Curious about insurance disparity for other couples...

[J1990]

Each year when we come to renew insurance policies across the fleet I'm always baffled by the difference in cost if I run the prices vs my partner, I know insurance is hugely subjective but I feel like the similarities are so close that there shouldn't be such a consistent difference.

Prices are almost consistently 20-25% cheaper if my partner runs the quotes in her name with me as an additional driver, despite the following:

• Both have the same job title in the same sector
• Both have held our license for 10+ years
• She has an SP30 and speed awareness course declared in the last few years, my license has always been clean
• Both insured on all vehicles, all mileage inputs and usages are the same

Today's example was insurance for our new EV6, quotes came in for me at £984/year and for her they've come in at £728. Both run simultaneously with the same start date and all of the other data. It just baffles me how it can come in cheaper with her as the main driver where the only difference is that she's had speeding offences and I haven't.

Anyone else have these oddities?

[thecremeegg]

I thought they weren't allowed to quote women less now? It'll be some rubbish that people called "Your wife's name" have fewer accidents than people called "Your name".

[Aunty Pasty]

It may be assumed that the main driver would be driving the car more of the time than the named driver so it's weighted in favour of your partner.

[QuickQuack]

Same with me. Mrs QQ main driver and me named driver is always cheaper than me main driver and her named driver, even when she had an SP30 and a claim. We've ran quotes on each other's cars just to see what happens several times and it's always the same. It's absolute bks that there's no penalty for being a male driver.

[J1990]

Aunty Pasty said:

It may be assumed that the main driver would be driving the car more of the time than the named driver so it's weighted in favour of your partner.

In which case, surely that should make hers more expensive with the speed awareness course and SP30 both currently being declared vs my clean license?


As others are commenting, it's supposed to be illegal to quote differently based on gender, though I imagine there's other loopholes utilised... Maybe my forename or surname are synonymous for being a bad driver. At this rate, every insurance we have will only be held with her as the main driver, though I'll then need to ensure one of the insurers includes NCD for named drivers.

[Davie]

It;s just another aspect of the insurance industry that feels like a complete mine field but yes, I've found similar though now with the third car gone, I've realigned the cover so we both have a policy as the main driver thus earning NCB and are both named on equal terms. It gets interesting when asked who is the legal owner of the car - I'm the named keeper on both but as for ownerships, they're ours just like the house it ours... yet some providers in the past have made a bit of a fuss over that. Current provider seemed much more relaxed on that front however.

Why we can't be insured as individuals to drive any vehicle (with a sliding scale of restrictions / costs etc) still baffles me. And don't get me started on the "NCB can only be applied to one policy" nonsense. I earned it, it's my bonus so why it should only be applicable to one policy seems farcical. On that note, should points only be declared on one policy too?

But I digress...