This is interesting....*car insurance*
Been pratting around with the variables in insurance sites, just found a gem.
My premium goes from £1300+ to £638, if I change 1 thing.
I'm 26 and came to the UK in 1994 as child, but if I state that I was born in the UK instead, the premium is nearly halved...
wtf??
Never knew that the company's are racist.
That's wrong
to do with statistics, unfortunately that's just the way they work. Its also to do with the fact they will shaft you in anyway they can possibly think of an excuse to do so.
The type of car you choose makes a difference too... and not always in an obvious way. I remember looking at the 1.4TSI supermini hot hatches when they came out, and because they had no statistics against them, they were cheaper than my 1.6 fiesta to insure by £200!
Car insurance is the one area which sucks the most, They used to give cheaper car insurance if you had kids as they thought you would be a better safer slower driver until they realised that children are a distraction. I'm 35 and have to leave my ex on my policy as it saves me over £150.
i have both my parents as named drivers on mine and that dropped it £150-200. Marcos, try adding parents or parents of friends to the insurance, they dont even have to drive it if your the main policy holder!
How is that racist?Originally Posted by deejayburnout
And yeah adding my mum to my policy is a handy saver
Very similar situation for me, partially explains why the gf gets insurance for almost the same price as me and I have 4 years ncb, she has 0
I seem to remember that Guy had some great insurance quites from a few years ago. A young driver but driving a big Mondeo and was far cheaper on insurance than a basic small engined hatch back of a much lower "insurance bracket" some times its really surprising what can make a difference to the quotes you get.
Yeah I might look at odd/boring cars instead then. I know the add-the-parents trick but both mine are abroad.
It's just shocking to me that the the first 8 years of my life has any effect whatsoever on my ability to drive carefully in the UK. How does years 1-8 have anything to do with how you drive at 25?
I'm gonna keep digging
Which companies have you been looking at? Are you using the price comparison sites?
I'm sure some companies don't even ask the question.
And that's interesting as an academic exercise, but in reality, it would be a stupid thing to actually do, because it has at the very least the potential for both invalidating your insurance, and opening you up to possible criminal offences.
Insurance is a contract of a type known as "uberimae fidei" .... or "utmost good faith". A lot has to be taken at face value, but is certainly subject to verification at a later date.
Suppose you are unfortunate enough to have a nasty accident, it's your fault, and the other driver gets serious and debilitating injuries. If those injuries were, for instance, to leave a young family man disabled and unable to work, or even just to pursue their previous career and have to settle for, perhaps, part-time or causal work, you will be facing a very large claim. It will certainly be in the hundreds of thousands of pounds, and very likely top the million pound mark.
Do you want to pay it, or do you want to be insured?
And, facing that, you can bet your left testicle that the insurance company will be looking at your application with a fine tooth comb, and an electron microscope.
Here's the problem. Insurance is based on an assessment of risk. And that means that both the premium the company charge, and even their decision whether to offer cover at all, are based on that assessment and a fundamental and critical part of that is the statements you make. Uberimae fidei, remember.
And those same insurance companies have legions of actuaries analysing and building computer models for how to factor a vast array of statistics into producing the risk factor that determines your premium.
So, ....
The short answer to that is that it's not YOUR ability to drive in question. They have no way to determine that. But suppose, and I'm hypothesising here, that their statistics say that for 25-year old drivers, born abroad, and living in your area, they have a 38% higher incidence of accidents, and a 24.7% increase in claim value when they do.It's just shocking to me that the the first 8 years of my life has any effect whatsoever on my ability to drive carefully in the UK. How does years 1-8 have anything to do with how you drive at 25?
That will be why they load your premium. Obviously, those percentages are entirely made-up, but they illustrate the point.
It is exactly the same reason why insurance premiums depend on age - because stats tell them the relative risk. And why they depend on where the car is parked .... it's at less risk of being nicked or damaged if parked on a drive rather than on the road, and even lower risk if parked overnight in a garage. So the premiums reflect that.
I can legitimately claim one of several professions/employments, being self-employed, and getting my income (such as it is) from three of them in more of less equal proportions. So, when I apply for insurance, I tell them that, and they ask me to pick one. Naturally, I know which one not to pick (journalist) so I pick one the others, but .... I DO make sure to tell them of the exact situation, and that there are multiple "occupations". A few times, the printed form has arrived with only the selected one listed, and I immediately write back pointing out that that was not what I said on the phone (or that the internet form only let me select one but that there are others) and I make sure I can prove I've done that, and would do it even if the result was the premium went up.
The danger is to only look at one side of this, and that's of the premium as an annual cost. Anyone not looking at the other side, that is that it protects you against that million pound injury lawsuit, is, in my view, a short-sighted fool. It's what insurance is for and yes, it's expensive, but years and years of insurance premiums will probably cost you less than your legal fees alone, to defend one such legal case, never mind any potential award made against you.
And note, a friend of mine ended up on the receiving end of an award like that (in that the got the money from the award, and the injuries that generated it) and it was an amount that would probably wreck your finances for the rest of your life if you had to pay it, and that was over 25 years ago.
I understand the pressures of premiums, and that several hundred pounds difference is not insignificant, but please, do not take the chance. It's far too big a risk, never mind that if you do this and are caught, your insurance will be invalid and you'll then also be looking at a good chance of being prosecuted for driving without it.
You are basically taking a similar risk to lying about your age, or profession, or not telling them about accidents or convictions, and the implications if found out are much the same. Please, however tempting it is, don't do it. If you have already done it, when the paperwork arrives, I advise contacting them and telling them you must have selected the wrong option (or mis-spoken if it was over the phone) and correcting it. At least then, you're covered if the worst happens.
Noli nothis permittere te terere.
DeludedGuy (09-11-2012)
Its disgusting how the insurance companies give insurance quotes, Iv only got to mention I'm registered disabled and my insurance premium jumps up £300 on average despite the fact i can still drive a car just as well as an able bodied person
As Saracen said your insurance premium is not the same as an evaluation of your driving skill. It is just the average cost of claims coming from people in similar circumstances.
Statistics, all about the statistics! You're nothing but a number as far as insurance is concerned.
I suspect the number of claims by residents not born in the UK are higher, or could well be involved in more PI claims, or even being part of the growing number of 'crash for cash' scams that are going on.
Likewise the number of disabled drivers, statistically could well be a higher risk to insure as a whole. Doesn't suggest that your (the individual) level of driving is in question just the group you fall into.
It doesn't even necessarily suggest that the group of disabled drivers as a whole are worse drivers. It may partly be because disabled drivers are forced to use their cars more often, as they are less able to walk. Or it may be, that if they are driving modified vehicles, that these are more costly to repair or replace.
I know its all about the statistics but still its highly irritating.
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