In March 2011, the European Court of Justice ruled that insurance companies had to change their policies to be gender neutral, this change which takes effect from 21 December 2012 can have a large influence on the premiums you pay each year for your car insurance.
Current surveys show that the majority of motorists on the roads are not aware of the EU gender ruling, while a small percentage didn’t realise it was taking effect next month. The younger generation of drivers were those that were aware, with seventy eight percent of them preparing themselves for the changes to their insurance premiums.
Up to now insurance companies have worked out premiums based on age and gender. Female drivers were paying up to forty per cent less per year for vehicle insurance than men; this is because a young male is ten times more likely to have a serious accident.
With the new gender ruling men and women have to be neutrally considered for insurance, this means that men will be able to pay up to ten per cent less per annum for their vehicle insurance, while women can see up to a twenty five per cent increase.
Financial Impacts of the EU Gender Ruling
Many people are still struggling to overcome the financial crisis the country was in recently, this new EU gender ruling is just going to put more financial strain on drivers, especially women under the age of forty.
Luckily those who already have their insurance cover in place will not be affected by the EU gender ruling; the impact comes to new policies. To reduce the risk of being impacted financially by the new ruling, it’s advisable that should your cover be up for renewal or should you be looking at insurance coverage to do so before the 21 December 2012.
How to Reduce Your Premiums
Whether you are looking for private vehicle insurance or a motor trade policy from Trade Plan Insurance, ensure that you have a good amount of no claims bonus. No claims bonuses have always impacted insurance premiums with many insurance companies taking this into consideration. Having a no claims on either private or business insurance proves that you are not a risk and can impact on your premium amount.
If you are over forty, you don’t have to worry much. For drivers over the age of forty the premiums for men and women are almost identical anyway, as this age group is considered safest and the lowest risk to an insurance company. Women over the age of fifty where you were probably paying a slightly higher premium than men can expect a slight reduction in their annual premium.
Be sure to budget for your insurance. A vehicle is expensive to run with the increased prices of petrol, annual MOT and annual road tax. Now younger drivers will need to work in their annual premiums to ensure that they can afford to drive a vehicle on the UK roads.
*NB – since this post date we have undergone a re-brand to update our image. The various sub-brand departments that were within Plan Insurance such as Taxi Plan, Commercial Plan, Trade plan etc. were brought together under the one name of Plan Insurance Brokers in July 2015. Read more about our re-brand here.