Despite five years of EU legislation designed to level the playing the car insurance playing field, men are still paying more for car insurance than women.
Laws were brought in in 2012 to end price discrimination but recent data from Compare the Market show that the gap between the two genders has actually increased.
How much more do men pay for cover?
Between June and August 2017, the average price for a male driver was £821 whereas female drivers paid just £649 for their annual car insurance.
This 27% difference in price is up 7% from five years ago when the new laws were brought in. Both men and women are paying around £200 more than they did in 2012 but men are still paying around £170 extra.
John Miles, head of motor at Compare the Market explained why the new rules were having little impact on closing the gap:
“This data shows how little difference the EU Gender Directive has had on insurance premiums, with providers still giving big discounts to women.
“This is likely due to a number of factors, such as statistically higher accident rates for men and more men than woman driving business and commercial vehicles – which are higher risk.
“The directive removed the ability of providers to give default discounts to women; however, the statistics and risk models used by insurers mean that the result is largely the same.”
Why are men paying more?
Despite the EU gender directive, it’s clear that insurers are still discounting female drivers albeit not specifically because they’re women, which means men are paying more for car insurance.
As the report mentioned, risk factors such as vehicle type and occupation have a huge impact on how much you pay for your car insurance and classically ‘male’ jobs and vehicles (such as car salesman and vans) are simply seen as more of a risk.
In an industry built on assessing the risk an individual and their details, it’s difficult to actively charge the same amount to drivers when one of those drivers could end up costing the company far more than the other driver.
As Confused.com reported earlier this year:
“Men still have poorer claims experience than women, based on the value of claims, and this is reflected in the price of their premiums…This is linked to the fact that men tend to drive more expensive cars with larger engines than women and, on average, they have more convictions.”
There will, of course, be some men that pay far less for their annual insurance than some women but as a whole, more men are deemed as a far bigger risk and therefore pay more for their cover.
What can you do to reduce the cost of your car insurance?
While you may be hamstrung by your gender, there are still a lot of different ways you can reduce the cost of your car insurance.
Choose a smaller and safer car
If you’re looking for a new car then it’s definitely worth considering how much you’ll have to pay for your insurance. All vehicles are divided into 50 insurance groups with the lower groups seen as being less of a risk, so be sure to see what group your potential purchase falls into before buying.
While you may want a hot, new flashy set of wheels, a smaller, more economical and safer car will reduce the cost of your premium.
Compare prices
It’s the easiest and quickest way to save money on car insurance. There are hundreds of places to compare online and it usually takes just a couple of minutes to save tens if not hundreds of pounds.
Not only could you get a better price but by comparing providers but on most comparison sites, you’ll also get a breakdown of the features of the policy so you can see which insurer offers you what you actually want.
Choose your profession wisely
No, we don’t mean you should go and hand your notice in straight away but how you describe your job can have a big impact on the cost of cover.
It’s well-known that slightly changing (not lying) your job title could save you money. Something as simple as changing your title from a customer assistant to a customer advisor could knock some money off your premium.
Don’t pay for cover you don’t need
Alongside reducing your risk, you can also save hundreds of pounds on cover by only paying for the cover you actually need.
While you’re likely to need annual insurance for your day to day driving, there are many everyday situations which would require you to borrow a car or use a vehicle on a temporary basis.
If you find you need short term cover, forking out for annual cover would just be a huge waste of time and money.
For short term cover that’s quick and easy and gives you complete peace of mind with comprehensive cover as standard, get a quote with Tempcover.
Choose from a range of quotes, compare prices and save money unnecessary car insurance. Available from 1 hour up to 28 days, short term cover can save you hundreds of pounds on car insurance by providing cover as and when you need it.
