For years the same simple truth governed car insurance prices for young people – boys are far more expensive than girls!
Why did insurance companies want to charge boys more?
Insurance companies expect to pay out almost twice as much money to their teenage male policyholders as to their teenage female policyholders. So insurance companies charged teenage boys twice the price – before the EU Gender Directive came into action on 21st December 2012, making it illegal to do so.
But what is underlying this simple statistic?
It’s not because girls crash less, because they don’t. The huge cost that insurance companies expect from a group of 17 year old boys is due to the size of the claim they are likely to make. Boys are far more likely to cause very expensive claims.
So, what are these really expensive claims?
Firstly, it’s not about the cost of your car. Large car insurance claims are unfortunately all about what and who you hit. Think of a scenario where someone hits a railway bridge, putting it out of action for weeks, or a multiple car pile-up with dozens injured. The claims can be huge – the largest claim the car insurance industry has seen was almost £40 million! Based on years of experience the car insurance industry expects young men to make far more of these large claims than young women.
Safe driving and Telematics
Underlying the male/ female driving debate is attitude to driving. Drive like a girl’s black box records data that tells them about driving style – for example how smoothly they drive and how often they speed. If someone ‘drives like a girl’ they can earn rewards. Drive like a girl can also charge less at renewal for the same reason.