Cheaper car insurance for women will cease to exist

One of the plus sides of being a female driver is the cheaper car insurance quotes they get compared to male drivers but a new ruling by the European Court of Justice has agreed that this is discrimination and should be banned. As of December 21st next year, it will be illegal to do a risk assessment based on gender, it also applies to pensions and health insurance.

As the UK is part of the EU, it will be forced to follow the same practices that are in place in the other European countries such as France, Germany and Spain. When the change comes into force car insurance for women will rise by a staggering 25% but car insurance for men will reduced by 10%. On average a young female driver pays £1,600 in car insurance whilst a man of the same age will pay around £2,700; the price difference is because statistics show that young men are ten times more likely to have a serious accident, 25 times more likely to commit a serious driving offence and twice as likely to claim on their insurance.

One of the UK’s largest quote provider for women, Sheila’s Wheels, will be the most affected as they are one of the only car insurance providers that offer substantial savings for women, although they have to quote for men too. They have said that they will not change their marketing and will continue to advertise for cheap car insurance for women.

Those who will be the most affected are women who are under the age of 26 though driving experience and no claims will also be taken into account. No-one knows for sure how this ruling will affect car insurance in the future so companies have until December next year to re-write their policy.

One worry that that been noted is that some insurers may pull out and stop offering car insurance to younger people which would lead to less competition and drive the cost of car insurance up. Leading motoring organisations have also warned that even more motorists will be forced to stop driving as car insurance will become too expensive to buy, others have warned that an increase in uninsured drivers taking to the road may also increase as many will rather take the risk than pay for insurance they cannot afford.