Car Insurance Debate

Barks · 4 Jan 2009 at 13:58

I suspect this has been discussed on here before but I am interested to know the views on this subject.

In this day and age, does allowing cheaper premiums for women not qualify as sexual discrimination?
Statistics may reveal that women crash less (namely because they do the same low-risk school run/super market trip every day) and thus it could be fair to say they should pay less for car insurance.

However, if for example statistics were to show that Indians crashed far less, would it be justified for car insurance companies to charge them lower premiums? Isn't this effectively the same thing; discrimination?

Does gender really have such a bearing on your risk of an accident. Isn't it more so on what the car is used for? You will always get sensible drivers and you will always get idiots. Just because there are legions of 18 year old boy racers who drive at 60mph down the high-street, I don't see why the rest of us should be punished. If hypothetically you gave a 20 year old an Audi RS4, but only allowed them to drive to work and back - they'd have a much lower probability of crashing than if you let them go midnight racing through McDonalds with their chums.

Thoughts? Opinions?

Jez · 4 Jan 2009 at 14:56

The argument about charging different premiums for different races is a minefield and although should IMO have bearing on the premium i dont think any company would want to go near that one.

The male and female thing i think is completely fair, while i don't have a single male friend who hasn't at the very least severely damaged a car, none of my female friends have ever done more than very minor things.

ineed2upgrade · 4 Jan 2009 at 16:27

My gf works in car insurance and she says people of Pakistani or Indian origin pay more for car insurance so it's already happening.
You are brought up not to be racist,sexist or ageist but insurance companies do it so how are we expected to follow suit?
It's not that woman crash less,it's that the resultant claim is usually lower.

Scuzi · 4 Jan 2009 at 16:36

ineed2upgrade said:
My gf works in car insurance and she says people of Pakistani or Indian origin pay more for car insurance so it's already happening.

Do you have any proof of this? I can understand paying more for having a foreign driving licence but I very much doubt that insurance companies are charging more for specific ethnicities given that a lot of companies don't even ask which one you are.

gobbo · 4 Jan 2009 at 17:27

Jez said:
The argument about charging different premiums for different races is a minefield

Surely insurance in itself is a minefield as well, simply so many variables that effect it, and different companies ask for different information.

One of the classics is adding an older/female relative onto your policy as a named driver, even though they never ask how often that might be! I used to have my Mum on my policy, saved me quite a bit and I think she drove my car once in two years.

[TW]Fox · 4 Jan 2009 at 17:32

It's simple.

Guys hardly ever crash, but when they do, they fling their Impreza Turbo backwards through a fence taking out 2 trees and destorying the car.

Girls crash all the time because they can't drive, but a girl crash involves bumping into a post or something.

As a result, guys pay more insurance.

Lum · 4 Jan 2009 at 18:11

I read somewhere that insurance companies were including things like your prefered name in the stats, so if your name is Kev from Basildon you might pay more than Quentin from Basildon. That's one way of getting around the whole race thing because instead of saying "Asians pay more" you can say, "the following names pay more: Wayne, Kev, Gaz, Abdul, Samir, Rajit etc. etc."

I'm fairly sure this came from the Daily Mail though, so you should treat it with the contempt it deserves.

MrMoonX · 4 Jan 2009 at 18:22

if women want true equality then they should pay the same for car insurance - could be one argument.

Hxc · 4 Jan 2009 at 18:24

Scuzi said:
Do you have any proof of this? I can understand paying more for having a foreign driving licence but I very much doubt that insurance companies are charging more for specific ethnicities given that a lot of companies don't even ask which one you are.

My quotes go up if I declare (which I certainly will be doing) that I moved to the UK 3 years after my birthdate. (Born in Australia for reference)

It's only £15 but it's still a bit :/

ineed2upgrade · 4 Jan 2009 at 21:27

[TW]Fox;13211951 said:
It's simple.

Guys hardly ever crash, but when they do, they fling their Impreza Turbo backwards through a fence taking out 2 trees and destorying the car.

not for me,i wouldnt be seen dead driving an imprezza

cant give you proof of the ethnicity thing as it would be more than her job is worth

OpenToSuggestions · 4 Jan 2009 at 22:12

[TW]Fox;13211951 said:
It's simple.

Guys hardly ever crash, but when they do, they fling their Impreza Turbo backwards through a fence taking out 2 trees and destorying the car.

Girls crash all the time because they can't drive, but a girl crash involves bumping into a post or something.

As a result, guys pay more insurance.

Thats exactly what I have always said

Males are better drivers, but they **** about.

However, if it was the other way round and women got charged more, they would whine and protest like theres no tomorrow.

The_Abyss · 4 Jan 2009 at 23:02

Insurance is exactly as the word describes. The calculated risk for the given situation.

Insurance is entirely about not discrimination, but differentation of risk. Anything else is unfair to everyone else.

deko · 4 Jan 2009 at 23:41

nah its probably fair. i dont like it at all, but its fair. ive not seen the stats, but from my own sexist views, girls probably crash more, but guys do it properly at a higher speed, costing the insurance companies more to fix.

Lum · 5 Jan 2009 at 00:04

I understand that statistically men have better spatial awareness on average, and thus are less likely to prang your car while parking (that said it was a man that reversed his hulking great SUV out of a driveway and into the front wing of my GF's 200SX that he hadn't seen). For various social reasons women are also more likely to get landed with taking the kids to places so are also going to get the blame for when the kids stove someone else's door in. Those kind of events often don't result in a claim though as people just move their car rather than owning up.

On that note I've also met a lot of women who can't understand why someone would get riled up over receiving a small dent or scratch on their car, they think that when their kids smash your door in that you shouldn't be bothered, and thus they don't claim when someone does it to them and don't even think about owning up to it because in their mind they've done nothing wrong. To them the car is just a tool. I've met comparatively few men who think like this.

Men statistically do higher miles (which in itself justified the increased premium) and more motorway miles and when they have a crash something more serious has gone wrong in their driving, the consequences are more serious and it's a lot harder to just bugger off and pretend like it never happened.

This is why women get cheaper premiums, and also why men always go on about women being rubbish at driving. Well there's also this that explains the last one too.