The number of car insurance claims involving motorists driving without the proper insurance or motorists who could not be traced following an incident jumped by more than 10 per cent last year, according to figures published on Monday.
The cost of such claims added about €35 on to every motor insurance premium, the research from the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) suggests.
According to the annual report, the number of claims relating to crashes caused by uninsured or untraced vehicles grew by 11 per cent in 2023. The MIBI received a total of 1,927 claims, a jump of 187 on the 1,740 that were recorded over the same period in 2022.
The bureau said the increase in the number of claims connected with uninsured or untraced vehicles reaffirmed “the importance of the new law enforcement system to clamp down on uninsured driving”.
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Since signing a data sharing agreement last November, the MIBI is now providing the insurance details for 3 million vehicles using Irish roads on a daily basis to the Garda. This means gardaí can now check the insurance status of any vehicle simply by scanning its registration plate.
The MIBI is a not-for-profit organisation that was established to compensate victims of road traffic accidents caused by uninsured and unidentified vehicles, effectively the expense of meeting these claims is borne by law-abiding motorists. Figures from the MIBI suggest that the average motorist will have contributed €30-€35 at their most recent insurance renewal to cover the claims paid out by the body in the past year.
Looking at the breakdown of the claims relating to uninsured driving by county, the largest number came in Dublin where 822 such claims were processed followed by Cork on 141, Limerick with 112 and Kildare on 102.
The number of claims relating to uninsured drivers grew in 14 of the 26 counties across the Republic, with the largest percentage increases occurring in Mayo where there was an 80 per cent increase. Meath recorded a 55 per cent jump while the increase in Kildare was 42 per cent.
A total of nine counties recorded a drop in the number of claims, with the largest percentage decreases in Leitrim, Offaly and Sligo.
As many as 200,000 people drive without insurance in Ireland making it one of the most commonly committed crimes in the State, and despite the cost to car-driving consumers and society at large, the numbers breaking the law has been growing in recent years.
The real number is likely to be even worse as the figures are based on comparing car owners paying motor tax and the number of vehicles with active insurance policies. They do not include those who pay neither car insurance nor motor tax.
In 2022 the Dáil heard about 130 uninsured drivers were being caught daily, amounting to about 47,450 drivers each year. In recent years more than 100,000 cars have been seized with over €15 million in fines handed down for driving without insurance, averaging about 9,000 each year.
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