The Gender Premium Gap in Motor Insurance

When it comes to driving, people will tend to have different perceptions about how different genders drive. On this note, putting the old perception regarding female drivers or even boy racers away would be ideal. Recently collected data show a comparison of the two genders with regards to who is doing it best. Note that this will have a clue on how the insurance premiums vary. The data collected on the United Kingdom population indicated that the driving population was skewed towards the male gender. Besides, the data also reveals that men will tend to do better in driving which is characterized by a higher record of passing tests than their female counterparts. Does it Mean that Men Are Better Drivers? Unfortunately for the male gender, no. The report on the United Kingdom indicated that in the past year, approximately 585000 drivers were taken to court with charges of road offenses in Wales and England. In this, men outnumbered women. The ratio was almost 4:1 in all categories of the offense which include having no motor trade insurance, drink driving, careless driving, speeding, and no tax. Looking at aspects like speeding, the males outnumbered females by a ration if 3:1. Men in this region also admitted to having bad driving habits. These include not indicating when changing lanes or even driving too close to the automobiles in front of them. When it comes to insurance claims, the situation lightened as the previous year, approximately 700000 traders insurance claims were recorded. Almost two-thirds of these were from the male gender. However, they were more likely to be at fault when presenting claims. The claims from male gender tend to be more expensive. In this, the average pay was at £3,271 which was at a 5% higher rate than in women. This can be attributed to the fact that male gender tends to drive more expensive automobiles. As such, the data indicated that the average value of a man’s car in this region is £8,654 as compared to a staggering £7,090 for women. Do Insurance Companies Charge Men More? Not quite. This is because the European Union directive states that insurance companies are not allowed to base their policies’ pricing on gender. However, note that even with this in place, the female gender tends to pay less for car insurance. This is because the estimated average premium for men has been capped at £793 annually while for females it is £701. Looking at the last decade, data shows that men have paid £3,327 more on average than women for Motor Trade Insurance. Note that such data has made insurance companies have a granular approach in their assessment of risk. As such, rather than basing assumptions on gender, they are looking at a wider range which includes the type of car driven, previous convictions or even claims.