Hope everyone had a great Easter break. Here’s a chance to catch up on some insurance links from the last few days.

Kilkenny man helping people take control of their health with an innovative new health gadget.

The IRFU bet on Ireland’s Progress for the forthcoming rugby World Cup in New Zealand.  

Interesting new pilot scheme being launched in Northern Ireland which will attach a data recorder to the car to monitor the driving habits of drivers and can also pinpoint the location of the vehicle.

Insurer Aviva are a leader when it comes to having the lowest gashouse emissions out of 300 large companies in Europe.

Sugar the new health killer. A spectacular claim from an American professor  “that sugar must be now put alongside those other well known poisons: alcohol and tobacco”.

Easter Funtime

 
Easter Holidays are here. And the weather is great. Yipee !!! 

Looking for a day out with the kids & some ideas of things to do over the Easter break. Whatever the weather & whatever the age of your kids, discover loads of fantastic family friendly attractions on your doorstep from these great Irish websites. They list events & attractions that are going on in your local area & some even have Easter Fun guides for 2011.

FunDays.ie was set up by busy parents who wanted to help other parents find ideas on fun things to do in Ireland. They also have an Easter Event guide with lots of events happening over the Easter break.   

Dayout.ie cater for families, guys, girls, couples & groups.

FamilyFun.ie was set up by 2 childhood friends  who also wanted to make it easy for parents of young kids to find out what events were going on near them. 

So lots of ideas & lots of activities going on around the country. What are your plans for the weekend?  

Call Gareth at 01 634 9333 or visit FirstQuote.ie to get a free insurance quote & see what money you can save today.

I know it’s a lovely, sunny day today. But it is only a few months since we had freezing cold weather. Did it affect your home or business? 

Last week the Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) announced that a whopping €224m was paid to home and business owners as a result of the BIG freeze that hit Ireland in December 2010. That’s a lot of money.

Burst pipes caused damage to businesses & homes all over Ireland resulting in almost 30,000 claims, with household claims costing a staggering €173.1m …WOW

Mike Kemp, Chief Executive, IIF said, “The scale of damage caused by the December freeze should not be underestimated and the subsequent quick response from insurers assisted many homeowners and businesses in getting back on their feet as fast as possible.”

So although the weather is great at the moment FirstQuote would advise people to check their homes and business premises now to take the necessary steps to ensure tanks are properly lagged and that exposed pipes are insulated. In doing this you will help keep the cost of claims down & in turn help insurers provide cheap home insurance.

 Call Gareth at 01 634 9333 or visit FirstQuote.ie to get a free insurance quote & see what money you can save today.

73.4% of motorists admitted to eating or drinking a non alcoholic beverage while driving.

14.6% of those polled admitted to occasionally reading a book or newspaper while in traffic.

7.5% admitted to brushing their hair.

3.4% to changing their clothes.

1.9% to flossing their teeth from the driving seat at some time or another. 

23% of female respondents admitted to applying makeup.

10% admit to having painted their nails at least occasionally while driving. 

 4% of male drivers also confessed to using an electric shaver every now and then while in charge of a vehicle.

38.6% of SatNav owners admitted to having argued with their passenger because of their SatNav.

44.8% to swearing at the device.

9.3% to having a near miss or a collision.

And don’t forget the other distractions such as smoking, sorting the kids in the back, changing radio stations & looking at road maps. Can you think of any others?

Call Gareth at 01 634 9333 or visit FirstQuote.ie to get a free insurance quotes & see what money you can save today.

So I took a quick look at some of Ireland’s & Englands insurance blogs to see what they are talking about.

The FBD Money Blog say it is Time to Take a Look at Your Retirement Plan? Have you?

And congratulations to No Nonsense Insurance who were Shortlisted for 2 All Ireland Marketing Awards.

Here’s a cool infographic from Policy Expert Insurance in England regarding the Health Benefits of Coffee v. Tea

And here’s a bit more on the insurance gender debate from RiskHeads in England. Can insurance be sexist. EU ban equality. It’s an interesting read.  

Call Gareth at 01 634 9333 or visit FirstQuote.ie to get a free insurance quotes & see what money you can save today.

Snapshot of Census 2011 webpage

What is the Census?

The aim of the census is to gather as much accurate information on who we are & how we, the people of Ireland, are living our lives on April 10th 2011. 

Why is this Important? 

Because it will count everyone in the country tonight & record lots of rich data on social issues such as our education, employment, how we get to work, school or whether we speak Irish. From an insurance point of view this is vital for Risk Accessors as it will help them plan for the future & work out the costs of our insurance premiums.

How long will it take to fill out the form? 

Not long at all. They reckon the average household will take approximately 30 minutes to complete the questions on the form. There are 12 general household questions, as well as 35 mostly multiple choice questions for each person in the household tonight. It might be fun to do with your children if they are old enough. You never know they could end up on the front page of the Irish Times in a hundred years just like Eileen Teresa Corr, whose details were entered on the 1911 census when she was just 1 years of age.  

A step by step guide to filling in the Census 2011 can be viewed at www.census.ie. Also on the back of the census form itself you will find some further explanations to some of the questions.

And don’t forget you can visit FirstQuote.ie  for all your insurance needs. 

A multi million euro contract to review the health insurance market in Ireland & the role VHI play in this market has been awarded to Goodbody Stockbrokers & Matheson Ormsby Prentice. What another report???

Michael Kemp the chief of the Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) talks about one of the key challenges for the sector ”has been reminding governments & regulators alike that insurers are not banks“.

Call Gareth at 01 634 9333 or visit FirstQuote.ie to get a free insurance quotes & see what money you can save today.

Call Gareth at 01 634 9333 or visit FirstQuote.ie to get a free car insurance quote & see what money you can save today.