Car insurers ask young foreigners to pay more
Published: Tuesday, Aug 20th 2024, 00:50
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Car insurers sometimes charge foreign nationals massive premium surcharges. Young nationals from Kosovo, North Macedonia and Turkey in particular have to dig deeper into their pockets than Swiss nationals.
According to a survey published by the comparison service Comparis on Tuesday, the biggest difference in premiums is for 20-year-old Kosovars in the city of Basel who drive a Mercedes-Benz GLC. Here, the premium surcharge averages 74.4 percent. North Macedonians (73.6 percent) and Turks (72.9 percent) followed in second place - also in Basel and with a Mercedes-Benz.
Nationality is an important criterion for insurers when calculating the probability of a claim occurring, writes Comparis. In addition to nationality, age, place of residence, gender and driving experience are also decisive for the premium amount. Unequal treatment based on nationality is permitted in Switzerland - in contrast to the EU, for example.
"Young foreigners in particular who drive expensive cars have to expect high surcharges for car insurance," says Comparis expert Adi Koleci. And there are also differences in benefits. This is because many insurers impose a higher excess on young drivers than on experienced drivers.
Although the surcharges for experienced drivers are lower than for young drivers, they are still high according to the survey. A 42-year-old Kosovar pays 54.8 percent more than a Swiss in the city of Zurich. For a North Macedonian, the surcharge is 54.7 percent. And a Turk pays 53.7 percent more (all with a Mercedes-Benz GLC) for fully comprehensive insurance.
Incidentally, Swiss drivers also sometimes receive a premium supplement. German drivers sometimes pay less than Swiss drivers. In St. Gallen and Biel, for example, an experienced German driver with a Škoda Octavia pays around 1 percent less than a Swiss driver.
In the survey, Comparis compared the insurance premiums of nine nationalities for different vehicles and different driver profiles.
©Keystone/SDA
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