THE AA HAS warned that missing technology leaves the insurance sector wide open to fraud.
The car insurance and breakdown cover company has said that this could be driving up customers’ premiums by as much as €50.
This relates to individuals submitting falsified insurance history to companies – showing no claims discount records that don’t exist and inaccurate penalty point histories.
The AA puts this down to an information sharing system not being in place to detect the false documents.
It says insurance companies and gardaí in Ireland are unable to share information in the same way that they are able to do in the United Kingdom.
This is done through the system known as the Integrated Information Data Service (IIDS) which is currently under development here.
Speaking about the technology, the AA’s director of consumer affairs Conor Faughnan said:
The AA has the resources and sophistication to detect these because it is the biggest intermediary in the country. But there are plenty of other providers that are being conned needlessly.
The company is calling on Insurance Ireland – the main representative body for insurance companies in Ireland – to speed up the process of introducing the information sharing system.
This would mean that insurers would no longer be required to obtain paper copies of customer’s documents which it says can be easily faked.
Alongside this windscreen disks would also be abolished in favour of using the database as proof of insurance.
In its annual review last year, Insurance Ireland stated that the IIDS project was continuing and that a version of it aimed at preventing individuals submitting fraudulent no claims discounts had gone live in 2013.
It also stated that it was making good progress with the penalty point version of the system, and that the Department of Transport are involved.
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