Following a commitment made in May of this year Hibernian Insurance, which insures almost one in three private motorists in the state, is introducing a 10% motor insurance discount for all its customers who are penalty point free from 1 November 2003.
Following a commitment made in May of this year Hibernian Insurance, which insures almost one in three private motorists in the state, is introducing a 10% motor insurance discount for all its customers who are penalty point free from 1 November 2003.
1 November was chosen as the date for the introduction of the Hibernian discount as it marks the one-year anniversary of the introduction of penalty points for Irish motorists.
Hibernian customers whose motor insurance is due for renewal during November will shortly be receiving their renewal notice, clearly showing the 10% discount they are entitled to if they have not accrued penalty points (see note 1). This will mean an average of €70-€100 reduction in the cost of insurance for many motorists. Young drivers with higher premiums will stand to benefit most from a clean driving record with significant discounts if they keep ‘clean’ penalty point sheets.
Hibernian direct customers as well as those who purchase their Hibernian motor insurance through a broker will receive notice of their penalty point discount at the date of their first motor insurance renewal after 1 November.
In order to qualify for the discount and to ensure that the customer keeps his/her discount the following year the customer must complete the form attached to the renewal notice, supplying Hibernian with his/her driver number and the number of all named drivers on the insurance policy (see note 2). This information must be provided to Hibernian no less that three months prior to the next renewal date, otherwise the discount will lapse.
In the case of a Hibernian customer who has penalty points and fails to notify the company of the fact, he/she will, in the event of an accident, be subject to a special claims excess of €2,500. This excess will also apply if any of the drivers named on the policy have penalty points. Notification of this special claims excess appears clearly on all renewal notices.
Dick O’Driscoll, Hibernian’s managing director, said: “Hibernian is standing by its commitment made earlier this year to reinforce the initial success of penalty points by giving customers who are penalty point free a 10% discount on their insurance”.
“Road accident figures are still a huge concern to us and we believe the future success of the penalty points system depends on support from everyone, including the Garda Siochana, which is responsible for administering the system and enforcing road traffic laws, the National Roads Authority which is responsible for making
our roads safer, and insurance companies which are responsible for penalising repeat offenders where it hurts most – in their pockets”.
“We have witnessed a reduction in road fatalities since last November, albeit less than we would have hoped, and we now have to continue to drive this momentum in order to really change and improve peoples’ behaviour and attitude on our roads.”
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Notes:
1. The Hibernian car insurance reduction strategy has an in-built incentive to safer driving, the key points of which currently are:
- The 10% discount will apply to existing Hibernian customers who have NO penalty points with effect from their insurance renewal date on or after 1 November 2003
- The 10% reduction will also apply to new Hibernian customers from 1 November 2003 who also have NO penalty points
- For existing Hibernian customers who have 1-5 penalty points the reduction will not apply
- For existing Hibernian customers who have 6 penalty points a 10% loading on their insurance will apply from 1 November with a further 5% for each subsequent penalty point they receive
- For new customers Hibernian will accept those with up to 4 penalty points, Hibernian will not accept customer with 5 or more points
2. The driver number is unique to each driver and should not be confused with the licence number. In all driver licences issued since 17.11.99 the driver number appears as uimhir/number under no 5. In all licences issued between 25.6.92 and 17.11.99 the number appears under no 8. It should not be confused with the licence number (usually in red), which changes with each new licence.
3. Hibernian has also reinforced its commitment to the motor market in Ireland and is continuously seeking to improve safety standards on Irish roads including:
- Increasing to 25,000 the number of places available on our countrywide Ignition training scheme for inexperienced drivers – which offers a further reduction of between 20% - 40% depending on competency of the individual driver.”
- Hibernian is part of the Aviva plc the fifth largest insurance group in Europe, and seventh globally (based on gross worldwide premia)
- Hibernian is Ireland’s largest composite insurer, ranked first for general insurance and top three for life and pensions
- A press photograph is available by ISDN
- Hibernian news releases are also available on www.hibernian.ie
Press contact: Kela O’Riordan, 01 607 7820, 086 606 8842, kela.oriordan@hibernian.ie