Toyota enters the Irish insurance market

Neil Briscoe

Toyota has decided that it’s high time to get into the insurance business in Ireland, and so is going to start offering exclusive insurance products to drivers of both Toyota and Lexus models.

The new insurance products will be offered as part of a collaboration between Toyota Insurance Services (originally established back in 1999) and German-based Wrisk Europe, a company which has specialised in offering bespoke insurance services to car manufacturers and retailers.

The new products will be available only for Toyota and Lexus drivers. Unlike Toyota Insurance Services' operations in the UK, which allows any car driver to get a quote and cover, in Ireland the insurance will be kept very much in the family.

According to Toyota Ireland, which is also the best-selling new car brand in Ireland, the new insurance policies will be “built to reflect Toyota’s quality standards while offering straightforward access, transparent cover, and competitive pricing for Toyota and Lexus customers in Ireland.”

Zoë Bradley, head of marketing communications at Toyota Ireland, added: “This tailored and comprehensive insurance product provides a simple, digital and highly competitive insurance experience that complements the quality of Toyota and Lexus vehicles.”

The insurance on offer will include some Toyota and Lexus-specific protections, including some cover specifically aimed at hybrid and electric car drivers.

Those features include battery cover, charging cable cover, and wallbox charger protection, while the cover will also come with a flexible ‘Any Driver’ cover, guaranteed repairs using genuine Toyota parts, no claims bonus protection, and vandalism & uninsured driver protection.

Despite all these extras, Toyota Ireland says it "has been priced to be competitive in the Irish market, with added value for Toyota and Lexus drivers.”

What it won’t do, at least for now, is allow Toyota Ireland to offer a one-payment subscription-style service when it comes to buying a Toyota and Lexus.

Such subscription services, which bundle car finance, tax, servicing, and insurance into one monthly payment, have been popular in other countries, but have generally foundered in Ireland because of high and unpredictable insurance costs.

However, while it would seem like something of an open goal, Toyota Ireland has confirmed that it presently has no plans to introduce such an all-inclusive price product.

At least it does mean that there is a new provider in the Irish insurance market. Sebastian Hartmann, director of business development at Wrisk Europe, said the launch "marks a significant milestone for Wrisk as we expand our presence in the European market".

That expansion will be welcome, not least because the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) recently published a report which found that competition in the Irish insurance market had weakened.

The CCPC found that “concentration and average markups have risen in Ireland across multiple industries within the services sector, particularly since 2016” and that the top four insurance providers held a chunky 37 per cent of the overall market, which is a 12 percentage point increase since 2018.

The CCPC report noted that, despite repeated calls over two decades, meaningful reform of the insurance market has still not happened. The CCPC chair, Brian McHugh, pointed out that the report’s findings show: “an increase in concentration and average markups, meaning the promotion of strong competition has never been more important.”