Europe’s car insurance industry has been left spinning by the recent big ban by the European Court of Justice of the use of gender to assess risk and calculate premiums. As the full impact of the ruling is debated by the nation, motor insurance companies will be under close scrutiny as they try and attempt to deal fairly with the choas.
Car insurance for women at moneysupermarket.com have benefited from cheaper insurance premiums than men for a long time now. In calculations for health insurance, life insurance, car insurance and annuities, the fact that women are seen statistically as a lower-risk group than men has meant women benefit from lower costs.
“In all studies, without exception, men have been shown to have a higher rate of crashes than women. This gender difference is most marked in the population under the age of 25 years, but is also evident in older drivers.”
Female-focused car insurance companies such as Diamond and Sheila’s Wheels were started to cater especially to women, with their rates wholly unavailable to men. Womens car insurance from Moneysupermarket rates are now set to rocket by as much as a quarter on their current premiums, in line with the new ‘fairer’ ruling.
A statement from the insurance group said: “It is completely disadvantageous to the very people it was intended to protect and prevents insurers from using a legitimate rating factor.”
The price of an insurance premium for a woman under the age of 24 is expected to rise by an average of 24 per cent, with the youngest female drivers facing a 60 per cent price hike.
Annuity Junction
Upon reaching retirement, people will often buy an annuity with their pension fund to guarantee them a fixed income for the rest of their life. Because women statistically live longer than men, a woman will more often than not be offered lower payouts than those offered to men with an identical pension fund.
The ECJ ruling now means that as of December 2012, men and women will be seen as equals when purchasing annuities, meaning men’s will now fall by as much as eight per cent, women’s could rise by as much as six per cent.
George Ladds, Head of Pensions at Fair Investment Company, said: “Either rates for men and women will be brought in line to create ‘unisex’ annuity rate, which will probably see men’s rates go down more than women’s go up - or annuity providers will have to start looking at each case individually, which is more expensive, and that cost will be passed onto the consumer. “Either way, the consumer loses out on both choice and value. Annuity rates are already low, and this could be the excuse providers need to pull them even lower.”
“Either way, the consumer loses out on both choice and value. Annuity rates are already low, and this could be the excuse providers need to pull them even lower.”
Life
She said: “Not all customers will be equally affected as the use of gender can vary significantly between products and different companies. Each company will have to respond to the ban in a way they feel is in their customers’ interests.”
But the news is not all in the favour of females. Annuities have favoured men in the past, as their life expectancy is statistically lower, meaning they would receive a higher pay out based on the same retirement fund as a woman. However, the ECJ’s ruling will prevent annuity providers from differentiating in this way and annuity rates for men are expected to drop by eight per cent.
Life insurance premiums could rise by a fifth when the ruling takes effect, while men are expected to benefit from a 10 per cent saving on their cover.
He said: “Either rates for men and women will be brought in line to create ‘unisex’ annuity rate, which, will probably see men’s rates go down more than women’s go up - or annuity providers will have to start looking at each case individually, which is more expensive, and that cost will be passed onto the consumer.
However, only time will tell how British insurers will manage these monumental and historic changes, and the public can only wait in hope that they have enough time between now and December 2011 to level out insurance rates across all areas of the industry, making the insurance industry a truly fairer, more customer-friendly one.
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