Latest news with #insurancecosts
Irish Times
30-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Isme says 17% rise in personal injury payout is ‘capitulation to vested interests'
Small business lobby group Isme says Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan 's support for an increase in the scale of personal injury awards is a capitulation to vested legal interests. It says the move undermines years of work to bring down insurance costs for SMEs and consumers. Mr O'Callaghan is due to bring a proposal to Cabinet next week to raise personal injury awards by 17 per cent on the back of a recommendation from the Judicial Council. The board of the Judicial Council is required by law to review the guidelines every three years and proposed last December that payments should rise by 16.7 per cent. READ MORE That recommendation was adopted by the council of the State's judges in late January and passed over to Mr O'Callaghan, who must put the amendments before the Houses of the Oireachtas for approval. ISME say the increase would lead to increases in insurance premiums for both businesses and consumers and 'would take money directly from small businesses and into the pockets of lawyers'. 'This proposed increase is indefensible,' said Isme chief executive Neil McDonnell . 'It rewards a highly profitable legal industry and punishes honest employers, retailers and community organisations. 'Insurance costs have not fallen following previous reforms, and now the Government wants to undo the little progress that has been made,' he said. Isme says the judiciary should be removed from any involvement in setting the level of awards which, it argues, should be delegated to an independent expert body such as the Personal Injuries Resolution Board or the Workplace Relations Commission. 'Not alone is there no justification for an increase in personal injuries awards, but the final report of the Personal Injuries Commission suggests that awards should be reduced by at least a further 30 per cent,' Mr McDonnell said. He noted that Ireland already has much higher personal injury payouts than other comparable countries and 14 times more personal injury cases than England and Wales, despite a population that is just one -twelfth of those two countries. Isme is already in conflict with Government over changes in the Defamation Amendment Bill, now being prepared for Cabinet, which, it says, has been stripped of its most meaningful reforms and will fail to protect small businesses. 'The Defamation Amendment Bill as currently drafted is utterly inadequate, and requires at a minimum the insertion of a serious harm test, a cap on damages and penalisation of SLAPP lawsuits,' Isme says. SLAPP lawsuits, or strategic lawsuits against public participation, are lawsuits whose purpose is to intimidate or silence another party.
CBS News
03-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Why are car insurance rates up in Maryland?
Why are car insurance rates up in Maryland? Why are car insurance rates up in Maryland? Why are car insurance rates up in Maryland? One thing everyone is noticing these days is rising costs, and that includes your car insurance. Viewers have asked WJZ why their auto insurance rates are increasing in Maryland. WJZ Anchor Rick Ritter tracked down the answer for this segment of Question Everything. Why is car insurance so expensive? Rick Ritter sat down with Marie Grant, who is Maryland's insurance commissioner. Marie Grant: "Typically in urban environments, we do see higher rates of auto insurance based on experience on what happens to a car in a city. Grant: "What we're seeing here in Maryland and what consumers are feeling are, unfortunately, national trends that consumers in other states are feeling, as well." Data released this year from Insurify shows car insurance costs surged nationally by 15% in 2024. Maryland drivers pay the most for car insurance, according to the website. On average, Marylanders are paying more than $4,000 a year, which is a 53% increase from 2023. Grant: "Maryland, historically, has been in the top quarter of states for auto insurance rates, and that's due in part to the nature of our state." "We tend to drive a lot, with longer commuting distances and a lot of congestion on roads. With pretty heavy traffic and accident rates higher than other states, it all contributes." While congestion and traffic-related incidents play a role, high repair costs are also to blame. AAA A found that today's advanced technology in cars can cost twice as much to repair, and now the threat of tariffs could complicate things even more. Grant: "During the pandemic, costs went down, folks weren't driving as much, and there weren't as many accidents. As Marylanders got back on the road, as well as inflation, the cost of cars then increased." Rick Ritter: "With so much talk about the escalating trade war and the president's tariffs, will it help contribute to rising car insurance rates?" Grant: "Unfortunately, the answer is yes. We haven't seen evidence of that with current rate filings, but if you asked me a month ago without tariffs on the horizon, I would've said trends are looking positive." Climate and crime can be contributing factors to higher costs of insurance, as well. Maryland has seen stolen vehicle claims surge over the last few years, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. If you live in an area with more frequent severe weather, like flooding or wildfires, it can impact your premiums, too. What can Marylanders do to save? Grant says to shop around for several insurers. Most think two or three, but five to 10 is what's recommended. Search for discounts, like safety features or bundling policies, which can help keep costs down. Consider a telematics program that monitors how safe you're driving. Then can bring down rates for you, as well. When in doubt, the insurance commissioner's office lines are always open. The office receives dozens of calls daily from Marylanders inquiring about their rates. "I love hearing from Marylanders. Consumers should definitely reach out to us," Grant said. "Fresh eyes never hurt, so we do want to make sure we are asking tough questions of our insurers to make sure they are putting their best foot forward, and that's what we do." Car insurance adds to a budget From the escalating trade war to inflation, it feels like the cost of everything is going up these days. "It's horrible, from car insurance to groceries," a Baltimore resident said. "Everything feels so expensive," said Yaniv Ezra, an Uber driver and student in the city. "I'm a DoorDash and Uber Eats driver, and you can see that barely anyone is buying anything." The rising prices for utilities, food, and gas, mixed in with skyrocketing car insurance, make things tough. "It's very high," Ezra said. "I'm paying $200 a month now just because I moved to the city."
BreakingNews.ie
02-06-2025
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Driving test backlog: Where to beat the queues
The crisis in Irish driving tests rumbles on, with an average wait for a test now stretching out to 27 weeks on average, according to figures from the Department for Transport. In some cases, the wait has been known to go on for much longer, as long as 10 months. Advertisement It's leaving Irish learner drivers footing the bill for higher insurance costs as they wait to pass the test - or at least get the chance to do so. Some 68,000 people are currently waiting to take their test. The delays have now become so bad that the relevant Minister, Sean Canney, told the Road Safety Authority (RSA) - an agency currently being shut down and broken into two new agencies - to 'publish their plan, showing their projections of average wait time and numbers of tests to be carried out on a fortnightly basis to end 2025". "The Minister further instructed the RSA to report publicly and to him fortnightly on delivery of their plan, with any deviations from projected timelines to be immediately addressed with the Department of Transport,' according to a spokesperson. That plan has now been published, and includes ideas such as expanding the number of driving test centres from 41 to 60, adding yet more examiners, and expanding the working day of driving tests, starting from 7am and extending to 7.25pm — something that presumably limits the effectiveness of the plan to summer months, and indeed there RSA has said that the plan is supposed to be in place until September. Advertisement Speaking of the RSA plan, Mr Canney said: "The provision of a timely and efficient driver testing service is a key priority for me. The experience of learner drivers seeking a driver test over the last number of years has been unacceptable, and the service being offered needs to be greatly improved as soon as possible. "I welcome the RSA plan to bring wait times down to 10 weeks by no later than early September, and I expect the RSA to fully deliver on this commitment. "There can be no deviation from this timeline and I have instructed the RSA to ensure contingency plans and remedial measures are in place and ready to deploy to ensure that no slippage occurs.' Quite how the Government expects the RSA, which has failed so spectacularly in its other tasks that it soon won't exist in its current form, to fix this issue is another matter. Advertisement The Government has so far been keen to blame individual learner drivers for the problem, stating that some drivers book tests but fail to show up, thereby slowing the flow of tests taken. The issue of resources remains somewhat unaddressed — of 70 extra driving tests examiners promised before Christmas, the first tranche are only now starting to carry out tests. In the meantime, there is the potential for gaming the system somewhat, in an effort to get an earlier test. There's no onus on you to take your test in your local testing centre, and although you'd have to be confident that you can do OK on unfamiliar roads, you're perfectly entitled to book a test at any of the 41 centres around the country. Helpfully, Irish insurance aggregator Quote Devil has come up with a list of the centres with the combination of shortest wait time and highest average passing rates, so that you can maximise your chances of getting a test early, and then passing it first time. Advertisement According to Quote Devil's research, the testing centre with the shortest average wait time of those where more than 50 per cent of applicants pass first time out, with the wait at 13.3 weeks, half the national average, is Tuam in Co. Galway. That centre also manages to schedule 92 per cent of its applications within one month, so your chances of getting an early test are quite good. Ireland Driving test backlog reaches new high: Check the l... Read More Next best is Ennis, Co Clare on 13.5 weeks, followed by Thurles, Co Tipperary (14.3 weeks); Tipperary town (14.3 weeks); Loughrea, Co Galway (14.5 weeks); Shannon, Co Clare (15.8 weeks); Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim (17.2 weeks); Cavan town (17.6 weeks); and Monaghan town (18.8 weeks). What about the worst, though? According to Quote Devil's figures, the centre with the longest average wait for a test, of those with a passing average less than 50 per cent, is Dun Laoghaire/Deansgrange, with an average wait of 30.6 weeks, three weeks longer than the national average. That's a full seven months, and that's just the average. Advertisement Next worst is Naas, Co Kildare on 25 weeks, then Tallaght, Co Dublin on 24.4 weeks. The centre with the lowest passing rate? That'll be Charlestown, Co Dublin, where only 36.2 per cent of applicants pass on the first go. Mind you, Charlestown only makes you wait 16 weeks on average for a test, so at least you can get booked again quickly.
Auto Car
23-05-2025
- Automotive
- Auto Car
Cost and complexity of EVs puts independent rental firms at risk of closure
Electric vehicles could spell the end of independent vehicle rental companies, a leading family-owned UK firm has warned, amid a wider backdrop of waning demand for EVs generally among hire companies. Kendall Cars, a rental group with 14 branches in the south-east and a fleet of 1500 vehicles, says businesses like it are closing partly because of the high insurance costs associated with electric cars. Group managing director Mark Kendall said: 'Like a lot of smaller hire companies we self-insure our cars to keep our rates low, but EVs are high risk, and a lot of hire companies are giving up because they calculate that as their proportion of EVs increases, they won't be able to afford to cover them. 'The national rental firms are stepping in by ignoring the retail market and renting the vehicles to business customers, who put them on their company insurance. But rental firms like ours can't survive by ignoring retail customers.' Underlying Kendall's comments is a lack of enthusiasm in general for EVs among rental firms, which are also worried about the high cost of installing chargers and limited rental demand. His prediction that firms will close won't please car makers, which sell thousands of cars to the rental sector and regard it as a convenient safety net when other areas of the market are depressed. For example, in 2024 there were 228,000 rental vehicles on the road, an increase of 21% since 2020. 'Rental has always been a release valve for car makers wishing to sell cars, and although there is some [demand] for EVs, it remains low,' said Adam Forshaw of UK rental and leasing trade body BVRLA. The main issue for his members is installing chargers. 'This is expensive for rental firms and there are no financial or tax incentives for their customers to choose an EV over a petrol or diesel car,' he said. Kendall agrees that charging his EVs is a costly headache. He said: 'We've just installed four expensive charge points at our Wimbledon branch but, elsewhere, when customers return our EVs with very little charge – as many do – we have to drive to a charge point, which costs us time and money.' He added: 'To encourage customers to recharge their cars, we've had to impose a £50 surcharge when the battery's return level is below 50%.'
