Less than a quarter of the Irish Carole Nash policyholders who were left without insurance last week have rearranged cover through the company with Royal & Sun Alliance. Carole Nash wrote to 9,000 motorcyclists and vintage car owners last week informing them that their policies, underwritten by the failed Independent Insurance, were worthless.
Hibernian, which is the main competition for this group of policyholders, has been advertising the availability of its own motorcycle policy.
According to a company spokesman, Hibernian's call centre and branches have been "under a lot of pressure" dealing with inquiries.
With only 1,800 new policies placed by Carole Nash, with Royal and Hibernian mainly dealing with initial enquiries, it appears that a large number of the 8,000 motorcyclists with defunct policies have yet to take out alternative cover.
This has serious implications for any vehicles still on the road. Policyholders were warned by Carole Nash that claims made against Independent were unlikely to be met in full, if at all. It is still unclear whether or not Irish policyholders who have lost money or had reason to make a claim will be covered by the British Policyholders Protection Board fund.
The provisional liquidators have said that claims for the return of premium on policies protected by the Policyholders Protection Act 1975 may in certain circumstances be paid at the rate of 90 per cent by the board.
Independent Insurance sold policies here initially from the UK but in the past year through a Dublin-based branch. If it can be established that the policies sold here were technically UK policies, Irish policyholders may be covered by the UK Act.
A spokesman for the policyholders board said it had been in contact with the provisional liquidators with a list of questions to establish whether Irish policyholders were deemed to be UK policyholders.
"At the moment we can't answer the question one way or another but it is conceivable that the answer is yes," he said. Independent also had operations in France, Spain and Australia and policyholders there are also "out on a limb", the spokesman said.
The Irish Insurance Federation has also been looking for answers on this issue. The federation sent a letter to the board last Thursday asking it to what extent it, the board, would assist policyholders.
The IIF also asked the board to what extent employer liability, public liability and commercial property policyholders were protected by the board.
Independent, declared insolvent on June 21st, wrote general insurance and reinsurance business, mainly covering liability, property, motor and other insurance for the commercial and personal lines sectors.
