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Moving home can prove a financial headache, but for one young couple moving just 450 feet left them with more of a migraine.

Rhys told X-Ray for them it was an easy move: 鈥淲e just carried the whole lot. No cars, no vans, just our hands.鈥�

So far, so cheap but little did they know the headache it would cause with their car insurance company, the RAC, when they telephoned to change their details. Nicole said, 鈥淚 rang them up and the gentleman on the phone said I had to pay an extra 拢178 for moving over one street.

鈥淚t鈥檚 crazy. We鈥檝e just moved house and it鈥檚 something we really can鈥檛 afford to spend extra on top.鈥�

But how had the RAC arrived at this conclusion? Nicole told us the last letter of their postcode had changed and that seemed to have made all the difference, 鈥淭hey basically told me that we were [now] living in a high risk area鈥�.

Rhys said they couldn鈥檛 understand it, 鈥淚t鈥檚 identical streets. We are living on the same side as what we lived in in Herbert Street, we鈥檙e parked on a hill like we was in Herbert street. Neighbours are the same, the road is used by the same amount of cars as they is in Herbert Street. So there is no difference.鈥�

Despite explaining this to them numerous times, Nicole said the RAC wouldn鈥檛 budge. So X-Ray sent Rhodri to investigate. Would he find that their neighbouring street was so deserving of its high crime risk category?

Rhodri spoke to some of the local residents. Michael Evans and Elizabeth Williams told him they love living there, 鈥淰ery safe to be honest with you. It鈥檚 a local family community and everybody knows each other in the street and the village鈥�.

The crime stats tell us the same 鈥� there鈥檚 only been one crime on each street in the last six months.

A number of companies use postcode profiling to decide what marketing material you鈥檒l receive. One of them told us according to their records both of these streets are inhabited by practical and enterprising people living on well built council estates. But we were told by a local resident who鈥檇 lived there for 53 years that the properties had never been council run in her lifetime.

So how do insurance companies use post codes?

Ian Brown, an insurance expert from Williamstown-based Motaquote told us there are a number of factors companies taken into account, 鈥淲hat is the area like? How many cars are there? How busy are the roads? It鈥檚 very much statistically based. Sometimes statistics can probably work against you鈥�.

He added, 鈥淚nsurance companies do have some different attitudes to risk, so it鈥檚 worth shopping around鈥�.

But Rhys and Nicole couldn鈥檛 shop around 鈥� the cost of cancelling their policy was basically the same as the increase in price for moving addresses.

We had a look around for them and found moving them again could save or cost them a lot more. If they lived in a central Cardiff postcode with the same car and driving history, it could cost them more than 拢1,200. But if they moved to Rhos-on-Sea they would be paying just under 拢400. Tenby would be just under 拢600 and Rhyl 拢685.

And so we turned to the RAC and asked them what had happened and why they believed the couple had now moved into a more risky area. They told us it had all been a mistake. They鈥檝e apologised and reinstated their previous policy. They鈥檝e also given them 拢50 as a goodwill gesture.

They added, 鈥淚t is standard industry practice that risk assessment is based on various factors, one of which is geographical location and this can influence the price. However, on this occasion, the underwriter has confirmed that, in this instance, an error occurred and no price increase should have been applied鈥�.

But will anything change? We went back to them to ask if this means they鈥檒l be reviewing their policies. They gave us the following statement, 鈥淚n response to Miss Olsen's concerns we have reviewed the process with the underwriter and those involved. As a result of this review we have reinforced our existing training and reminded our advisors of their responsibilities when responding to customer queries.

鈥淩AC places great importance in the ongoing monitoring of the performance of our staff to ensure our customer experience is of the highest standard."