People Before Profit urging Canadian system of insurance
Motorists are being ripped off by the insurance industry and systematic discrimination is deployed against younger people and owners of older cars according to Cllr Gino O’Boyle, the People Before Profit candidate for Sligo - Leitrim.
“The main reason is greed for profit. Between 1994 and 2014, pre-tax profit from car insurance amounted to €2.9 billion.
A briefing document from the Department for Finance noted that ‘It appears motor insurers are now imposing higher premium rates to return themselves to profitability or to boost profitability.”
People Before Profit advocates the formation of a public not for profit insurance based on the Manitoba model. Manitoba is a province in Canada and in 1971 a Manitoba Public Insurance company was established to provide basic, compulsory car insurance.
Forty-five years later it is still providing one of the cheapest car insurance premiums in North America.
Its insurance is sold under the brand name of Autopac and its basic scheme provides cover for: • Accidental damage to registered vehicles • Third-party liability for injuries or prop
erty damage in Canada or the US
• A Personal Injury Protection Plan for
injury or death caused by an automobile. It has two customer service call-centres and 22 claims centres across Manitoba which has a population one-third the size of the Republic of Ireland.
Costs are reduced through a transparent charging system that does not discriminate against particular categories of drivers.
An open charges booklet outlines insurance costs according to the type of vehicle.
A poor driver record of, for example, speeding or careless driving, can lead to additional costs. Repair costs are reduced by establishing a vehicle’s value immediately before it was damaged. If a car is written off, a Black Book is used to assess actual cash value.