Women drivers are just drivers, right?

Well, according to the actuaries, they are very different.

We first noticed this back in 1994 when the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) stated that "The male fatal crash involvement rate per 100,000 population was 3 times as high as for female drivers in 1994.”

They went on to point out that “Males accounted for 67 percent of total fatalities, 68 percent of all pedestrian fatalities, and 86 percent of all pedalcyclist fatalities in 1994.”

Not only that, 22 percent of male drivers involved in fatal crashes were intoxicated compared to 11 percent of female drivers.”

So, insurers should recognise that, right? Well, yes, and in practice they do. Women often find it easier to get cheaper car insurance. In fact, on some policies, a man can get a cheaper premium by adding a woman as a named driver!

It is so strong a factor that the FSA went into battle with the EU in 2004 to protect British Insurers’ right to rate by gender. Rupert Jones in the Guardian explained at the time that “young women drivers could see their car insurance premiums rise by up to 30% if European Union ‘gender equality’ proposals become law”, going on to say that “This would particularly affect motor cover, where women tend to pay less because they are deemed to be safer drivers.”

So, if you were asked who women should insure with, what would you say? Sheilas Wheels? Diamond? Handbag? The truth is that these brands ought to be rated very similarly to other general brands for women because almost every insurer would offer a different rate for women than men. The difference is, they probably do understand female drivers very well.

Some insurance cynics (like us) might ask why female driving specialists exist at all. After all, the larger a book, the more accurate the rate should be. In which case, why use a women-only brand rather than a big brand? Well, there are some good reasons. Firstly, a female-only brand should design their products with women in mind. Don’t forget, Car Insurance is a male-dominated world, generally. Second, the really big brands might not always have the lowest costs.

So, it can’t hurt to get a quote from both a specialist and a general brand, can it?

By the way, according to the ABI, the same is true for Life insurance where “they benefit from the fact that they tend to live longer.”