Despite The Gender Directive in 2012 insurers still seem to be rewarding women with lower insurance premiums based on statistical evidence.
For example, they tend to calculate premiums based on occupation more, so if your occupation means you are likely to be female, such as a nurse or a primary school teacher, your premium might be lower based on this occupational risk and you might think it’s based on gender – which it isn’t allowed to be.
But we all know that more road accidents are caused by young male drivers than female ones so why wouldn’t this be the case?
If insurance was your business would you rate a young male driver with a potential boy racer profile, driving late at night for example, with the same insurance premiums as a mum who drives fewer than 3000 local and daylight miles a year including the school run?
________________________________________
At the time of posting this (January 2018) the dynamic Confused.com car insurance price index showed that UK drivers were paying £827 on average for an annual car insurance policy with women drivers paying less than men, presumably based on continuing evidence of accident statistics and occupation because the Gender Directive prevents insurers from rating risk by gender. This increase was up by £60, or 8%, over the previous 12 months.
Based on this independent research by Consumer Intelligence during November 2017, 50% of car insurance customers could save £279. With more than six million quotes used in the construction of each quarter’s insurance price index, this is the most comprehensive insurance index in the UK, based on comprehensive cover unless otherwise stated.
However, nearly all drivers have experienced cost increases over the past year but motorists aged 65 and 67, for example, have both seen the cost of their premiums rise by 13% year-on-year. This is equivalent to increases of £60 and £59 respectively and I’d really like to understand why, so we can look at ways to help here.
But it’s not only rising car insurance prices that motorists are having to contend with. We’re also paying significantly more for fuel than a year ago. According to Confused.com’s fuel price index, which collates prices from 83% of the UK’s fuel stations, we’re paying 121.4p for petrol and 124.2p for diesel, on average. This suggests a medium-sized car is now costing £69 for a full tank of petrol and £71 to fill up with diesel.
The regional cost of car insurance
Drivers in Scotland will yet again be groaning when they check their renewal price, with three areas in the region facing the sharpest annual price hikes. Motorists in the Borders of Scotland saw a 17% annual increase, equivalent to £92. Meanwhile, drivers living in the East & North East of Scotland and the Scottish Highlands & Islands are facing 13% (£71) and 10% (£60) rises respectively.
The North Midlands also saw a substantial year-on-year increase of 11%, equivalent to £78, and motorists in this region are now paying more for car insurance than they ever have done.
However, comparing the regions, it is drivers in Inner London who are being hit most here, paying £1,283 on average.
Drivers in Manchester & Merseyside, Outer London, the West Midlands and Northern Ireland are all paying over £1,000 with London City facing the most significant price hike of any area with an increase of 30%, equivalent to £370, in this quarter alone.
Drivers in this part of the capital are now paying a staggering £1,599 for their car insurance – more than any area of the UK, and £772 above the UK average.
About FOXY Lady Insurance
When you are shopping for car insurance, here’s some information to help.
And please note that whilst it’s illegal for insurers to calculate car insurance risk more favourably for women, they can still rate risk based on an all female affinity group like FOXY Lady Drivers Club. In fact, if you’d like to sample our insurance service for women drivers*, all you have to do is join The Club then register for an insurance quote at renewal time.
Women who’d like to register for an insurance quote with FOXY Lady Insurance, please do so here and we’ll contact you at renewal time to compete with your best renewal quote.
*assumes the female is the insured driver whilst men can be named drivers and hopefully save too.