How divorce drives up car insurance

DIVORCED drivers are charged hundreds of pounds more for car insurance than married people.

The difference was spotted after a listener to Radio 4’s Money Box programme said she was furious that the premium for her Nissan Note had increased by almost £340 – from £582 to £919 – after she updated her policy to say she had recently got divorced but wanted to keep her former husband as a named second driver. The listener, named only as Farrah, from London, told the personal finance programme: ‘I felt this was discrimination.’

Farrah had arranged her insurance through the RAC. She was told she would have to reapply after her divorce because the Co-op – which had underwritten her policy – would no longer cover her. Once she had done that, the lowest quote, from Aviva, came in at £919.

The RAC claimed the rise was unrelated to her change in marital status – but when Money Box did some mystery shopping via a price comparison website, they found the practice of raising premiums for divorcees was common, with 27 of 34 insurers raising their quotes – sometimes by 30 per cent.

Graeme Trudgill, executive director of the British Insurance Brokers’ Association, claimed that married people made fewer injury claims than single or divorced people.

He said: ‘If you are married, then you have a discount on your policy for yourself and your spouse, because you are lower risk.’