H
ow long you have been driving, the number of claims you’ve made and the make of your car can all affect how much you pay for insurance. Most drivers know this. But did you know that your email address and birthplace can also add pounds on to your bill?
The car insurer Admiral, which covers about six million drivers, uses email addresses as a factor in deciding how much to charge for cover, with those using Yahoo being charged extra. Insurers such as Axa and Allianz do not take email addresses into account.
Underwriters use hundreds of different pieces of information to work out what drivers pay, only some of which seem related to how they drive. Whether a driver was born in the UK or not, whether they describe themselves as a chef or a cook or even when they applied or renewed could also inflate prices — in some cases by more than £100.
James Daley from the consumer group Fairer Finance said most of the 400 or so factors that insurers looked at, such as postcodes or credit scores, had little relevance to how risky a customer was, and in some cases were unfair to those on lower incomes.
