13 per cent drop in insurance claims over uninsured drivers in Cork

A total of 212 motor insurance claims relating to uninsured or untraced drivers were recorded in Cork last year, according to new figures released by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI).

This represents a drop of 13% from the 243 claims recorded throughout the county in 2016.

The claim figures were also lower than the 2015 levels, when a total of 213 Cork claims were recorded.

Nationally, the MIBI outlined the raised number of claims received throughout the country during 2016 was sustained in 2017. In total, 2,758 claims were made throughout the Republic of Ireland in 2017, which represents a jump of 242 more claims than in 2015. On a countrywide basis there was a marginal 2% decrease in received claims between 2017 and 2016, when a total of 2,802 claims were submitted.

´The capital had the highest claims – 1,140 which accounted for 41% of all MIBI claims last year. However, Cork had the second highest number which was followed by Limerick with 156 claims submitted last year.

The MIBI is a not for profit organisation which was established to compensate victims of road traffic accidents caused by uninsured and unidentified vehicles.

David Fitzgerald, Chief Executive of the MIBI said, “Last year the MIBI received a total of 212 claims from Cork. This was a decrease on the 2016 figure and very slightly lower than the number of Cork claims made in 2015. However, this does not match what we are seeing around the country”

He said: “Unfortunately, at national level, since the beginning of 2016 the MIBI has witnessed a significant step up in the number of claims we receive. There has been a marked increase from the previous level of claims which would have been in the region of 2,400 to 2,500 per year on a national basis.”

He said as outlined the MIBI stated two years ago, there were over 151,0-00 uninsured private vehicles in Ireland.

“The MIBI has also outlined our determination to tackle fraudulent claims around the country, including in Cork. We estimate 1 in 8 of all claims we receive are suspicious.

“As we detailed in our Fighting Fraud strategy we are now making it much more difficult for claims of this type to succeed and we believe this more aggressive approach will lead to the decline in bogus claims over time, reducing the overall number of claims received in future,” he said.