Not sure if you folks know what an actuary is, but they're high-paid statisticians who specialize in figuring out accident and death rates based on ANY number of things.
Factors they look at might include:
-Color
-Doors
-Number of seats (implies family car)
-Engine size
-Turbo/super charged
-Horse-power:weight ratio
-Where it is garaged (by zip code)
-AWD, FWD, RWD, etc.
-Garaged in-door or outside
-Used for business or pleasure
-Length of commute
-Years behind the wheel
-Accident history
-Traffic violation history
-Gender
-Married
-GPA
-Certain professions
All of these vary by locale on both their usage and legality. And I'm sure they have a bunch more things they look at.
This is done to properly price insurance, have drivers who will likely cost the system/company more money (for whatever reason), pay more into it.