Reports in the Swiss press have highlighted the extent to which foreigners in Switzerland pay more on average for their car insurance than local drivers, with certain profiles paying up to 63 percent more than Swiss natives.

Price comparison sites cited show that age and nationality, along with where in Switzerland you live, are the main factors determining the cost of car insurance premiums.

However, nationality has been shown to be the most decisive when calculating car insurance premiums, with certain nationalities not facing more expensive premiums than locals but also other foreigners.

When combined with other factors such as age, premiums can soar by as much as 60 percent more than Swiss drivers.

On average, an 18-year-old driver with a C residence permit and of Kosovar origin pays 63 per cent more than a Swiss policyholder of the same age, 20 Minuten reports, citing market price data analysed by comparison site bonus.ch.

For comprehensive insurance, the difference rises to 174 percent, with an 18-year-old Kosovar paying some 7,958 francs on average and an 18-year-old Swiss driver paying 2,904 francs — a difference of 5,054 francs.

The premium difference, sometimes described as the ‘Balkan surcharge’, has been raised as a political issue and progressive politicians view premiums tied to nationality as discrimination.

Kosovars, Albanians, Serbs and Turks bear the brunt of this practice, paying on average around 60 percent more than the Swiss.

Premiums for Portuguese, Spanish and Italian drivers are also usually higher, often by double-digits, while the surcharge on French, Swedish, Austrian and German drivers is generally the lowest.

Insurance companies, however, claim that the price differences are nothing to do with discrimination but rather carefully calculated statistical risk profiles.

For example, if a man of foreign origin causes an accident with a high-powered car, all of these criteria are included in the statistics. If it happens more than once, a risk profile is created and applied to all people with the same characteristics.

“The individual premium for some may appear unfair, but the calculation of premiums is based on statistics”, says Comparis’ mobility expert Andrea Auer.

“Even if they have never had an accident, any driver is likely to be subject to an additional premium because the risk assessment is not individual, but collective,” Auer adds.

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Where in Switzerland you live also plays a role in calculating car insurance premiums.

The analysis shows that the differences in rates are not limited to cantonal borders, but also towns and cities themselves. Even within a single town, different postcodes can lead to significant price differences.

With the same insurer, the differences in premiums range from 14 to 53 per cent, or up to 500 francs, depending on the location.

“Insurers calculate premiums based on the likelihood of accidents [in a given city], among other criteria,” Auer says.

Comparis found that premiums in Lugano are the highest in Switzerland at 960 francs a year for comprehensive insurance.

This corresponds to other data showing that drivers in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino have the highest number of car accidents, according to statistics from AXA insurance.

When these main criteria are considered together and viewed by insurers as increased risk, the price for car insurance in Switzerland skyrockets.

An example noted in Swiss media shows, for example, that a young driver with Kosovar nationality living in Lugano would pay 7632 francs more compared to a 30-year-old Swiss insured person from Köniz BE with the same insurer.