Swiss MP, against Kosovars' discrimination in car security

Kosovo pensioners are damaged by car insurance: The Swiss Parliament's MP seeks to ban advantages based on origin.

That the citizens of Kosovo and other Balkan countries, as well as Turkey, pay much higher insurance advantages for their vehicles compared to Swiss citizens, this is a long-known and widely discussed topic in Swiss media. Various indictments and motions have been made in the federal parliament, but so far, without success, writes albinfo.ch, broadcasts Periscope.

Finally, Switzerland's National Chamber of Parliament deputy Hasan Candan (of Turkish-German descent) has made a motion to the Federal Council (government) to act against this situation he considers to be clear discrimination based on national background.

A comprehensive article on this subject has been published today in the newspaper Aggeuer Zeitung, which we are broadcasting with cuts.

The red passport (Swits), favors you for several hundred francs: the Swiss “citizens receive much cheaper car insurance than people from the Balkans. This is a clear case of discrimination”, Hasan Candan says. The SP national MP calls on the Federal Council to act.

He sets an example: Liridona Dizdari comes from Kosovo. The new nurse has been naturalized for some time. This, among other priorities, provides her with an aid to the family budget: Dizdar saves hundreds of francs a year for car insurance. She understood this only after asking colleagues from her native country. Differences in premium are large and discriminated against, she tells the newspaper.

The nationality-based issue has been a media subject for years. No further than last year, a corresponding analysis by the Comparis comparison service made a huge stir. According to the study, young drivers from Kosovo and Northern Macedonia (plus 74 per cent each) as well as Turkey (plus 73 per cent), for example, pay markedly higher prices for comprehensive security ( Voll Kasco for a Mercedes-Benz GLC rather than Swiss drivers.

Very little 20-year-olds happen to drive a luxury car on Swiss streets. Therefore, the nurse introduced the data of a retired woman living in Lucrini canton é one with a Swiss passport, the other with a Kosovo passport.

Output: There is a fine on the basis of origin not only for young drivers, but also for pensioners, it broadcasts albinfo.ch. For example, with security for a VW Polo 1.0 T Like the new Basis, the retired Swiss woman saves 738 francs compared to the retired Kosovo woman with the leading Axa market car. The difference is 49 percent.

SP MP from Lucerni Hasan Candan has long dealt with the topic of auto insurance wait. It requires: “The Federal Council must end this uneven treatment based on”. This kind of collective punishment violates the constitutional principle of protection from discrimination.

In an intervention, he asked the Federal Council if it would be prepared, as a first step, for the practices of insurance companies to be examined by the Price Supervisor and Racism Federal Commission. Candan points out: “Like Swiss citizens, people with foreign passports are dependent on a machine for work, for example in care professions. High security primers unwarranted their purchasing power”.

Are Kosovar pensioners more dangerous in traffic than Swiss pensioners?

How do different tariffs come about? Private Providers offer advantages, tailored to danger. To do so, they form risk groups that group together risks with similar features”, says Thilo Klein, spokesman for the Swiss Security Association, transfer albinfo.ch. Those belonging to a group that poses a statistically higher risk, and for this reason it is considered that more benefits from security can be obtained, they will pay higher priorities.

And: “A statistically higher risk exists when a risk group causes markedly more damage or more expensive damage than comparison group”. Calculations take into account such characteristics as nationality, age, gender, settlement, type of car, driving experience, and so on.

Axa spokeswoman Marion Fehr adds: “It is a fact that some characteristics have a statistically significant impact on the frequency and extension of claims (for insurance payments)”. It is common practice among Swiss insurers to reflect these differences in the prime. If the advantages were standardised regardless of the damage statistics, it would be that groups of people with fewer accidents would finance those with many accidents, Fahr says, broadcast albinfo.ch. Community is one of several criteria for calculating car insurance.

Applying to the case of the premiere calculator means: Kosovo pensioners drive far more dangerous than Swiss women of the same age. But Hasan Candan doubts that. It requires that insurers discover their statistical records and encourage the Federal Council to change the law in accordance with circumstances. If the latter does not identify the need for action, Candan may imagine continuing the pressure with further initiatives.

Federal Council advocates actual practice

Giulia Reymann of the Federal Commission against Racism, on the other hand, says it is legally complicated to ensure the worst conditions of the contract, starting only from national origin. This practice should be classified as discriminated against, especially in those cases when the <x0-formation of risk groups perpetuates existing social stereotypes and structural racism and therefore the risk of stigmatisation is high”.

Meanwhile, the Federal Council has defended the current waiting regime several times in the past, contains albinfo.ch. “Doctrine and prevailing practice admit that nationality-based differences do not constitute discrimination in themselves, but there are objective reasons that allow for different treatment of local and foreign citizens” the country's government had written in 2012 in response to a motion.

Six years earlier, the same government had refused to remove state affiliation from risk reckoning. One argument was that different tariffs are based, not on prejudice, but on statistical data.

But MP Candan opposes this assessment and stresses that in the EU, security rates are not calculated on the basis of origin.