Consumer Council demands investigation into high premiums
Northern Ireland’s Consumer Council today says households there pay between £278 and £695 more per year for insurance compared to Great Britain and has demanded an investigation into insurers.
Chief executive Eleanor Gill said: “The car, contents and buildings insurance market is clearly not working for consumers. Compared to GB, households here are paying nearly 40% more, leaving consumers £160m worse off per year. While we are all hit hard, some households are hit particularly hard.
- Consumers with car insurance pay 84% more on average (£282) than in GB
- Households with car, contents and buildings insurance in rural areas pay 62% more on average (£362), and households in low income areas pay 48% more on average (£345) than in GB.
The Consumer Council is calling for an investigation into why consumers are getting such a raw deal. It also cautioned that many households are not insured and stressed that consumers can make significant savings today by shopping around, even with the exorbitant prices.
“A recurring frustration for consumers here is that many attractive insurance offers come with the tag ‘not available in Northern Ireland’. Our research confirms that we do have less choice of insurance providers – the maximum number offering quotations for car insurance here was 15 compared to 51 insurers in GB.”
