Money Guide Ireland

The National Consumer Agency carries out two price comparison surveys in Ireland every year – which are fairly detailed but are probably out of date as soon as they are done. The most recent NCA Grocery price comparison was carried out in July 2010 – we had a look at some of the results……….

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Is there really that much difference in the price of travel insurance in Ireland? Is it worth shopping around to save money?

We obtained some online quotes for a  single 1 week  trip in Europe for a group  of 6 (4 adults and 2 children aged 16 and 7).
The insurance quotes we obtained all include cover  for cancellation, missed departure, baggage loss, personal belongings as well as medical cover

Insurancebookers.ie €54.75
AA €66.66
Getcover.ie €77.50
Gosure €78.76
123.ie €83.80

One thing we did discover – is that the level of insurance cover varies drastically between the various policies. So our advice is be sure before you buy a travel insurance policy that you know what the policy covers you for . Don’t just buy the cheapest option and assume it will be OK  – because you may not have the cover you thought you had.

For example -  if we had selected the  €52.46 “Bronze” option with 123.ie  – it would not pay out anything at all for cancellation,  curtailment or  loss of baggage .
We could have got a cheaper single trip policy for just €44.75 from Insurancebookers – (Silver)  which had  cover of up to, €1500 for cancellation, €700 for baggage and €450 for missed departure

The cheapest travel insurance we found online – with the level of cover that we wanted was from InsuranceBookers at €54.75 . The  policy included cover of up to €7000 for cancellation or curtailment, €3000 for baggage, €1000 for missed departure  as well as  €10 million Medical expenses.

The AA Travel policy ( €66.66) included cover of upto €6000 for cancellation or curtailment, €3000 for baggage, €800 for missed departure , €11 million Medical expenses.

Getcover insurance (€77.50) would cover upto  €7000 for cancellation € 5000 for abandonment , €2500 for baggage, €2000 for missed departure , €10 million Medical expenses.

Gosure policy cover (€78.76) includes up to €6000 for cancellation or abandonment , €1800 for baggage, €360 for missed departure , €60 million Medical expenses.

123.ie policy  cover  (€83.80) includes  upto  €7000 for cancellation or abandonment , €3000 for baggage, €1000 for missed departure , €10 million Medical expenses.

We were also quoted the following prices online for annual travel cover (Europe No Ski)  – so it would only be worth this group getting annual cover if they were having more than 4 trips abroad in a year.

Insurancebookers.ie €225
123.ie  €229.83
Getcover.ie  €230
AA  €240.34
Gosure  €297.90

All prices quoted  online on July 27th 2010

Read here about Volcanic Ash and Travel Insurance

Bord Gais now have two competitors for the supply of Natural Gas in Ireland – Flogas and Airtricity. As of June 1st 2010 – Flogas have reduced prices in response to Airtricity’s entry into the residential gas market.
Airtricity will only supply gas if you also get electricity from them.

How much can you save by switching gas suppliers ?

Natural Gas Prices Compared (New customers)

Figures  correct as at   June 1st 2010
(These prices shown include standing charges but do not include the new carbon tax)

As you can see from the comparison above -   a Bord Gais customer using  25000 kwH of gas a year would be better off switching to  Flogas  – to the tune of  €123 a year .
This special rate is for new customers who  pay by Direct Debit.

See Electricity Prices Comparison for Ireland Here

A recent comparison of car insurance prices in Ireland was published by the Financial Regulator in May 2010. It showed once again that the price of car insurance premiums can differ by large amounts – as much as €2200.

The biggest difference in price between the cheapest insurance and the most expensive was in the case of a  19-year-old female student . She was given quotes for comprehensive car cover for a 2003 Opel Corsa.
The lowest price was from  Aviva - at  €928 . The most expensive quote was from FBD at  €3,161  – a difference of €2,233 or 340%  more.
(The excess payable with Aviva was  €600 , compared to €350 for FBD.
The Aviva quote was also subject to the driver passing a free Aviva driving assessment.

Overall – the comparison survey obtained just 16 quotes from 9 different insurance companies. Quinn Insurance provided the cheapest quotes in 31% of the sample . Aviva was the cheapest for 25% of the quotes  and FBD and RSA for 12.5%

FBD Insurance was the most expensive insurer in 75% of the quotes – they may say they are ” No Nonsense” – but this survey shows that some consumers would need to have more sense if they went with FBD .
Chartis (fomerly AIG) was the most expensive in the other 25% of the quotes.

Ref – http://www.itsyourmoney.ie/motorinsurancecomparison

The Irish Financial Regulator has placed Quinn Insurance  into provisional administration and is expected to push for this  administration to become indefinite at a hearing on 12 April.

The Regulator has been concerned about the  Quinn Group since December 2009  when Quinn Insurance said the group was seeking a waiver from commitments to pay back certain debts by the end of last year. Sean Quinn was a major shareholder in Anglo Irish Bank – which is now in the hands of the state and making massive losses.

Quinn Insurance is Ireland’s second biggest insurer -   Quinn Insurance has around 23 per cent of the health insurance market in Ireland – they took over BUPA’s Irish operation  when BUPA pulled out.
Although the regulator has said that Quinn-Healthcare  customers do not need to do anything -  many of them will be looking into switching insurers to avoid any possible problems.
There are only 2 alternatives to Quinn for health insurance in Ireland – AVIVA and VHI.
You can transfer from one health insurer to another at any time – you do not have to wait for a renewal noice . If you switch from Quinn to another health insurance company you  are entitled to a full refund for any period of insurance that you have not used.  Here is a letter you can use to inform Quinn Insurance that you wish to cancel your Policy. It makes sense to take out any new policy before you cancel your old one – it is better to have a couple of days overlap than a few days with no cover at all.

Aviva have a promotional rewards package on offer for anyone who switches to them before April 15th 2010. This promotion was announced befor the problems with Quinn. You can get vouchers for things such as free cinema tickets, a free round of golf, free beauty treatment and lots more.

When you switch health insurance provider – if the new policy offers the same benefits (or a lower level) you will not have to serve any extra waiting period before claiming.
If your new policy has higher benefits the new company can insist on a waiting period before you are eligible for these extra benefits.

We did a quick price comparison of some similar health insurance packages for a family of 2 adults, 2 children & 1 student.

Quinn Insurance Essential   – cost €1620
Aviva Level 1 Hospital  €1685
VHI Plan A  – cost  €1789.05

There are minor differences in all the health insurance packages – so exact comparisons are not easy. Excess payments are one of the big differences – this is the amount you have to pay towards any claim in a year. In the 3 examples above – the lowest excess was from Aviva at €250 per family. With Quinn – the excess was  €470 and with VHI it was €250 per person (a possible €1250 in the example family) . Higher excess levels will  mean you are less likely to reach the threshold where cover kicks in on the smaller items like Physio or GP visits.
In the above comparison – ony Aviva would cover the full cost of a private room in a public hospital. Quinn would want €55 per night from you and VHI would not cover the full cost either.

As always – “shop around ” is the best advice when buying or renewing car insurance. You could save hundreds of euros by going with one insurance company instead of another. In one example in a recent price comparison on Irish car insurance by the Financial Regulator – one car insurance quote was almost  3 times more expensive than the cheapest quote for the same client.

In the October 2009  survey – quotes were obtained for car insurance for a female 22 year old student  with 2 penalty points , 4 years full license and 2 years no claims bonus. She was driving a 2002 Nissan Almera . The quote also included a named driver – her 22 year old male partner with a provisional licence.
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Once  children hit 17 – many  of them are keen to learn how to drive – but the high price of insurance for learner drivers can be a problem. Once they have their provisional licence – you can add them as a named driver on your own insurance policy. Adding a learner driver to your policy will increase the premiums by quite a lot -  around €800 a year in some cases .

We did a small online price comparison to see where we could find the cheapest car insurance for a 19 year old learner driver as a named driver on his mother’s policy. The quotes were obtained on February 20th and 21st 2010.

Car insurance quotes were requested for a 45 year old female with a full clean licence driving a 2004 Fiat Panda 1.2l  in the Galway area.
Her son was added as a named driver – he is 19 , a student with a provisional licence that he has held for a year. These are the online insurance quotes we obtained for comprehensive insurance with breakdown cover included. (Cheapest price first)

Aviva €1210.48 -  with a €600 excess
123.ie €1221.41   with €500 excess and windscreen cover
Quinn €1284.54   300 excess  incl breakdown
Chill.ie €1412      with a €250 excess and windscreen cover
Quoteme.ie €1624.20
Insure.ie €1612.23 -   €600 excess amd breakdown NOT incl
AA €1855.39  windscreen ncb protection (No  breakdown cover)
FBD  – no quote could be provided online

Surprisingly – Aviva  – (formerly known as Hibernian) came out with the lowest price – some €645 cheaper than the highest price in the small survey. The next cheapest was from 123.ie  – which  did include windscreen cover and a lower excess.


One extra financial advantage we discovered with Aviva insurance for provisional licence holders – is that they offer 6 months FREE accompanied learner driver insurance if you buy 10 driving lessons from them.
The cost of insurance cover with Aviva for the mother alone was €323.61 – so the 6 months free cover for the provisional licence holder is worth €443.43 in this example.  The Aviva driving school say lessons cost from €42 an hour – so basically the lessons end up costing you nothing.

The latest price comparison on home insurance by the financial regulator was carried out in December 2009. Their survey of house insurance quotes was  fairly limited and does not include online brokers . Only nine quotes were sought on four different properties.  Even so – it still highlights that you can cut insurance costs by shopping around.

In one example – there was a difference in price of almost €300 a year . This was on  a  3 bedroom semi-detached house in  Dublin 5. with a rebuilding cost of  €234,000 and  contents  worth €46,800 . The highest quote for buildings and contents cover was from Axa at €693 a year. The lowest quote was for €398 at Lloyds via getcover.com. This is a difference of  almost 100% – and the excess was €75 less with the lower priced quote.

Comparing quotes for contents only insurance  showed up a massive difference of 380% between the highest and lowest price. The lowest price for insuring contents worth €32000 was just €75 from FBD Insurance (200 excess) . The highest quote was from Zurich at €286 (250 excess)

Insurance quotes for buildings insurance on a farmhouse worth 210,000 ranged from €288 to €453 – a difference of  €165. In this case the lowest price was from Quinn Direct and the highest from Royal Sun Alliance.