Cat Deeley may have the looks, Charlotte Church
may have the voice and Keira Knightley may have the lifestyle, but they all have to pay for their fame in more ways than
one.
Leading women's car insurer Diamond thought it would be fun to compare the premiums for women with glamorous
jobs and those with more conventional occupations, and discovered that occupations such as television presenters, singers and
actresses could see price increases of more than 55%.
Diamond managing director, Sian Lewis, said, "For
most women it is a fantasy to be famous and lead an exciting lifestyle. We just wanted to point out that being well known does
have its downsides. Famous women have to pay more for things like insurance just because they are famous."
Diamond compared the rates for a television presenter with a shop assistant, a singer with a teacher and an actress with a
student nurse. All the other factors taken into consideration for car insurance were identical. In all cases the women with the
more ordinary job would pay far less for car insurance.
- 29-year-old
Cat Deeley lives in Sutton Coldfield. She lives with her partner and drives a 2004 Renault Clio 1.2 16v
Expression.
Cat the television presenter would pay 25% more for her insurance than Cat the
shop assistant.
- 19-year-old Charlotte Church lives in Cardiff.
She lives on her own and drives a 2003 Ford Focus Zetec 1.6.
Charlotte the singer would pay 50%
more for her insurance than Charlotte the teacher.
- 20-year-old
Keira Knightley lives in Teddington, London. She lives on her own and drives a 2001 Mazda MX-5 1.8i.
Keira the actress would pay 55% more for her insurance than Keira the student nurse.
In reality the premiums that these women pay is probably much higher still. "I would guess these women drive
sports or luxury cars," says Sian Lewis, "Sports cars and luxury cars are a higher risk whoever is driving them and
so tend to be more expensive to insure anyway. Our survey just goes to show though that you pay the price for fame, whatever
your car."
