Does my address affect my car insurance?

We all know where we live, but few of us know our risk address for car insurance – and that’s the key to how much we pay for our cover.

So what is our risk address?

To your insurance company it’s the place where your car is parked during the night for the bulk of the duration of your car insurance policy.

The insurer factors in the crime risk for that postcode area to set your annual insurance premium. The rule of thumb is the more crime in the area, the more expensive your car insurance will cost.

If you live at home with your family in a rather well to do area with a postcode and crime level to match, that relatively crime-free leafy suburb probably reduces the cost of your car insurance.

Then you start seeing someone who lives in a little more downmarket area, and you start spending a lot of time at his or her place, then your risk address changes.

You should call your insurer and tell them that your home address is still the same, but your car is parked overnight at the new address for typically ‘x’ amount of nights a week.

Then standby for a shock – because you may see an increase in your car insurance because of where he or she lives.

What happens if you don’t tell the insurer about your new risk address?

This can be fraught with problems, because if you read your policy small print, you’ll probably find this is one of those important details you are obliged to report.

It’s a strange world where your mum and dad don’t mind where you are, but your insurance company is upset if you don’t tell them.

The end result is if your car is vandalised, stolen or broken in to while parked at your boy/girlfriend’s, then your insurance company could invalidate your policy and refuse to pay out because you have broken the terms and conditions of cover.

Can the car registration documents list one name and address while the insurance show another person’s name and address?

The answer is, it doesn’t matter as long as the insurance company knows the risk address – and because the risk address is one of the factors that sets the policy premium, you can tell the insurance company what you like about where you live - as long as it is the truth of course!

Besides the ‘downmarket’ boy/girlfriend warning – no personal offence meant, of course – night workers should also consider what they tell their insurance company about their risk address.

If you work permanent nights and drive and park your car at work, then technically, this is your risk address and you should tell your insurer to make sure your policy is not invalidated if something happens to your car while parked at work and you need to make a claim.