Women called Joy, Diana or Tracy should never marry a man called Sean

It seems insurers are queuing up to tell us what constitutes ‘the safer bet’: from what colour car to drive, what to name your children to where to go on holiday.

Aviva Travel Insurance, for instance, carried out a survey of 60,000 claims made in 2005 and found that the safest place to go on holiday was Ireland. Unsurprisingly Belgium was a close second, followed by Holland, Germany and France. Holidaymakers visiting South Africa on the other hand were most likely to be the victims of violent robberies or have their luggage lost in transit. Visitors to Prague had a higher risk of being the victims of pick pockets, and British holidaymakers in Thailand were more likely to be involved in traffic accidents, be robbed or suffer food poisoning.

Insurance-wise the obvious question is – could the ‘safe-dangerous’ divide be more accurately factored into policyholders’ premiums? One of the problems appears to be that the stats are constantly changing. What is true today may not be true tomorrow. In terms of holiday destinations for instance, trouble can flare up unexpectedly – and return to normal just as fast. Thailand and Egypt are both popular destinations for Western holidaymakers and generally regarded as safe, yet both have seen isolated acts of terrorism in recent years.
Natural disasters, such as the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004, are a similar case in point.

Chance also plays a part closer to home. Last year for instance, the Daily Mail reported that nearly a third of all accidents in the home happen at the weekend according to insurance claims. Rather than being a day of rest, Sunday tops the list with 16 per cent of total claims.

However, given that Sunday is the day when the majority of household members are actually at home, it comes as no surprise that there is a higher percentage of accidents. If you factor in Britain’s obsession with DIY, Sunday football fixtures (with a couple of beers thrown in for good measure), reluctant stints in the garden and of course the kids, Sunday really is an accident waiting to happen.

If insurance companies offered home insurance the same way they offered car insurance, could it be broken down into days of the week? And if so, would Sunday constitute legal minimum cover, on a par with Third Party, Fire & Theft for instance. Could we then “bolt on” additional days and maybe leave Fridays out? Of course not. People would then start to do DIY on Mondays and we would have to re-evaluate the whole thing all over again.

So is there any point to the research undertaken by these insurers other than to grab a few headlines? Sometimes – when the “fun” data produced is simply a by-product of serious research to alter the larger picture. But in 2005 Churchill advised that women called Joy were the victims of more break-ins, accidents and water leaks than any other name, followed closely by Diana and Tracey. Men called Sean are also more likely to be burgled, to be involved in accidents and to make other household claims.

We certainly hope that your name is not being evaluated as part of the premium pricing process …