ABI: gender ban could be a month away

The ABI believes the European Court of Justice ruling on a gender pricing ban could come into force as early as mid-February.

The ABI belives the judgement, if successfully enforced despite heavy lobbying from insurers, will come into force anytime between mid-February and mid-May.

Telematics firm Wunelli believes its business will be a viable alternative.

Chairman Sandy Dunn said: "‘Wunelli has spent the last two years researching driving behaviours using Telematics and having looked at over 40 million miles of driving data, have created a Driving DNA scoring.

"This Driving DNA is gender neutral and focuses on how, where and whSanen a vehicle is driven. Telematics is not influenced by gender in any way, however when comparing the scoring of male and female drivers, there is a clear difference in driving behaviours which correlates with why underwriters have historically used gender to help determine premiums, particularly for high risk proposers such as young drivers.

"Wunelli’s unique DNA index ratifies insurers’ opinion, based on many years of actuarial data, that gender is a valid discriminator of motor underwriting risk.

"Wunelli was able to conclude that when assessing male and female drivers purely based on where, when and how a vehicle is driven, females (both experienced and inexperienced) are far safer drivers than males and clearly represent a lower insurance risk."