Following a new equality regulation that prohibits insurers from using gender to help determine what a driver’s premiums will be, young female drivers may soon be paying more to compensate for the fact that being male can no longer be considered to be a risk factor.
According to auto insurance brokers Adrian Flux, the new increased rates will begin as early as December 2012. It is at that time that insurance companies in the United Kingdom will no longer be able to benefit from an exemption that currently allows them to forgo an EU gender law when the insurance premiums are supported by statistical evidence.
This statistical evidence is highly available to U.K. insurers. It consistently shows that compared to men, young women have half the likelihood of making a claim on their auto insurance policy, and are ten times less likely to be involved in a collision that leads to a serious injury – which are the most expensive insurance claims. However, the courts have made the decision that in the name of equality, insurers may not use gender as a risk factor when determining their rates, as of December 21, 2012.
This new regulation eliminates one of the primary elements of auto insurance rate calculations: that they are calculated through the use of statistical evidence in order to determine the size of the risk that someone will make a claim.
As gender will no longer be considered a risk factor, in all probability, female drivers will need to pay higher premiums in order to ensure that there is equality with the male drivers. Men, however, will see only a small decrease in their rates, as the majority of insurers are still struggling to make money off male drivers.