The car insurance market in Northern Ireland

In the past Northern Ireland has suffered at the hands of mainland insurers with most not being prepared to cover a number of risks in the province. With the region becoming increasingly stabilised more and more big name insurers are looking to offer motor insurance products online and offline to Ulster residents.

With unsavoury incidents within the region in the past, car insurance in Northern Ireland has often been an issue but those days are now a thing of the past. Many people who are not residents of Northern Ireland may not have been aware of the impact which was caused on the premiums of the insurance companies due to certain trouble, mainly on vehicle insurance.

Unrest in the province in the past led to thefts and even blockades on the roads which in extreme cases resulted in cars being burnt and destroyed. Car theft is still an issue in certain areas of Northern Ireland but has improved greatly compared to previous decades. This history and previous trends led to Northern Ireland car insurance commanding high premiums.

There has been a sharp increase in the number of insurance companies and brokers in Northern Ireland and the online market is starting to catch up with the rest of the UK with more companies taking online presence seriously and more aggregators entering the NI online market.

At present aggregators mainly focus on comparing for car insurance, but in the not too distant future house insurance and other forms of insurance are also likely to be offered more prominently by aggregators. More and more of people are recognising the potential to make online savings and the traditional business model of bricks and mortar insurance and broker relationships are being challenged in Northern Ireland.

It is argued by some that Northern Ireland in the past had been suffering from mainland insurance companies who never thought out of the box and didn’t provide unique offerings to Northern Ireland. It is only now that this trend appears to be changing.