The Motor Insurance Advisory Board may have to recommend its own winding up to the Government if it does not get the co-operation of the insurance industry. A senior board source said yesterday it would have to consider this course of action if the Irish Insurance Federation did not comply with Friday's deadline for the handing over of data on motor insurance policies.

The board has demanded that the insurance companies certify the information as correct, following problems with earlier data provided in December.

An audit of the data carried out by the board found that it overstated claims and understated premiums. The board has sought details of every policy sold between 1993 and 1999, including the premium paid and the claims - if any - against the policy.

Once the board has access to all the data, it will repeat the work done for its interim study last summer - which covered the years 1993-97 - to see if the initial findings are confirmed.

The preliminary study - which was made public only last weekend in The Irish Times - shows that younger drivers are the most profitable sector of the market. The study found the average profit on policies sold to drivers aged between 21 and 24 was £211 (€268), compared to £60 on drivers aged between 46 and 55 (see table below).

There was also evidence that female drivers were paying more than their fair share compared to male drivers of the same age. The average profit per policy for women aged 19 and 20 was £730. Relations between the board and the IIF became strained in the aftermath of the publication of the report. Although the IIF disagreed with the findings, they were substantially confirmed by the federation's own data.

The IIF subsequently threatened to stop providing raw data on claims and premiums to the board, but relented after the board threatened in turn to recommend to the Government that "an alternative and more vigorous forum" should investigate the matter.

However, no raw data was provided until the following December and that was found to be unusable by the board's statistician, Mr Cyril Connolly of Dublin City University.

It has also emerged that the IIF hired its own actuarial adviser last September to carry out a parallel analysis on the same data.

The board only became aware of this last Wednesday, straining relations even further. Board members are concerned that the IIF's advisers have been given preferential access to the raw data that it needs to carry out its work.

The board is also concerned that the incorrect raw data provided to it last December is the same data that insurance companies share among themselves.

The interim report of the board also flags a number of other issues of concern, including the instalment plans offered by some insurers. The board concluded that some of these plans did not meet the requirements of the Consumer Credit Act.