At the latest sitting of the Dáil, one Laois TD brough up the growing issue of excessive car insurance costs which only continue to rise.
The Laois TD, Sinn Fein’s Brian Stanley, said: “Currently insurance companies are not quoting, or are provided outrageous quotes, to drivers of cars over 10 years old.
“It is disproportionately affecting rural people, including workers on low incomes who need a car for work.”
He continued: “In 2015, 44,300 cars over 10 years were scrapped. Based on figures for the first half of this year, the figure for 2018 will reach an enormous 140,000.
“This is not good for the environment and is also bad for Irish jobs that are being lost in second hand car sales and repairs business. Pushing older cars off the road is obviously putting a huge financial burden on many people and the Government has failed to take action on this crucial issue.
“People with 10 year old cars are being loaded with 50% to 60% additional costs. This is affecting people in rural Ireland, and young drivers and in some cases insurance companies are refusing to even give a quote.
“There is no reason for loading costs in the case of second-hand cars that are 11 or 12 years old if they have an NCT, and are in perfect mechanical condition.
“From an environmental point of view, it is claimed that the cost of manufacturing a new car, in terms of CO2 emissions, is the equivalent of the fuel used in driving 160,000 km in an average Ford Focus car.
“The insurance industry is screwing and penalising people in rural Ireland, along with young drivers and older drivers. Cars of 10 years old have an NCT every year and there is no reason to treat them differently from any other car. It is simply a way of picking the pockets of poor and low income workers and pensioners.”
Mr Stanley finish by calling on the Government to deal with this growing problem and to now take action on this matter.
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