Car Insurance: are women now the penalised sex?

Sarah Lifestyle

In March 2011, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that insurers cannot take gender into account when calculating the cost of car insurance. This ruling came into effect late in 2012. According to the AA, premiums for young female drivers had until then been up to 50% cheaper than for young male drivers. Insurers calculated these premiums based on a higher statistical risk of men – particularly young men – having an accident and making a claim.

Prior to the court ruling, an insurance company would determine how much your premiums would cost, by factoring in various indicative elements such as risk profile and just how much coverage they can offer you while remaining profitable. Male drivers statistically pose a higher risk than women.

The assumption of risk based purely on gender was, understandably, deemed sexist and discriminatory by many, including the European Court of Justice, who put an end to the practice causing a hike in the cost of premiums for women in order to provide a fair and equal service.

If you’re married or living with a partner then you may have noticed an ongoing difference – but perhaps not in the direction you might expect. Findings show that at-fault claims are as much as 14% more frequent than men, while at-fault claims by men tend to more serious.

A recent study by Privilege Insurance sampled 50 drivers in an in-car assessment. The results showed that when marked out of 14 different aspects of driving, women scored 23.6 points out of 30, while men lagged behind with only 19.8. The study revealed startling differences in driving styles, with 27% of men guilty of tailgating compared to only 4% of women. Other potentially hazardous characteristics of male drivers when compared to female counterparts, included lower use of mirrors and approaching hazards and junctions too quickly.

Differing attitudes to road use are also evident off the road, such as with search queries made by women in comparison to those by men. Where a woman would search for a more practical solution, such as tyres near me, searches by men indicate more of an interest in handling and imply an interest in cornering at speed or shorter breaking distance.

The question, then, is raised as to whether car insurance costs are now unfairly penalise women with a lower likelihood of carrying over a no-claims discount, while failing to curtail the dangerous habits of those responsible for giving the male driver a bad name.