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Admiral Charges Hotmail Users More For Car Insurance (thetimes.co.uk)

Posted by msmash on from the not-the-onion dept.

One of Britain's biggest car insurers has admitted increasing premiums for drivers who apply using a Hotmail account. From a report: Motorists seeking cover from Admiral could be charged $45 extra if they use certain email addresses. The insurer said some domain names were "associated with more accidents" than others, raising applicants' risk profile. Figures from the Association of British Insurers to be published today show that the cost of car insurance has increased by more than a quarter over the past three years. Admiral said that hundreds of factors were used by underwriters in setting car insurance, with riskier motorists paying more. Issues included the age of a driver and their postcode.

14 of 345 comments (clear)

  1. WTF!? by DaMattster · · Score: 5, Funny

    The insurance industry is just crazy! Plum fucking loco.

    1. Re:WTF!? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Funny

      What other metrics could the browser measure to determine your risk as a drive?

      - Running Windows XP
      - Browsing with IE6
      - Referrer header is xhamster.com
      - Mouse cursor judders around due to shaky hands
      - Enters name and address in all lower/uppercase

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:WTF!? by beelsebob · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Apparently the issue is mostly that modern cars have really fancy bumpers. A bumper that includes a bunch of camera equipment, and range sensors, and all kinds of other fancy gadgetry costs a lot. That means that fender benders cost a lot to repair now, when they used to be trivially cheap. It also means that fender benders tend to get reported to the insurer now, when they used to just be ignored.

    3. Re:WTF!? by Calydor · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Maybe because in Europe (hell, probably all over the world) the standard has become to not leave contact info but a mocking note instead.

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    4. Re:WTF!? by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Funny

      A minor scrape to a bumper while parking is cause for police reports and waiting around, whereas in the US a note with contact/insurance info under the wiper (or just a pile of cash obscured by a note) is the standard response.

      Hmm...I guess the last few times I came out in the parking lot, to see one side or the other of my caved in by someone pulling out and hitting me, that the note just must have blown off the windshield...

      Man, these days, I wonder if drivers are getting their licenses out of a box of Cracker Jacks or something....NO ONE can seem to drive these days. And the worst offenders, seem to be the ones driving the largest trucks and SUVs.

      I drive a small 2 seater sports car. And each time I've come out to see the side of my car caved in (one time side view mirror also ripped off)...it was from parking next to a large truck.

      Ok, maybe they weren't paying enough attention and didn't see my car, but surely they felt the impact while they turned out of the parking space and were scraping the full length of my car...??

      These folks have NO fscking clue where they are in space with relation to their truck/car.

      These days, I see it VERY often with pulling up to the line at a stop light.

      Rather than pull all the way up to line, more and more of these Bozos are at least almost one car length away from the line.....like they stop when they see the nose of their large truck at the line, which is NOT near the line.

      Even if they see me pulled way ahead of them to the line, they don't move.

      In New Orleans, where we have neutral grounds (medians as others call them) on almost all roads...if making a left turn, you have a limited number of cars that can fit....and these assholes are keeping at least 1-2 cars from being able to wait for the lights to change and complete the left turn.

      Its like no one taught them how to drive and judge where you car is in space.....

      I won't even get into who none can seem (especially LARGE trucks/SUVs) to fscking PARK in between the lines, nor do they realize the swinging the door open full force when getting out, *might* just cause it to hit the car parked beside it....

      [/rant mode off...going to get a cool drink]

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    5. Re:WTF!? by swell · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The note I found under my wiper said "So there are 5, no 7 people standing around watching me write this note. A couple of them are nodding approvingly, probably because they think I'm writing my name and insurance info. Sorry, that's not going to happen but I hope the rest of your day goes better."

      --
      ...omphaloskepsis often...
  2. if they have more accidents then that's fair by iamhassi · · Score: 5, Informative

    At first glance I feel like this is horrible and unfair, but if they ran the numbers and for some reason hotmail users have more accidents then it's only fair they charge more for hotmail users.

    --
    my karma will be here long after I'm gone
    1. Re:if they have more accidents then that's fair by HornWumpus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is fair and just to charge young men more for car insurance, it's just actuarial reality.

      It is evil and wrong to charge young women more for health insurance, actuaries are sexists.

      I thought this had been long covered...

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    2. Re: if they have more accidents then that's fair by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's just being politically correct. The reality is, certain demographics are just more likely to get into accidents, such as teenagers, and if you as an insurance company just assume that no driving record means perfect driving record, then you're either going to be insolvent or you're going to have to raise everybody else's rates.

      The mathematics here are amoral.

    3. Re:if they have more accidents then that's fair by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Funny

      Or, they could just... you know, charge people who get in more accidents higher premiums. Just a thought.

      Life insurance should work the same way. They should only charge more to people that die.

    4. Re:if they have more accidents then that's fair by HornWumpus · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Bullshit. Gender affects risk, but can only be used to charge men more.

      Explain why in life insurance it's OK to use gender (to charge men more)?

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  3. AOL by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hate to think how much more they'd charge someone with an AOL email address, then.

  4. Umm... by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 4, Informative

    Thiny veiled age discrimmination

    You do know that age is already a factor in calculating insurance prices, right?

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  5. actuarial reality or prejudice ? by swell · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Statistics have no greater financial significance than in insurance. Anal-ists pour over the numbers and draw conclusions that can make or break a company. Your age, origin, location, marriage status and more can put you in a category of higher or lower risk. But there are considerations more surprising than you see in TFS...

    A major US insurance company offered low cost premiums to 'qualified' drivers. Many of the qualifications were publicly available, but there were some that were never spoken of. One of these secret rules given to agents was that any prospective client wearing boots was to be disqualified. Agents didn't know why this rule, but had to follow it.

    --
    ...omphaloskepsis often...