Insurance costs - an unusual factor?

[martint123]

https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/uk ... 90064.aspx

According to a report by The Sun, Admiral is charging higher premiums to drivers with a Hotmail address than it would to those with a Gmail account. Its enquiries revealed that two identical drivers received quotes of £467.04 for having a Hotmail account and £435.68 with a Gmail account on Gocompare.com – that’s more than £31 difference. Similar searches were carried out on multiple comparison websites – including the likes of moneysupermarket.com and confused.com – and there was a consistent difference between the Hotmail user and the Gmail user, albeit the differences were much smaller – at around £6.

[bungeejumper]

The insurer reportedly admitted to taking into account the email domain of a driver, with the publication quoting it as saying “certain domain names are associated with more accidents than others.”

The report also quotes Martha Spurrier, of human rights group Liberty, as saying that “this kind of discrimination has no place in the UK.” It added that the Financial Conduct Authority is looking into the findings.

Oh come on, Ms Spurrier, do we really think that insurance companies are social agents of a free and equal society? They're not arms of government - they're there to make a profit, and if their actuaries reckon that one set of people are more likely than others to have an accident, we surely have to leave it to the marketplace to find out whether they're right or wrong?

This isn't particularly new. We already know that Duwaynes get charged more for their car insurance than Stephens, because the name carries social connotations that the actuaries feel may be relevant to the likely outturn of the insurance contracts. It would be awful if the insurance companies were found to be jointly operating a no-Duwaynes cartel - but, until (and unless) that happens, there should be no surprise that insurers should dislike a freebie email set-up that's got a bit of an iffy reputation. I'll change my mind if they start treating Gmail customers in the same way.

BJ

[didds]

there should be no surprise that insurers should dislike a freebie email set-up that's got a bit of an iffy reputation. I'll change my mind if they start treating Gmail customers in the same way.

BJ

Gmail is free though? And there are concerns amongst some that their provision is not free of personal data issues ... So what's the difference?
I'm not aware of any particular reputation issues with a hotmail account?


(I don't disagree with the general concept of basing insurance on whatever criteria fits. Except of course sex as that is no longer permissable... )

[bungeejumper]

Gmail is free though? And there are concerns amongst some that their provision is not free of personal data issues ... So what's the difference? I'm not aware of any particular reputation issues with a hotmail account?

Hotmail is often what you choose if you're looking for a quick and reasonably anonymous email address. They ask fewer questions during the sign-up, which is a good thing in some people's books. (Although I gather that Hotmail's security is none too good.) Hotmail is what you choose if you're likely to be living temporarily on the move - and it was also what I chose, a few years ago, when I was forced to deal with somebody who had well-known criminal (nay, vicious) tendencies, because I figured that he had less chance of tracking down my whereabouts.

And having dealt with him, I abandoned the temporary Hotmail account, which I expect is still in existence. Just my own apocryphal contribution.

BJ

[Satsuma]

As a minor point of order, Hotmail.com is slowly but surely changing itself to Outlook.com. I believe historic hotmail addresses will become the same, except ...@outlook.com.

I tried - and intensely disliked - gmail, however I have the old address still lurking somewhere, so if I remember I'll try getting quotes using both and see what happens.

[Maroochydore]

Hotmail is often what you choose if you're looking for a quick and reasonably anonymous email address.

It's not just car insurance companies. I tried signing up to a couple of sports related forums and despite pop-ups saying my verification e-mail had been sent, they never arrived. This was with two different Hotmail/Outlook accounts and over a period of time.

However using my proper Plusnet address, I received the e-mails within seconds.

[Maroochydore]

Hotmail is often what you choose if you're looking for a quick and reasonably anonymous email address.

It's not just car insurance companies. I tried signing up to a couple of sports related forums and despite pop-ups saying my verification e-mail had been sent, they never arrived. This was with two different Hotmail/Outlook accounts and over a period of time.

However using my proper Plusnet address, I received the e-mails within seconds.

[didds]

junk/spam folders?

didds

[Slarti]

I wonder how a .yahoo.co.uk email address would fair?

And how those of us with our own domains are treated?

Slarti

[bungeejumper]

And how those of us with our own domains are treated?

I've never been aware of having missed an email to any of my domain email addresses. And if I were an insurer, I'd probably be saying "well, if he's gone to all the trouble of setting up a domain name, then he isn't a moonlight flit merchant. And we've got a registration address for his domain, so we know where to find him."

BJ

[Slarti]

And how those of us with our own domains are treated?

I've never been aware of having missed an email to any of my domain email addresses. And if I were an insurer, I'd probably be saying "well, if he's gone to all the trouble of setting up a domain name, then he isn't a moonlight flit merchant. And we've got a registration address for his domain, so we know where to find him."

BJ

I pay so that they don't have a registration address for my domain and nor does anybody else.

What I was wondering about was are the quotes higher or lower when you have your own domain.

Slarti