Covid-19 has changed the motoring landscape. As we enter a brave, new world, let’s take a moment to look back at some important motoring trends in Ireland.

508,275 Penalty Points Recorded as of March 2020

When drivers don’t follow the rules of the road and drive faster than the set speed limit, then they will inevitably end up receiving penalty points on their driving licence. In March 2020, the RSA recorded 508,275 penalty points on Irish drivers’ licences.

These penalty points will remain on the offenders driving licence record for 3 years. And a point to remember is that if a driving licence is out of date at any point during this time, it will not count as part of the three years, so keep this in mind. You should always keep your driving license up to date and remember you can not legally drive without a current drivers license that is in date.

There are over 63 driving offences according to the RSA website that will attract penalty points. You should make yourself familiar with the rules as some of them are not that obvious.

Some of the most common offences include speeding, driving a vehicle without an NCT, holding a mobile phone while driving, driving without reasonable consideration, failure to wear seat belts and driving without motor insurance.

A Record Number of Vehicles on Irish Roads

The number of motor vehicles on Irish roads has been increasing year-on-year, so our roads are getting more and more congested which inevitably lends to an increase in accidents and collisions.

Looking back on 2018/19 and what the expected trend is for 2020

There was total of 2.68 million vehicles using the Irish State’s roads in 2018 according to the Transport Trends report 2019.
A total of 121,157 private motor vehicles were registered in 2018, which is 76.7% of all new vehicles licensed in the year 2018. Although that’s a 4.6% decline from the previous year, 2018 experienced a 7.5% increase in the number of imported cars.

In particular, used car imports have seen a 110% increase since 2015, which suggests that Irish consumers are making the most of a depreciating pound sterling and a bigger pre-owned vehicle market in the UK during 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018.

Electric & Hybrid Cars

Electric and hybrid cars accounted for 10% of all car sales in Ireland in 2019, which is a 157% increase over the previous year. In fact, these vehicles accounted for over 20% of all private cars sold in January 2020.

Although the Irish government did predict 10% of all vehicles in Ireland would be electric by 2024, the recent COVID-19 pandemic and its knock on financial consequences may delay this expectation a little. It is worth noting that the Irish government is continuing to offer a grant of up to €5,000 on the cost of buying an electric car in 2020.

Wrapping Up

We hope you found these interesting facts useful. If you are looking for car insurance Ireland quotes, get in touch with the team at Britton Insurance today. We can help you find the best deal at the most competitive prices. Request a quick quote or call 074 9721 304.