Drivers hit by insurance hikes for one penalty point

Motorists who get caught speeding are being hit on the treble – by penalty points, fines and a hike in car insurance premiums.

Research has shown that motorists living in Galway can be hit by an increase of up to €150 on their insurance for having a single penalty point on their licence.

One motorist, who received three points with a speeding fine in the post, told the Galway City Tribune his insurance jumped by €120 when it came up for renewal.

“I was always under the assumption that points did not affect premiums until you had in excess of four. I now have three on my licence, which I declared when my insurance was up for renewal the following month.

“I was told over the phone that it would affect my renewal quote, and it increased by €119. It was a major shock. I accept I broke the law and shouldn’t have been doing 119km/h on the Athlone bypass [where the limit steps down to 100km/h], on a motorway journey from Galway to Dublin but this was a nasty sting in the tail after paying the fine and getting the points,” he said.

Meanwhile, Galway West TD Noel Grealish has claimed that measures which should be making our roads safer are instead being used to bring in extra cash for the Government and the insurance companies.

Deputy Grealish said that the activities of the GoSafe speed detecting vans contributed nothing to safety and where they positioned themselves was like ‘shooting fish in a barrel’.

“I am accusing the Government of using the GoSafe vans as just another form of revenue raising, and they are not being used to slow down traffic in the rural countryside where there are people speeding at a dangerous rate sometimes.

“They are being used to catch people coming off motorways or other major roads where there is a reduced speed limit and they are catching them just as they are starting to reduce speed, though not quickly enough,” he said.

The GoSafe Consortium secured the €80m Garda Siochana contract to operate the network of vans in 2009 and their accounts for 2012 showed an operating profit of €50,000 per week.

And the other big winners from the speed traps were the insurance companies, he said.

“Research I’ve done showed that while some insurance companies did not penalise drivers with just a few penalty points on their licences, others hiked up their premiums for even a single penalty point.

“Some companies allow drivers to have four penalty points on their licence before they increase their insurance premium at the next renewal.

“But one particular multi-national insurance company is charging as much as €150 extra if you have just one penalty point.

“And with the increasing number of offences that now bring penalty points, it is very easy for even a usually careful driver to notch up a point or two.”

Deputy Grealish said that the research involved renewing cover online for an experienced Galway driver with a ten-year-old car.

Two of the major companies surveyed imposed no increase in premium for a driver with up to four points, another increased the premium by €50 for two penalty points and by €66 for four points, while another required phone contact for renewals with penalty points.

But one company applied an additional premium of €150.22 if the driver had one or two penalty points, and an additional €309.87 for a driver with three or four penalty points.