Only 30% of Car Insurance Providers Offer a Non-binary Option
A government survey showed that 6.9% of the UK population are non-binary. Meaning they do not identify with male or female. In many cases, this means a change in pronouns to they/them and prefix to Mx—other pronouns (e.g. ze/zim) and prefixes (e.g. Pr) are also used.
Shockingly, our research shows that only 3 of the top 10 UK car insurance providers and 0 of the top 5 comparison sites offer a non-binary option. Those that offer a non-binary option (Admiral, NFU Mutual and RSA), simply include the Mx prefix option when filling out the quote form.
AXA pointed to comparison websites not offering non binary options as a reason why they have not created a more inclusive signup process yet. However, Customer & Brand Director, Viki Joshi said they are looking to the changes needed in response to enquiry.
Admiral, who offer non-binary sign up options, have also pointed to the lack of inclusivity available on comparison sites as a reason why the percentage of customers with the Mx title is so small.
Those that fail to offer this option, do not have the excuse of DVLA not recognising the Mx title.
In fact a spokesperson for DVLA said:
"We recognise the rights of individuals to be identified as they choose, including the use of the gender-neutral title Mx. We have recognised the Mx title for over 10 years, and the title can be chosen on both online and paper applications."
This begs the question if the DVLA offers the Mx option, why do most car insurance providers fail to deliver an inclusive quote system?
| What did they have to say? | |
|---|---|
| AXA | "We work hard to promote diversity across AXA and understand the growing need for more options when identifying gender in insurance forms. Therefore, we are looking to make changes to our customer journey in response to this. Unfortunately, many of our car insurance sales, and therefore our customer details, come through price comparison websites, which tend not to have non-binary options." |
| Direct Line | "We are currently implementing a new technology platform throughout our business which, once fully completed, will enable us to add new prefixes as unfortunately, our current IT infrastructure doesn’t allow changes.
"We would encourage those customers looking to explore insurance with us to phone and speak with our customer service advisors, or via our web chat portal, to add an additional note on the policy to reference the correct pro-noun." |
| Aviva | "We recognise that providing a gender-inclusive option such as ‘Mx’ is an important part of being an inclusive company. We are sorry that we are not currently able to provide this particular option but we are keen to make the necessary changes to our systems to allow this in the future." |
| LV | "We believe in treating everyone equally and fairly, and know that we aren’t where we want to be with this at the moment. Updating our systems takes time but rest assured we will implement changes when we are able to." |
| Hastings | NO REPLY |
| esure | NO REPLY |
| Ageas | "While we do not use gender information to inform the quoted price, we do ask prospective customers for their title when they seek a quote from us online so that we can address correspondence appropriately. We do not currently have an option which is non-gender specific. As an organisation committed to being fully inclusive, we know we still have some work to do to update our online options and are reviewing all of our products, services and marketing to ensure we reflect our commitment to inclusion." |
It is disappointing to see many car insurance providers did not reply to our request for a quote. Of those who did (Direct Line, AXA, LV and Ageas) all stated they have plans to update their systems to include non-binary options. Neither however have given deadlines on reaching these goals.
It would be great to see Direct Line, AXA, LV and Ageas follow through with their promises to inclusion and include non-gender-specific options.
Someone who has provided a timeframe of improving is NFU Mutual, who already offer the Mx prefix. They told us: "[we] recognise the need to include non-binary pre-fix options and we are in the process of extending the choices offered on our systems. A series of non-binary prefixes will be added at the next stage of a wider system upgrade."
Clearly, NFU Mutual are leading the pack and setting an example to the wider car insurance provider community. This is how you champion inclusivity, do not settle at the minimum others are providing but push on.
Why don't comparison websites include non-binary titles?
We contacted the top comparison websites to comment and this but only Confused.com and CompareTheMarket replied. Both sites pointed to the lack of non-binary options provided by insurers as the reason why they do not include this feature.
A spokesperson for Confused.com said,
"Currently we don’t have a non-binary alternative to our titles, and this is because many insurers we work with have systems that don’t allow for this, and the information would be considered incomplete. It’s an issue that runs across many companies in the financial sector. Insurers are starting to introduce this, but it's a slow process to bring everyone up to date to reflect today's society."
Do non-binary motorists pay more for car insurance?
We ran tests on the largest car insurance company that provide non-binary options (Admiral) and found that prices hold steady across gender.
Admiral commented saying: "we do not rate on gender or title".
NFU mutual and RSA group have also confirmed that your prefix nor your gender identity affect your car insurance premium.
Does using the incorrect prefix void your car insurance?
No, if you are non-binary and are forced to use a prefix you do not identify with your car insurance will not be voided.
The prefix slot is purely so your insurance provider can refer to you in the proper way… ironic.