More than a quarter of women in the dark
More than a quarter of the British population are unaware that their motor premiums will soon be affected by a European gender ruling, according to AA Insurance.
Women are least likely to know that insurers will no longer be able to use gender for motor rating from 21 December, with 26% ignorant of the change, according to an AA and Populus poll of 22,173 AA members.
Women are most likely to see their premiums increase under the new law, with young women facing rises of 25% or more, the AA said.
Survey respondents were vague about when the change would take place, as 40% said they had no idea when the shakeup would happen and 23% declared that the changes would come in at some point next year.
The rating changes were ordered by a ruling last March by the European Court of Justice. More than three-quarters (78%) of young drivers told the AA that they were aware of the changes.
AA Insurance director Simon Douglas said that young men are more than twice as likely to have a serious car crash than young women, and are10 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a car crash than those aged 35 or over.
He said: “Calculating premiums based on that risk is fair and it works, but it has been abandoned in favour of gender equality. For many years, insurers have charged young men much higher premiums than young women because they are so much more likely to make expensive insurance claims.
“But as they get older, the difference between men and women in the number and cost of claims they make reduces and from around age 40, men and women pay similar premiums.”
Almost half (49%) of respondents said they expected their own premiums to go up after the ruling, and 38% thought it would make no difference.
Most insurance companies are likely to be offering gender-neutral policies by the end of November, including AA Insurance.
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