Insurance companies saw a 27 per cent increase in complaints last year, with 1,631 cases being brought to the insurance ombudsman.
In the 10th year of the scheme, the ombudsman, Ms Caroline Gill, processed a record 1,582 complaints. Of these, she formally adjudicated on 482, with 37 per cent being found in favour of the complainant - a lower figure than in previous years.
Ms Gill said settlements ranged from a couple of hundred euros to the maximum €160,000.
Motor insurance again accounted for the largest category of claims, with 507 complaints received. This was followed by challenges on life and travel policies.
An additional 332 complaints were settled following intervention, up almost half on the previous year.
The balance of claims were referred elsewhere, resulted in clarifications or fell outside the ombudsman's terms of reference.
The ombudsman attributed the rise in the number of complaints to the increase in the number of insurance policies being taken out in recent years and the increase in public awareness of the existence of the ombudsman's office as a cost-free form of redress where conflicts arise.
Ms Gill said the most common difficulty encountered in life and non-life insurance disputes was whether there had been proper disclosure by customers when applying for cover.
Other issues that cropped up regularly during the year were precisely what constituted storm damage and the terms of cover in travel insurance policies.
She said the dominance of motor insurance issues in the ombudsman's office workload was not surprising as it was the one form of insurance that people were obliged to hold. Motor insurance had also come more into the spotlight in recent years following the report of the Motor Insurance Advisory Board and increased media coverage.
Ms Gill praised the co-operation of the insurance industry with the ombudsman scheme and said it had found it a cost-effective way of dealing with complaints. The cost of running the office, which is funded by insurance companies, rose by a quarter in 2002 to €975,359.
The ombudsman, which has until now dealt with complaints relating to insurance companies, will, from this year, also deal with complaints against independent brokers who are members of the Irish Brokers Association.
The ombudsman's office is waiting to see if it will be subsumed in the proposed new statutory financial ombudsman's office, which the Government proposes to set up alongside the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA).
Legislation enabling the creation of the statutory ombudsman is expected to be published during the summer and enacted by the end of the year.
