Are your clients paying too much for their motor insurance?

IT’S been a tough 12 months all round, and much of the economy is still reeling from the impact of Covid-19. Despite this challenging situation, car sales are expected to boom over the coming months. According to the EY Mobility Consumer Index, nearly a third of people without a car intend to buy one in 2021 – and 20% of people who already own a car are open to buying an additional one.

Car sales boom
This isn’t necessarily as surprising as it may seem. Covid and its successive lockdowns have made us all more insular – more used to having our own space, and more nervous about mingling with strangers in public places. Especially confined spaces. Public transport, for instance. Covid also presented many of us with the opportunity to save money. With nowhere to go and little to do, banks have seen a huge increase in household savings over the past year. As the world starts to open up again, these savings – combined with our reluctance to take public transport – could well see more people investing in their own car.

Multi-car households
A likely consequence of this will be an increase in the number of cars per household. In 2017, almost two thirds of households in Ireland already owned multiple vehicles. Since then, we have seen an increase in car ownership, and a pandemic that prompted many people to combine households – bringing their cars with them.
Which leads us on to the millennial effect. Even before the pandemic, the number of adult children living with their parents was at a record high, thanks to high house prices and challenges getting on the property ladder.

Over the past year even more have moved back home, wanting to bubble with family instead of living in isolation. And according to the EY Mobility Consumer Index, 45% of those planning to purchase a car this year will be millennials. As this generation brings their new cars to their family homes, we are likely to see a significant increase in the number of cars per household across the country.

Multi-car insurance
Traditionally, the only option to insure multiple cars was to buy several individual policies. This meant paying full premiums on every car, and keeping track of different noclaims bonuses and renewal dates. However, things have changed for the better.

At DUAL, we offer a Family Fleet policy that allows your clients to insure multiple vehicles on the same policy. Family Fleet policies offer multi-vehicle discounts, in addition to the no-claims discounts available to each vehicle. And the more cars your clients add to their policy, the greater the discount we offer. It’s also worth noting that a claim on one car will not impact the no-claims discounts on the others.

Save time and money
Our Family Fleet policy makes it more affordable for your clients to insure all of their vehicles – whether they are family cars, electric vehicles, or part of a prized automobile collection. If their main vehicle is valued at €30,000 or more, we can help. Get in touch to find out more.

Kate O’Connor is Head of Business Development at DUAL underwriting Ireland DAC, the world’s largest international MGA. DUAL specialise, amongst other areas, in high net worth personal insurance in Ireland and are backed by AXA XL, a division of AXA, one of the world’s largest insurance groups. t: 01 6640001 / e:enquiry@dualgroup.ie

DUAL Underwriting Ireland DAC (trading as DUAL Private Client) is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Registered No. 633531. Registered office: 11, Fitzwilliam St. Upr., Dublin 2 DO2 YV66. Directors: Barry O’Dwyer (Managing), Ralph Snedden (British), Richard Clapham (British).

This article was first published in the April edition of Irish Broker Magazine - read as a PDF.