Insurance companies restricting comprehensive cover to motorists over a certain age could see cases explored under the Equality Act, according to the Equality Authority.
Motorists who are declined comprehensive insurance because of their age can appeal under the Equality Act as age alone cannot be a reason for less favourable treatment in supplying services such as insurance.
And the authority says a key goal is to bring forward test-cases dealing with issues such as high quotes in order to examine the extent to which the quotes can be backed up by actuarial data or whether the pricing could be deemed discriminatory.
At least one Irish insurer has set a lower age limit of 19 years for comprehensive cover, but there is no standard practice across the industry, according to Michael Horan, non-life insurance manager at the Insurance Federation. "Some companies restrict comprehensive cover to motorists over a certain age, others don't. Each insurer makes its own decision and none is obliged to cover every risk."
The Equality Act 2004 allows 17-year-old drivers and motorcyclists as young as 16 to bring a case to the Equality Tribunal if they believe they are being unfairly treated. Age, gender, colour or disability alone must not be factors in declining insurance cover.
Last year the first age-limit test case was settled with an insurance company after a 23-year-old man was refused any type of quote for being below the insurer's lower age limit of 25 years.
The Equality Authority pursued the matter on behalf of the driver as refusal was on age grounds and unrelated to the driver's claims history or accident record. The insurer settled stating it had changed its policy and removed the lower age limit for quotations.
The legislation allows companies exemptions for "commercial reasons" or if they present reliable actuarial or statistical evidence that would justify their decisions.
The chief executive of the Equality Authority, Niall Crowley, says every motorist has to be judged on his or her own merits. "Insurers must look at real rather than proxy indicators and the other landmark case where a 77-year-old was refused insurance despite his seven-year no-claims bonus shows that blanket age rules can be discriminatory."
But getting cover and then pricing it for young drivers is an emotive issue. Says Michael Horan: "The more risk factors you pile up like youth, plus male, plus provisional licence, plus very little driving experience, plus big car, the more undesirable the risk, as far as insurers are concerned. And comprehensive cover for this type of risk will be priced higher."
AXA which does offer third-party and comprehensive cover to young drivers with full or provisional licenses from 17 years up can charge €6,000 - €7,000 for third-party fire and theft and somewhat more for comprehensive cover. Those availing of "Tracksure" have a speed-monitoring device installed in their car. They must provide proof of six hours driving tuition from a recognised driving school and cover is only available on standard saloon cars, not hot hatches.
A key goal, says Niall Crowley, is to deploy the Act to look at how insurance is provided and use cases to test if there is discrimination in risk assessment and risk management.
The Equality Authority says it is currently processing 10 cases for motorists on each side of the age spectrum who have been refused a quote of any kind or received heavily weighted quotes because of their age.