EU gender ruling will impact on car insurance

“Traditionally, young men have had high car insurance premiums compared with female drivers.

“Insurers can often appear to presume young male motorists, without safe driving histories, are accidents waiting to happen.

“But from this December, a ruling from the European Court of Justice will come into effect which industry professionals believe will have a revolutionary impact on motor insurance prices.

“It seems that, soon, insurers won’t be able to use a driver’s gender when determining a premium. Which, depending on your viewpoint, either flies in the face of common sense or, at long last, brings parity to an area which for far too long has had massive and unjust inconsistencies in cost.

“While young women motorists are set to encounter hikes in the price of their annual car insurance policy of about 25 percent (according to figures from the Association of British Insurers), men can expect to fork out around 10 percent less cash.

“But that’s not the end of it; customarily, young male drivers have been able to slash the cost of their insurance by adding a woman motorist to their policy. But this might now be a thing of the past, as a driver’s sex will now have no impact on the price they pay.

“For skilled drivers who have more on-road familiarity for insurers to base their quotes on, the outcome of the gender edict are anticipated to be far less spectacular.

“In many ways, a unisex rating is unexplored terrain for insurers and no one will know the full effect until 2013. But we can be fairly sure that this change in legislation will lead to an increased use in black box technologies. By using equipment to evidence the level of risk you pose to yourself and others, premiums can be reduced – whatever your gender.”