The Motor Insurance Advisory Board (MIAB) is to hold an inquiry into the cost of commercial vehicle insurance. It will present its findings to the Government.
The board has invited submissions on the cost of insurance for trucks, buses, company cars and vehicles used for hire or reward. The findings will be passed to the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney.
The MIAB issued a report on the costs of private motor insurance in April. It has provoked reaction from those paying commercial operators' rates, according to the MIAB's chairperson, Ms Dorothea Dowling.
She said many large companies in Ireland "can no longer afford huge increases" in insurance premiums.
Ms Dowling also said she was disappointed with the Insurance Industry Federation (IIF), saying the body was using "delaying tactics" on the implementation of 10 recommendations from the April report relating directly to it.
Yesterday the IIF announced it had appointed Mr Kevin Bonner, former secretary general of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, to chair its implementation committee which is charged with overseeing the implementation of those MIAB recommendations relating to the IIF.
However, Ms Dowling said the IIF should have acted sooner in appointing someone to implement the MIAB's recommendations. She said a deadline for the end of this month had been set for the Government's implementation body, of which she is a member, to report back.
But with just three weeks remaining until that deadline, the IIF's own implementation committee will not have sufficient time to fully assist the Government-appointed implementation body.
However, IIF spokesman Mr Martin Long said an end of July deadline had never been set to fully implement the recommendations. He added that even if the IIF implemented the 10 recommendations immediately, it would not result in lower premiums. "Premiums are being driven up because of the high cost of claims."
He added that the Government "owns" the system by which claims are processed and that it is up to it to change it.
The director of the Small Firms Association, Mr Pat Delaney, said that while insurance costs rocketed last year, the situation to date in 2002 was even worse. "In 2001, the average cost of motor insurance rose by 42 per cent in Ireland, but so far this year we have seen rises of between 50 per cent and 130 per cent," he said.
IBEC director of enterprise Mr Brendan Butler said the rising cost of insurance cover was now a major issue for its members.
"A lot of groups are telling us that after payroll, it is now their second-biggest expense and two or three years ago it wasn't on the agenda at all," he said. He warned that rising premiums had also been caused by the difficulties in the current claims system now facing insurers rather than insurers simply "creaming the market".
The cost of legal advice, the length of time it takes for a case to come to court and also the dwindling number of companies willing to underwrite the business in Ireland were all pushing higher the cost of commercial cover, he said.
