematurely but has shown its potential to affect in a very significant way driver behaviour. However the inability of the Government to follow through on the system undermines the affect of the whole project and now seriously runs the risk of ending up back where it started. As of yet there is no sign of the PIAB or the legislation to set it up. The only good news is there are a number of key initiatives agreed and are due to be implemented and some insurance companies are making changes based on what they see happening in the future. The fact that companies like Hibernian are now taking on drivers as young as 20 years of age who have a minimum of three years accident free driving is progress. Older drivers are generally commenting that there has been an improvement in premiums. Much of this seems to be based on the fact that premiums have stopped going up rather than premiums coming down. There is no doubt that the industry positioned itself for the MIAB aftermath and increased premiums significantly over recent years. The fact that premiums have stopped going up is seen as progress by most people. MIJAG would welcome the chance to make an oral presentation to the committee. We are continuing to highlight what is seen by many motorists as being the rip-off motor insurance premiums and the completely unfair treatment of beginner drivers. We continue to argue that beginners should be treated as safe drivers until they develop a record as being otherwise. Beginners should be charged the average premium (approx €680) and should only be loaded on the basis of penalty points that they have received. In order to move things along the Government should intervene and implement price controls on insurance premiums. Footnote:- 1. Penalty Points was a key part of the "Road to Safety" strategy agreed by the Government and published by the Depart of the Environment in 1997. This was a four year strategy to run from 1998 to 2002. 2. The setting up of a Personal Injury assessment Board (PIAB) was a key finding in the "Second Report of the Special Working Group on Personal Injury Compensation" published in September 2001 by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Back Home