Gender-based car insurance decisions expected tomorrow

The European Court of Justice's judgement on whether women should be eligible for cheaper car insurance than men is expected tomorrow.

Currently a number of car insurance providers use gender when calculating risk and often give women lower premiums as a result.

If the court rules that gender cannot be used as a risk factor, many women drivers could see their car insurance payments shooting up by thousands of pounds.

Commenting prior to the decision, Simon Douglas, Director of AA Insurance, said that he fears the European Court will not tolerate the UK's approach to assessing risk based on gender.

"This will be particularly bad news for young women who are proven to present a much lower risk to insurers and at present, pay premiums that are up to 50% cheaper than their male peers.

"I expect premiums to increase substantially for them, while they will probably fall a little for young men," he said.

If the court does decide to uphold anti-discrimination rules, it could take around three years for the changes to be brought into practice.


Posted by Martin Ellis