From Killenard to Killiney: How where you live can cost you in higher bills

Did you know that where you live might be costing you? And no, we’re not talking about house prices here. Your address can also have a bearing on how much other products can cost you, things like car and home insurance, as well as your access to public services.

Car insurance

As we all drive on the same roads, where we live shouldn’t really make a difference to our car insurance premiums should it?

Well, that’s not the approach insurers are taking, as some car owners are finding out when they move home. All of a sudden their insurance premiums are either rising or falling.

While we might think a clean driving licence, the cost of the car we’re driving and an intact no claims bonus might be the biggest indicators of how much we might pay for our motor premium, this is no longer the case.

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It’s in part because how insurers price car insurance policies has changed dramatically in recent years. It has become much more sophisticated. Just moving across the road can now mean a difference in how much your car insurance will cost you.

If you live in a place with lower life expectancy for example, you might find life assurance cover is cheaper

Aviva, for example, confirms that it varies motor insurance premiums depending on the home address of the policyholder, because it says that the “geographical location within which the vehicle is used is a significant rating factor”.

It splits the State into a number of rating areas. These do not necessarily follow county boundaries or postal districts.

“This means that a change of address can lead to a change in the premium we charge, either as part of a mid-term adjustment or at renewal,” the insurer says.

It does not however, offer any further guidance as to which areas are rated as being more expensive than others.

But the following factors will likely affect how much you have to pay. Does your locale have a high incidence of theft for example? Or is there a greater proportion of personal injury claims in the area? And, if you live and work in an urban area, you may also be more prone to an accident, and therefore will have to pay a higher premium.

Property tax

While property tax is ostensibly levied at the same rate across the State, each local authority has discretion as to whether or not to increase or decrease it by up to 15 per cent.

So, while those living in more expensive parts of the State, such as Dublin or other urban areas, may well end up paying more for their property tax each year, this variation also means that people living side by side, in similarly valued houses may also end up paying more or less.

For example, if you live in Tipperary in a house valued at €245,000, your property tax bill will be €405 a year. However, if you live in neighbouring Laois, you’ll actually pay €445 a year, because the authorities in Laois opted to increase the rate by 10 per cent.

Similarly, if you live in Co Longford, your property tax bill on such a property will come to €465, because the council opted to increase the rate by the full 15 per cent. But if you live in nearby Westmeath, your tax bill will be just €405.

And if you live in Bray, Wicklow in a house valued at €465,000, your annual bill will be €855; but in nearby Killiney, it’ll be just €726, thanks to Dún Laoghaire Rathdown’s decision to cut its bills by 15 per cent.

Annuities/life assurance

It may not make sense, given how small Ireland really is, but the statistics show that you're likely to live longer – or shorter – depending on where you live in the State. According to the Central Statistics Office, for example, back in 2011 (the most recent figures available), a male born in 2011 would have a life expectancy of 79 in the mideast of the State, an area covering counties such as Kildare, Louth, and Meath.

However, those boys born in the midwest had a life expectancy of some 1.4 years less. Girl babies born in the west, meanwhile, were likely to live the longest, with a life expectancy of some 83.3 years. This is a sharp increase on those born just a matter of miles away in the midwest, where again, the life expectancy is lowest, at 81.9 years.

But why should these forecasts impact on your finances?

Well, insurance companies may take such statistics into effect when they quote you for life assurance. So, if you live in a place with lower life expectancy for example, you might find life assurance cover is cheaper than if there is an expectation that you might live longer.

Similarly, life and pension companies may also consider where you live when quoting you for an annuity – a guaranteed income in retirement until you die. If you’re likely to live longer based on the averages for area where you live, the insurer might cut what they’ll offer you by way of an annual income.

On the other hand, if you live somewhere with the lowest life expectancy, you might then expect to get more of an annual income as you may be drawing it down for less time.

A study in the UK found that pensioners in Glasgow, which has one of the UK’s lowest life expectancies, could expect to get £1,000 more a year in annual income based on a £200,000 pension pot than someone in London.

Home insurance

Yes, we know if you live in an area that is prone to flooding you can expect to pay significantly more for home insurance – if you’re lucky enough to get it at all. However, what you mightn’t realise is that insurers also apply loadings on your address for a variety of different reasons.

The midlands for example, are typically more exposed to cold weather and freezing events, and thus might attract a higher premium. Theft is much more concentrated in urban areas, so this can affect the loadings on a policy, while, when it comes to storm damage, there is very much an east/west divide.

We took a look at the cost of insuring a three-bed semi detached property built in 2004, with rebuild costs of €200,000 and contents’ insurance of €15,000. In Dublin, we found a difference of as much as 20 per cent between the cheapest location of the 10 we surveyed, and the most expensive.

For example, a resident of Jobstown in Tallaght can expect to pay €363 a year to insure such a property; someone living on the same side of the city, in upmarket Rathgar, Dublin 6, can actually expect to pay 20 per cent less, at just €302.

And there is also a notable difference between those living in the city centre and the suburbs. In Grand Canal Quay, for example, you’ll pay €359 to insure such a property, or €341 on Gardiner Street. But move out to Ballyfermot and your insurance will drop to €323, or €319 in Blanchardstown.

The cost of your home insurance policy will also be determined by how much insurance coverage you’ll need to rebuild the property in the event of a fire or other form of destruction. We took a look at the average costs of rebuilding your typical three-bed semi-detached home across the State and the findings vary substantially.

In Dublin, the Society of Chartered Surveyors give a typical rebuild cost of some €197,220. But in Cork, it will cost you 28 per cent less, at €153,520, while up in the northwest, you’ll pay 58 per cent less, at just €124,450 for the same property.

If you need less cover for rebuild costs, it stands to reason that your home insurance policy will also be cheaper.

Home help

And it’s not just bills. Your access to services can be affected by where you live. As with other public services in Ireland, getting access to essential health services can sometimes feel like a postcode lottery. And if you can’t get access to these services, families may have to stump up the costs themselves.

Consider the provision of home help, for example. Figures from the Health Service Executive from last October show that north Dublin had the longest waiting list for home support services (1,567 on list), followed by Co Wexford (588) and Co. Galway (557).

But if you lived in a host of other areas, including Co Kerry, south Tipperary and north Cork on the other hand, you wouldn’t have to wait at all to get access to such services.

The discrepancies, the HSE said, were down to demographics, and the proportion of older people in certain areas. According to the CSO, the three counties with the highest proportion of older people are in fact Mayo, Leitrim and Roscommon. Followed closely behind by . . . Kerry – where they don’t have a waiting list for these services.