Italy: driving insurance more expensive for Romanians and Moroccans due to "ethnic risk"

A series of Italian insurance companies apply higher tariffs for compulsory civilian responsibility driving insurances in the case of Moroccan and Romanian migrants and the final price may be higher than the average by 250 euro, according to La Repubblica.

It quotes a Romanian worker in Apulia who was surprised to discover a price rise of 250 euro when she renewed her insurance. She was quoted as saying that the insurer told her about a „risk country” criterion and that had she come from France or Germany, the price would have remained the same.

The insurer is Carige and „ethnic prices” are applied throughout italy. According to the paper, Carige Insurance is not the only company to apply such criteria when setting prices. And it reports that the insurance supervision authority in Italy did not offer journalists an answer to their request for explanations on the legality of such measures and it quotes a lawyer who says the Italian law bans differentiated access to a service based on the nationality of a person.