• Average motor premium rose to €655 in the first half of 2025, up 4% on 2024 and almost a fifth higher than late 2022.

• Repair-cost inflation is real, but after years of reform and wider savings, it must not become a blank cheque for insurers.

Today the Central Bank of Ireland published its NCID Mid-Year 2025 Private Motor reports, showing that the average motor premium rose to €655 in the first half of 2025, up 4% on 2024.[1]

That means average motor premiums are now up by almost a fifth since late 2022 and are placing sizable cost and affordability pressures on motorists.[1]

The NCID data underlines the extent to which higher repair costs and the increase in damage claims are now feeding into motor premiums. Damage claims have overtaken injury claims as the largest component of settled motor claim costs, and the total cost of damage claims in H1 2025 was 8% higher than in H2 2024.[2]

Commenting on today’s report, Tracy Sheridan, owner of Kidspace play centres in Rathfarnham and Rathcoole and a Board member of the Alliance, said: “These figures confirm that repair costs are pushing premiums higher, but that is not the whole story. Injury costs have continued to fall, the Personal Injuries Guidelines are now applying in most claims, and motorists are entitled to ask whether those savings are being fully reflected in the price of cover.” [3]

There are also more motorists insured than there were a few years ago, with written policy count and premium income both 29% above pre-Covid levels.[4] The wider context also includes lower insurance levies, and uninsured driving having fallen sharply since 2022.[5]

Ms Sheridan continued: “Repair-cost inflation is real, but after years of reform and wider savings, it must not become a blank cheque for insurers. Government must continue to implement the reforms included in the Action Plan for Insurance Reform and ensure the new Motor Insurance Transparency Code promotes real competition and consumer switching, rather than being used simply to justify continuing premium increases.”

—ENDS—

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: contact@insurancereform.ie or Alliance CEO, Brian Hanley at 086 8620 974.

Notes

1. NCID Mid-Year 2025 Private Motor Insurance Premium Data Release: average written premium per policy was €655 in H1 2025, 4% higher than in 2024. The same report states that average written premium increased by 19% from €552 in H2 2022 to €655 in H1 2025. 
2. NCID Mid-Year 2025 Private Motor Insurance Settled Claims Data Release: damage claims have overtaken injury claims as the largest component of settled motor claim costs; in H1 2025 damage claims made up 56% of total settled claim costs. 
3. NCID Mid-Year 2025 Private Motor Insurance Settled Claims Data Release: total motor injury claim costs in H1 2025 were 24% lower than the 2015–2019 pre-Covid average; for injury claims under €100,000, average compensation cost was 20% lower than in 2020; 85% of claims in H1 2025 settled under the Personal Injuries Guidelines, including 70% of litigated claims. 
4. NCID briefing material states that written policy count and premium were both 29% higher in H1 2025 than the 2015–2019 pre-Covid average. The published premium report also states that insurers wrote approximately €798 million in premium across 1.2 million policies in H1 2025. 
5. Separate official data shows that the Motor Insurers Insolvency Compensation Fund levy was reduced from 1% to 0% from 1 January 2025, following an earlier reduction from 2% to 1% in Budget 2024. The Central Bank also reduced the Insurance Compensation Fund levy from 2% to 1% from 1 January 2026. MIBI reported that uninsured private vehicles fell from 187,803 in 2022 to 101,881 in 2024, or from 1 in 12 to 1 in 25. 
6. The Alliance for Insurance Reform brings together 49 civic and business organisations from across Ireland, representing over 55,000 members, 700,000 employees, 614,000 volunteers and 374,000 students in highlighting the negative impact of persistently high premiums and calling for real reforms that will quickly reduce liability and motor insurance premiums to affordable levels and keep them that way.