Drop of 7% in motor insurance costs pales next to €163m profits in sector

Thanks to premium rises of 62 per cent in previous years, insurers are still sitting pretty with 12 per cent profit margins

It seems insurers could afford to further cut the prices they charge their customers too, given the profits they’re continuing to make from the sector. Picture: Getty

The Central Bank of Ireland last week published a detailed report on the motor insurance industry in Ireland known as the National Claims Information Database (NCID).

The regulator’s findings provided some welcome news for hard-pressed consumers with the revelation that the cost of motor insurance had fallen by 7 per cent in 2020 compared with the previous year.

A little over half of the decrease (4 per cent) was due to lower premiums with the ...