
Women's car insurance
Is car insurance less expensive for women than men? Officially the answer is no, but in practice policies often work out cheaper. Here's why.
Is car insurance cheaper for women?
It's something that gets asked a lot – does car insurance for women cost less than it does for men? The official answer is no, but it's actually a bit more complicated than that. Women often end up having lower insurance premiums, but as you'll discover, it's more about the choices made by an individual.
Women are less of a risk for insurers than men
Insurers use complex statistical algorithms to calculate premium prices. This means they look at real-world risk levels and the evidence shows women are safer drivers than men. That's not to say that every female driver is safer than every male driver. But on average, more male drivers are involved in accidents each year.
Did you also know there are slightly more male drivers in the UK than women, at 53% of the total.? And here's a really surprising statistic – men are more than twice as likely to make a claim on their insurance, despite only driving 75 miles further a year on average. It's also a fact that men are also more likely to commit traffic offences as nearly 80% of motoring offences are recorded as being committed by men.
Can you get car insurance for women?
In a word, no. There used to be dedicated car insurance for women offering a discount for female drivers. However, a 2012 legal challenge resulted in an EU ruling that the practice was discriminatory. Insurers then stopped their discounted policies for women drivers and post-Brexit, the UK still follows this ruling.
So why the difference in prices?
Although insurance companies aren't allowed to apply a discount simply because someone is female – or charge more because they are male – it doesn't mean that men and women pay exactly the same for their car insurance. Men and women often make different lifestyle choices that insurers are legally entitled to consider when working out a premium.
The result is that car insurance quotes for women tend to be lower. In 2020, women paid an average of £719 for their car insurance compared to £810 for men.
How your choices can affect what you pay
In determining car insurance premiums, insurers consider all sorts of factors. These include the power and cost of the car, the driver's job, where they live, their history of claims and convictions and their voluntary car excess. Although companies aren't allowed to discriminate on the basis of gender alone, some choices will be closely associated with men or women. Let's look at some of these choices.
How to cut the cost of car insurance for women
Whether you're a man or a woman, there are a few things you can do to bring down the cost of your car insurance:
Does being married affect your car insurance?
Yes, it does. If you're married, you'll be seen as lower risk and this may result in lower premiums.
Which type of car insurance should you choose?
The type of car insurance you choose can also have an impact on the cost; whether it's third party, fire and theft or fully comprehensive. And whatever type you choose, you might not get a cheaper policy simply because of your gender. We want everyone to get the best value insurance, so get in touch today for a quote.
For more ways to save money on your car insurance, pop over to our handy guides now.
All information is correct at the time of publication. Hastings Direct cannot be held responsible for any misinformation displayed.
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