</form> The debate over whether men or women make for better drivers has been going on for as long as we’ve had cars But what’s not open to debate is that when it comes to sorting out insurance, it’s men that end up paying more According to data from price comparison site Confusedcom , women enjoy lower car insurance premiums on average, typically paying £701 a year for their cover That’s £92 a year on average less than male drivers
This is particularly interesting as back in 2012 a new piece of legislation was brought in across the EU which barred insurers from discriminating on the basis of gender It was brought in precisely because of concerns that men were being charged more than women for their cover Back in 2012 men paid an average of £27 a year more for their cover, so rather than levelling the playing field, men have seen the price difference from women drivers rocket So why do men pay so much more? Is it simply the case that women are better drivers? Read More Car insurance: What you need to know What do you do for a living? A significant factor that insurers take into account when working out your car insurance premium is what you do for a living Insurance pricing is all about risk – the more likely you are to make a claim, the more expensive your premium will be And if you’re in a profession which will see you on the road a lot, then you’re more likely to be caught up in an accident and therefore need to make a claim There also seem to be some trends about people working in certain jobs being more likely to need to claim on their cover Earlier this year GoCompare looked into which professions end up with the highest car insurance quotes, and it’s fair to say that many of the top ten are jobs that have traditionally been dominated by men – things like barbers, security guards and construction workers and builders labourers Got a new motor? Another reason that men tend to have pricier cover is the car itself The more expensive the thing is that you’re looking to insure – whether it’s a house, phone or car – the more expensive that cover is going to be And seemingly men generally own more expensive cars Confusedcom’s data suggests that men own cars with an average value of £8,654, compared to women at £7 090 Given that, it’s perhaps little wonder that when men do need to make a claim, the payouts end up being more costly as well Confused’s data found that men claimed an average of £3,271 per payout, compared to £3,121 for female drivers Committing more offences The genders are relatively even when it comes to getting behind the wheel – around 47% of motorists are female, with fellas making up the rest However, when it comes to breaking the law on the road, men are dominant More than 585,000 drivers were taken to court for various motoring offences in 2017, with almost four in every five (79%) of those drivers being men Almost a quarter of these cases were men speeding, compared to just 7% of women who were a bit quick off the mark Men were also five times more likely to be in court on drink driving charges and twice as likely to be caught driving without tax or insurance And points and convictions on your licence definitely add to the cost of cover
Read More The tricks to cheaper car insurance But what about accidents? More than 700,000 claims were made last year, most by men But some things really aren't about how well you drive Take theft claims Twice as many men made claims for theft, but that's really nothing to do with driving ability On top of that men and women drivers were equal when it came to how likely they were to be at fault for a claim This is a bit confusing, until you realise that according to Government figures, men drive twice as many miles as women More time on the road means they are simply more likely to make a claim and see their insurance rise as a result As for driving tests, Confused's figures show more women failed and fewer passed first time than men Read More How to lower the cost of driving Get pricing based on you as an individual, not your gender Because of the way that insurers work out risk, it’s somewhat inevitable that your premium will be based in large part on how other drivers like you tend to perform Younger drivers are a great example of this – there are plenty of very sensible and safe young drivers, but because younger drivers are more likely to be caught up in an accident, they end up paying huge amounts for their cover According to the AA ’s Shoparound index, while drivers aged 17-22 face a typical quote of £1,586, drivers aged 30-39 pay just £557 while those 60-69 pay £405 However, one way you can ensure that you are judged as an individual is to go with a black box car insurance policy Basically a black box is fitted to your vehicle which tracks the way that you drive If you show that you are responsible – meaning no speeding or sharp braking – then your premiums will fall It’s made a big difference for younger drivers – MoneySuperMarket reckons that these telematics policies work out around £363 25 cheaper than going for a traditional policy
