One driver from Shropshire was astonished to find that her car insurance premium more than doubled after her address changed, despite the fact she’d only moved 175 yards away from her previous home, and was still living on the same street. Hayley Fulton’s car insurance premium stood at £720 for the year prior to moving to a larger property in the same village of Highley in Shropshire with her family. However when the mother-of-two contacted her insurance company to change her home address, with a postcode that was one digit different to her former postcode, her new insurance premium was calculated at £1,600. Recent Home Office statics revealed that there was a low level of crime throughout the Shropshire village, and no difference at all between the crime rates for both postcodes. However the insurance provider justified the increased premium by stating that the new postcode flagged up on their system as higher risk than the previous postcode Ms Fulton resided at. Another reason for the increase in price of cover according to the 25-year-old’s insurer, was that the car was kept on the driveway of the family home at the previous address, but at the new home the car would be kept in a gated car park a few yards from the house. Insurance companies use sophisticated systems to calculate insurance premiums that provide very detailed and specific information on a postcode including levels of fraud, crime and other factors that can affect the cost of a premium. In the case of Ms Fulton, the insurance provider found that the change of postcode and overnight location of the vehicle increased the risk factor of the policy, which resulted in a higher premium cost.