See all Motoring Advice There has been a simply astonishing explosion in electronic car safety aids in the past decade. At the turn of the 2010s, we were pretty happy with airbags and electronic stability control, but since then the role of electronics in protecting us behind the wheel has expanded at an amazing rate. Even relatively humble cars are now available with radar-guided cruise control, steering that keeps you in lane on the motorway, automated emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring and even steering that can detect an imminent collision and help you swerve away from it.
Given that many of the more advanced and expensive things are going to be on the options list of a new car, is it worth you spending extra on safety equipment to get a discount on your car insurance?
The short answer is no. The longer answer is yes, though with a lot of buts. There is currently no direct discount scheme in Ireland for adding extra safety equipment to your car, which seems a shame. Surely drivers who go the extra mile to buy the extra safety kit should be rewarded?
So, how are Irish insurance rates actually decided upon? According to Allianz Ireland, the primary criteria for setting the cost of insurance is the driver: “It’s ourselves – for example, our age, where we live, details of any medical conditions,” says Allianz. “It’s also our driving experience — driving licence type, details of any driving convictions and claims — and our motor insurance history, such as no claim discount entitlement.”
Only after that does the type of car come into the equation, so you can see how significant the effect of a few extra items of safety equipment might factor into the final price of your premium. Differences and criteria relating to you, the driver, carry far more weight.
Not that insurers don’t take any notice of how safe a car is in technical terms, of course. According to Allianz: “Choosing a car with safety features not only offers serious protection in the event of a crash, it could prevent the crash altogether. Research from EU Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety 2016 shows that the risk of fatal injury in the event of a crash is reduced by 66 per cent in cars which have performed well in terms of safety features when tested by the European new car assessment programme (Euro NCAP).”
So, buying a safer car with more safety equipment is a good idea from an insurance point of view? No. Allianz also says: “It is important to note that while the safety rating of a vehicle is an extremely important consideration so that you and your passengers are protected, the inclusion of such safety features mentioned above may not mean your car will be cheaper to insure. In calculating insurance premiums, many other factors related to the vehicle are taken into consideration. Such factors would include vehicle performance, engine size, cost of parts, trim level and new car price.”
There are some other factors that push the safety equipment to one side when it comes to calculating insurance prices. First up is the simple fact that in most cases, it’s not your car that’s the problem — it’s other people’s cars. “44% of the motor claims we dealt with last year involved a third party. These claims come in all shapes and sizes, from fender benders to sadly much more serious accidents,” said Allianz. “It is estimated that 90 per cent of all road traffic accidents are caused by human error.” And there’s only so much that electronics can do to circumvent that.
Equally, there’s another component of insurance pricing, and that’s the cost of repair. A vehicle loaded up with cameras and sensors that help it and you avoid an accident might be a good thing, in general, but if the worst happens and it gets damaged, then it’s going to be a more expensive car to fix up afterwards. That plays heavily on the cost of your premium. Think of it this way — most cars now have an expensive, high-definition camera mounted in the windscreen that watches the road ahead and which is a vital component of modern safety systems, but 43 per cent of insurance claims in Ireland relate to windscreen damage, and most of that is from stone chips, not from collisions with other vehicles.
Finally, according to Allianz, the safety equipment of the vehicle ranks sixth in line when assessing the potential cost of insuring that car. Ahead of safety come the cost of damage repair, repair times, the cost of replacement vehicles, the cost of parts and the performance of the vehicle.
Irish insurers generally rely on the Thatcham organisation in the UK for its individual vehicle safety and risk ratings, and it is true that the safest vehicles — such as the Volvo XC60 — perform well in this list, but ultimately, it’s the cheapest cars, the ones that are most affordable to repair, that get the lowest rating. So a Dacia Sandero — which gets a poor score from Euro NCAP — is in a far lower insurance group than the Volvo.
If nothing else, that should tell you how much extra safety equipment counts come insurance renewal time.