Car Insurance Prices

[Jay70]

The reason given for women having to pay less than a man for car insurance for exactly the same vehicle when both drivers are of the same age / driving experience / location is that women have less accidents.  What I wanted to know was whether the milleage the drivers travelled over a yr was taken into account i.e if you have a lady who travels 5 thousand miles a year and has one accident and a man who travels 15 thousand miles a yr and has two accidents then unless you take the milleage into consideration and just look at accidents per yr, the female will look a better driver but it is infact the male driver who has less accidents per mile.  I still think its sexist that part of the premium is based on the drivers sex and not wholy on driving skill.  If the stats are worked out per mile as I have stated then if on average males have more accidents then an Individual driver he still shouldn't be penalised for his sex.  Does anyone else agree or is it just me lol    

[morg_monster]

I think the fact is not less accidents, but that overall the accidents which women have cost a lot less to fix than the accidents that men have.  For example women have more minor bumps when parking, which is just a few hundred quid for some body work (if they even claim at all), whereas it tends to be men who have high speed accidents which can write off cars and often involve, property, other vehicles and even subsequent medical care - all resulting in a massive pay out for the insurance company.  Most insurance companies take into account the mileage you will do seperately in your quote, and so for men or women the cost will go up with planned mileage. 

So if once mileage is taken into account, the average man causes the insurance company to have to pay out �10, but the average woman only �3, if the company desires to then they can pass on a saving to women.  Not all do, of course.

I know it is a really emotive subject!  But, at the end of the day, insurance companies who want to give a saving to 'less costly' drivers (note I don't say safer drivers!) as a selling point or gimmick, they still want to make the most money they can and so their procedures must be based on trustworthy statistics from thousands and thousands of claims.

[twiglet4frog]

i think insurance should be equal for all ages and sexes, and maybe your premium will rise if u have an accident that is your fault! if it is someone elses then they pay and if they are uninsured then i think your insurance company wont penalise u or make u pay but instead take the uninsured driver to court and force them to pay the costs!

And of course none of this happens cos we dont live in a sensible world with sensible answers to everything!!!

[Ducati]

As previously posted, women actually have more accidents than men - the important difference is that the accidents that men have actually cost more to the insurers, and this being the case, I think it is absolutely spot on that women pay less.

Equally, take Permanent Health Insurance - this costs more for women than men for the same reasons, they cost the insurer more than men (this particular one was tested in court a few years ago by a woman under sex discrimination legislation.........she lost).

[Gef]

Sorry jay but you answered your own question in your first sentence - women have fewer accidents - so lower premiums.

[Gevs1966]

Does anybody know what happened to that guy who was suing Diamond insurance for sexual discrimination when they wouldn't give him a quote because he was a man?

[Jay70]

Not at all Gef - my question was whether mileage was taken into account when the stats for the amount of accidents caused by men v's women are produced.  It wasn't - What is the reason for womens car insurance being cheaper than a man's for the same vehicle etc.  So therfore I havn't answered my own question.

[Tim123]

A lot of it is down to driving patterns. Women drive around 8,000 miles pa on average, while men drive around 12,000 miles. Women drive a greater proportion on their mileage on low speed local roads, where accidents are more frequent, but less expensive to repair.

Once you exclude the 'boy racer' factor of 17-25 year old men driving like idiots, there's hardly anything to choose in terms of pounds claimed per mile driven, but women's lower mileage makes tham a better risk.

[hedgehog661]

It is true that the overall cost of accidents caused by women is less, and a big reason why these premiums are often cheaper for women is the excess charge can sometimes be higher this way specialist women insurance companies can reduce the cost knowing that most of the claims will be under this limit hence less risk to the insurance company