CVC COULD HELP SAVE €10 – €15 ON MOTOR INSURANCE OVER TIME – MIBI
The Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) will today tell the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport that adding a Continuous Vehicle Coverage (CVC) system could save the average law abiding motorist €10 – €15 on the cost of annual motor insurance policies over time.
CVC is a system which requires motor insurance based on vehicle ownership. Vehicle owners are required to insure their vehicle at all times once they acquire the vehicle – if the vehicle is to be used on Irish roads. This is different from the current approach, whereby it is not an offence to own an uninsured vehicle, it’s only an offence if you are caught driving it without valid insurance. That means all the onus is on An Garda Síochána to identify and apprehend any uninsured drivers when they are active on Irish roads.
An actuarial review conducted by KPMG on behalf of the MIBI shows that CVC could reduce the level of uninsured vehicles on Irish roads by approximately 40% in the space of five years. If that was applied to current levels it would see the uninsured rate drop from 6.5% to 3.9% – which represents approximately 85k uninsured vehicles.
KPMG anticipate the expected impact would come in phases. There would be a 20% reduction after Year 1 of the new approach, with an additional reduction of approximately 5% delivered each subsequent year.
Research conducted by the MIBI shows there were 211k uninsured and unregistered vehicles on Irish roads in 2025.
The MIBI is a not-for-profit organisation established to compensate the victims of road traffic accidents caused by uninsured and unidentified vehicles. On average, the costs facing the MIBI each year are in the region of €60 million, with funding provided by the motor insurance providers active in Ireland. This effectively means that uninsured driving adds to the costs facing every Irish motor insurance policyholder.
Reducing the number of uninsured vehicles on Irish roads would also have an impact on the costs paid out by the MIBI. KPMG project that within 10 years of CVC being introduced, MIBI costs could be reduced by as much as an estimated €26 million per year, based on current inflation levels and the continued use of IMID. Going another few years beyond that, the combined cumulative savings per year would eventually reach approximately €30 million.
If a €30m per year saving was achieved it would also have a positive effect on motor insurance policyholders across the country. Using projections based on current level of legal fees, compensation payments, inflation etc, the MIBI estimates the contribution towards dealing with the impact of uninsured driving from the average motor insurance policy could fall from the historic €30 contribution they receive for tackling these costs, to approximately €15.
Speaking ahead of the meeting with the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, David Fitzgerald, CEO of the MIBI said, “We have an uninsured driving problem in this country and we strongly believe that introducing a CVC system is the best solution towards addressing it. Systems like this are used all around Europe, in 27 other countries in fact. This includes the UK, where the level of uninsured vehicles dropped from about 6% to 2.5% after they introduced a similar system.
“The actuarial review from KPMG also shows how impactful such an approach is likely to be if it is introduced in this country. If we combine CVC with the gains we’ve already made through IMID, we can quickly reduce the number of uninsured vehicles on Irish roads from the 1 in 15 that are currently active – one of the highest levels in Europe.
“It would also considerably reduce the costs associated with uninsured driving in Ireland, a cost that is borne by all law abiding motorists in this country. If we want that figure to come down then we have to be serious about reducing the number of uninsured vehicles active on our roads.
“CVC represents best practice in tackling uninsured driving. It is an approach that would move this problem from being primarily policing led to being administration led, potentially reducing the burden placed on the Gardaí’s finite resources. If introduced it would save the Gardaí time, help reduce the costs facing law abiding motorists and most importantly make our roads safer. Which is in everyone’s interests,” Mr. Fitzgerald concluded.