The insurance ombudsman received 1,648 complaints against the industry last year - slightly more than the number received in 2002.
Publishing her annual report yesterday, the Insurance Ombudsman of Ireland, Ms Caroline Gill, said her office had adjudicated on 506 complaints made by consumers against insurance companies in 2003.
Of these, 213, or 42 per cent, were decided in favour of the complainants, who were awarded compensation. The office deals with cases valued at between €100 and €160,000.
Ms Gill said it made awards right across this range, but added that many of them were close to the upper limit. She did not give a total value for the compensation awarded.
Ms Gill said that the office had received a total of 1,648 complaints against the industry in 2003.
This was slightly ahead of the record 1,631 complaints received the previous year. The office also dealt with 10,517 telephone queries during the year.
The final number of complaints in 2003 was lower than the office had been anticipating at the halfway point in the year.
At the end of the first six months of last year, the number of complaints was up 8 per cent on 2002. At the time, Ms Gill said she expected the figure to increase by 25 per cent, which would have brought it to over 2,000 for the year.
"We did notice a levelling off last year," she said yesterday. "The (insurance) companies are taking on board the need for better communication with consumers." However, she added that this area still needed "constant monitoring and improvement".
She warned that insurers should make their terms clear to their customers. One complaint against a company was upheld last year because the insurer told the policyholder that his interpretation of a particular clause was correct, but then disputed his interpretation when he attempted to claim against the policy.
Outside of the adjudicated cases, 280 were settled, 212 were found to be outside the ombudsman's terms of reference and 366 were referred to other agencies.
Life policies generated the largest number of complaints, with 468, followed closely by motor cover with 437. Travel and household generated 162 complaints each. Personal accident was the smallest offender, with just eight complaints.
Ms Gill said there were recurring problems at both the renewal and proposal (when someone is taking out a policy for the first time) stages. Many of these related to "disclosures", that is, the information that consumers are supposed to give insurers. If someone fails to disclose all material facts, they risk losing their cover. The insurance ombudsman currently operates as a voluntary scheme. The service cost €1 million in 2003.
