Sexist Car insurance

Tim_L

Get real here - you give details on your application including gender, accident record, age, and what kind of car you drive which allows companies to charge an appropriate premium depending on the aggregation of risk factors.

Like it or not, women have fewer accidents than male drivers so they will tend to get cheaper insurance, the same as older drivers tend to have fewer accidents than 18-25 year olds, and people who have not had accidents will tend not to have one, where people who have had one will tend to have another. This sort of decision making is a fact of life for any risk based business.

The "women only" companies are basically exploiting the fact that people sort of know this, and in fact the deals on offer are rarely good value. They're banking on lazy people assuming that their rates will be good because they're covering an assumed lower risk group. Generally by shopping around you can beat the rates on offer whatever sex you are.

The more I read these boards the more amazed I am about what people will get stressed about. Six billion years after this planet formed, and the wonders of intelligent life emerged from nothing, is there really nothing better to do than feel aggrieved because there are insurance companies that target women rather than men?

Incidentally the idea that racial profiling would be used for insurance is presenting a false dichotomy. There is no data I'm aware of that demonstrates anything of the kind.

raskazz

What a ridiculous thread.

The very foundation of car insurance is that it is discriminatory. Remove rating by sex, age, location and the whole thing falls apart..

Next people will be complaining that they charge higher premiums to those with recent claims! Discrimination! :rotfl:

andyrules

Well there is plenty of choice without going through the 'gimmicky' ones, which seem to be more expensive anyway. The worst discrimination with car insurance is trying to get your own ncd if you've been a driver on OH's insurance for years. Women with decades of accident-free driving are treated as new drivers if they want insurance in their name.

But, going slightly ot, the unkindest cut of all for women comes from building societies and insurance companies when allotting shares - almost always in the man's name as he is almost always first named on a joint policy. Whoever heard of Mrs and Mr?

lisyloo

So what if the same insurance companies decided to stop employing women on the grounds that maternity leave was costing them too much. By your logic that would be OK would it?

That would be illegal.

The way the insurance industry operates is not illegal.

Graham_Devon

Women statistically crash less because statistically, they drive less miles and for less hours.

Say Joe drives 40 hours per week. Roger drives 5 hours per week.

Who's statistically more likely to crash?

Now, statistically, women overall drive on average a 3rd of the amount of miles men do. That's just the way it is, not sexist, if women want to catch up, drive around a bit more! So, who's going to crash more? Women or Men?

Men, obviously!

mrcow

Graham_Devon wrote:

Also, if you had an advert shouting 'men make better drivers' doubt it would get very far!

No it wouldn't get very far....because it wouldn't be the truth.

Graham_Devon

I like this bit:

Female motorcyclists were involved in 693 road accidents, almost 85 per cent fewer than their male counterparts who had 4,382 accidents.

Come on, we all know full well that more men ride motorbikes than women do! We know that women ride them, but we all know, from our own observations that more men do!!

mrcow

Graham_Devon wrote:

I like this bit:

Female motorcyclists were involved in 693 road accidents, almost 85 per cent fewer than their male counterparts who had 4,382 accidents.

Come on, we all know full well that more men ride motorbikes than women do! We know that women ride them, but we all know, from our own observations that more men do!!

What's your point?

It's not a question of increased mileage or more journeys that increase your likelihood of having an accident, it's HOW WELL you drive.......according to the research published, men have more accidents than women because they speed more, drive more aggressively (& carelessly!) and they have more serious driving convictions and are much more likely to cause death by dangerous driving etc.

Get over it! Women are safer on the roads!

djgrazy

personally, I've never met a woman yet who could drive well ! Indecision, nervousness, applying make-up during the drive, reverse parking, etc... The decision to allow women on to the roads should be reversed.

I think you'll find that the only reason that "statistically" more men are involved in accidents is that most households have their car registered and insured in the males' name. The women who have cars insured in their name are all to blame anyway for giving their husbands/partners the keys in the first place

kai666

all insurance companies target certain groups and ages. Thats why quotes vary so much. You need to shop around and find a company that targets your needs.

It's just that shelia's wheels, diamond etc make it more explicit than the others