At the end of 2012, the doom-mongers – me included – were predicting that the cost of motor insurance was going to rise out of all proportion. Female drivers were going to be victims of a piece of bureaucracy imposed on us by Brussels that demanded insurers levy the same rates whatever drivers' gender. The result would be the statistically safer, and therefore cheaper to insure, female drivers would pay more. We were right… And now it looks like we were wrong, too.
The British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) says the cost of car cover for younger female drivers did initially rise by up to 40 per cent. But then competition saw premiums drop back to a 5 to 13 per cent increase.
Ian Crowder of the AA explained: "Insurers are getting used to being gender-neutral now. It means as the year progresses, premiums for women will come down further. Drivers renewing at the end of the year, those who last renewed their cover just before the gender law came in, will make the greatest savings."
Crowder revealed that now insurers have been forced to turn their attention from drivers' gender they're looking more at cars and occupations. "Effectively, they're having to start from scratch in the way they rate their risks," he said.
Graeme Trudgill from BIBA added: "More than ever before, smaller cars with smaller engines that are worth less will be cheaper to insure for younger drivers. They might also look at training. There are insurers who will give younger drivers a 10 per cent discount with a BTEC Level 2 driving qualification. Others will give 15 per cent off if drivers have an in-car camera to monitor their driving."
BIBA also recommended drivers investigate who they get cover with. The various aggregator sites obviously serve a lot of drivers a lot of the time. "But there are plenty of brokers that specialise in young driver cover," Trudgill said. "These can be better at matching young drivers to the market and finding competitive offers." Check out the find a broker service at www.biba.org.uk.
Part of the reason the gender directive hasn't had as big an effect as first anticipated is that insurance premiums in general are falling. And according to the AA this is likely to continue, particularly if the industry gets its wish of having the German and Austrian system where claimed whiplash injuries from low-speed accidents are ignored.
The message is loud and clear: there's never been a better time to shop around for low premiums.
Source Daily Telegraph
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