Motorists are now paying close to €11,000 a year to run a car due to increases in car insurance, according to the AA.
The average family is now forking out an average of €10,849.42 to run a car – an increase of €255.82 over last year, shocking new figures reveal.
And despite a substantial drop in fuel prices, any gains for motorists at the pumps have been wiped out by an average increase of almost 40% in insurance premiums for the average motorist over the past year, according to the AA’s annual survey of motoring costs.
“In a better year we could be talking about the fall in fuel prices. Drivers won’t notice though because of the enormous surge in insurance costs,” said AA’s Director of Consumer Affairs Conor Faulknan.
He said the onus is now on the Government to reign in the motor insurance industry.
“The insurance crisis is particularly frustrating because much of it is unnecessary. While it is true that motor insurance was losing money a few years ago and the price had to rise a bit, there are things that Government and the industry could do right now that would pull prices downwards,” he said.
Meanwhile, fuel prices, at least, have dropped significantly over the past year, according to the AA.
The average price of €1.27 a litre in August was around 11% lower than the same time last year, which works out to a saving of around €196.80 a year for a typical motorist.
An AA survey of national fuel prices has revealed that the average price of petrol is 129.1 cent per litre, while the average price of a litre of diesel is 113.2 cent.
“The bigger issue is tax, and of your €190 or so monthly fuel bill nearly €130 goes directly to the Government in tax.” said Faughnan.