Women's car insurance hikes?

InDebted2U_2

How can car insurance be discriminatory if it is based on risk? Surely if this ludicrous ruling goes through at the European court then we need to look at the age discrimination of car insurance too - why should a 19 year old pay more for their car insurance than a 39 year old?! Or location discrimination - why should Londoners pay more than country dwellers?!!

movilogo

If the court ruling says men and women must pay same premia, instead of reducing men's premia, insurance companies will simply hike women's.

lisyloo

How can car insurance be discriminatory if it is based on risk?

But basing it on someone gender is not looking at their personal risk is it?
Location and age are not the same, becuase when you look at those factors you look at someones individual age and their individual postcode, you don't put them into only 2 groups.

Anyway it's not gone through yet.

If it does go through I think movilogo is right, we'll probably see increases and not decreases. Overall there will be costs which will have to be paid.
I think we need to re-consider our place in Europe. This has come up on the sex-offenders issues yesterday.
There is a larger issue at stake. Do we want to eb tied to whatever Europe decide?

mikey72

lisyloo wrote: »

But basing it on someone gender is not looking at their personal risk is it?
Location and age are not the same, becuase when you look at those factors you look at someones individual age and their individual postcode, you don't put them into only 2 groups.

Anyway it's not gone through yet.

If it does go through I think movilogo is right, we'll probably see increases and not decreases. Overall there will be costs which will have to be paid.
I think we need to re-consider our place in Europe. This has come up on the sex-offenders issues yesterday.
There is a larger issue at stake. Do we want to eb tied to whatever Europe decide?

It usually depends on whether you agree with europe, or agree with the government at the time.

lisyloo

It usually depends on whether you agree with europe, or agree with the government at the time.

Of course.
But do we want to be dictated to?

I'm really vague on this but didn't we have a right of veto at some point? or does that not apply here?

huckster

There is a danger if you start to pick and choose which court rulings you wish to accept. There is no guarantee that if the UK withdrew from being subject to European court rulings, that a UK court might not come to the same conclusion.

The European Union is the biggest trading block in the world and something like 60% of our trade is with other EU countries. Don't forget this equality issue is applied to all EU countries and not just the UK. If women were being charged higher premiums than men, I think women would feel the same as some men. Premium rating should be done on the individual without there being any difference between sexes.

mikey72

lisyloo wrote: »

Of course.
But do we want to be dictated to?

I'm really vague on this but didn't we have a right of veto at some point? or does that not apply here?

I've never had a right of veto. I've been dictated to all my life.
Whether it's a uk lobbyist, Thatcher, Blair, Cameron, Brussels, the insurance companies, it makes no difference to my life who decides. It just happens anyway.
If I like it it's good, if I don't it's bad.

anniecave

I don't understand. Insurance premiums are based on risk. So if it is clearly proveable that women cost less to insure than men, or people who live in a nice postcode are less likely to have their car nicked than people who live in a dodgy area, or people who only drive 5000 miles per year are less likely to have an accident than people who drive 15,000 miles per year, then how is altering a premium based on one risk factor any different than any other?

As far as I can see it's all discrimination.

maginot

Sex is different to experience, location, amount of miles driven though. All of these other reasons people can achieve if they wanted. Whether it is move home, find a different job, use the car for business and pleasure etc.

People are unable to change being male or female and therefore will always have this discrimination. This is why it is unfair compared to other risk factors!

fannyanna

maginot wrote: »

Sex is different to experience, location, amount of miles driven though. All of these other reasons people can achieve if they wanted. Whether it is move home, find a different job, use the car for business and pleasure etc.

People are unable to change being male or female and therefore will always have this discrimination. This is why it is unfair compared to other risk factors!

Age and experience do not always go hand in hand. Is it always the case that a 31 year old with two years driving experience will be a better driver than a 21 year old with two years driving experience?

As with your gender you are unable to change your age (with the obvious exception of it increasing ever year lol).

So if we are to accept the theory that it is discrimination to price one gender on the basis of being riskier than the other we should apply the same principle to age. Don't see that one happening!

harobedwerd

I contacted my insurer today, enquiring about the cost of cancelling my insurance a month before it expires. When asked why, I explained about the hike in women's insurance due to the "EU Equality Ruling." My Insurance Co. know nothing about this. The operator I spoke with asked me to hold on while he spoke with a Manager who said that the EU cannot apply such a ruling because data confirms the categories of insurance risk and that data only is used to quantify the costs. They were very sure that there will be no change.

Has anyone else made enquiries of their insurance company about this please? I'd be interested to know what other companies have to say.