Will saying you’re non-binary get you cheaper car insurance? Here’s the truth
A story has gone viral of a man who discovered identifying as non-binary got him a cheaper car insurance quote.
Calling into Sydney radio station, 2GB, he told the hosts he found a difference of as much as $782 with one insurer and $503 with another, all while keeping his address and car's kilometres the same.
The only difference was what he inputted in the gender section.
Many other Aussies shocked by the news jokingly chimed in, stating they'd now do the same just to slash the cost of their premium.
Finder's personal finance and insurance specialist, Taylor Blackburn, weighed on the "hack", reminding Aussie drivers of how quotes are calculated in the first place.
"Every insurer has different data they look at to do pricing. Men pay more than women with the same cover in most cases," he said.
"Gender discrimination is allowed by the Sex Discrimination Act of 1984 for insurance where there is significant data regarding risk."
He also went on to explain that the potential reasoning for the drastic difference in price could be due to a lack of data.
"There likely isn't enough data for different insurers to draw conclusions on a third gender so they default to a lower rate."
Want better car insurance?
Start comparing
So, does this mean cheaper car insurance for all?
Absolutely not.
With costs of living pressures and rising premiums stretching many households thin, it's not that surprising Aussie drivers want to get creative with how they can save on costs.
However, not only will providing false information to an insurer potentially void your policy or have any claim you make rejected, it's also a criminal offence.
"If you claim to be non-binary when you aren't or haven't claimed that anywhere else in any official capacity, you are committing fraud," Blackburn said.
"The real reason for outrage is the drastic difference in price for each provider – gender politics is a distraction from allowing you to actually save."
At Finder you can compare more than 30 car insurance policies to snag a better deal on your premium, no matter your gender.
All you need to do is tell us what kind of policy you're looking for and where you live and we'll do the rest.
Sources
Ask a question