Age and marital status also used to decide what premium you will pay

Women likely to get lower quotes

The list of criteria insurance companies use to determine your premium is long and varied, although many are common to all insurers.

Some insurers, such as Discovery and Outsurance, use telematics – either through a device fitted to your car or a smart phone app – to collect data about your driving behaviour and assess your risk.

Below is the list of factors that Discovery Insure uses to determine your premiums:

Kilometres or mileage driven ● annually – the more mileage you drive, the more likely you are to have an insurance claim and are associated with higher risk than others;

Your gender – on average

● women have fewer accidents than men;

Your marital status – typically, ● single people exhibit riskier behaviour on the roads than married people;

Your geographical location – ● certain areas are subject to more theft and accidents than others;

Your driving history – most

● insurers don’t have this information when you take out insurance, but they can ask how long you have been driving and how many recent accidents you have had. Certain factors such as age and gender are used as a proxy for your driving behaviour;

Your claims history – past

● claims are a predictor of future claims;

Your credit history – your

● credit record is also used as a proxy for risk. Typically, if you have a bad credit history it means you pose a higher risk.

Your previous insurance cover ●

– your insurance history and how long you have been with the past insurer also determines your risk, especially if you had a policy cancelled in the past;

Your vehicle type – this

● impacts on the average cost of the claim or the average cost of repairs;

What you use your vehicle for ●

– you will be asked whether you use the vehicle for personal/ private or business use. Private use means you travel between work and home and use your vehicle for personal reasons. You may occasionally use it for business purposes, but not more than six occasions in a calendar month. If you use your vehicle for business purposes to travel to meetings or visit clients, it increases your risk to the insurer and you must inform your insurer;

The type of cover and the

● excess – the more comprehensive your cover, the more expensive it will be;

The value of your cover – you

● can insure for the retail or current market value, and

Whether the car has any

● modifications or extras – this can affect the insured amount.