Gender Equality Ruling Means Women Face Hike in Car Insurance Costs, Reports Ritmo Cars

    IBIZA, SPAIN, December 06, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- From 21 December car insurance companies will not be allowed to distinguish by gender when selling car insurance. To bring rates inline, men will enjoy a fall of around 10% in their premiums and women, even though - statistically - they are less likely to make an insurance claim, will have to pay the same as men resulting in a rise of around GBP300 on average. The timing of this couldn't be worse bringing a blow to female drivers just in time for Christmas, one of the most expensive times of the year.

Young men under the age of 35 are 10 times more likely to be killed or injured than a driver aged 35 or over. As a result men pay higher insurance premiums. The difference between male and female premiums is most marked under 30 years of age. For drivers between 17 and 22, there is GBP875 difference between men and women and for drivers aged between 23 and 29 there is GBP640 difference. At around 40 years of age, insurance premiums for men and women converge at around GBP700.

This rise in insurance premiums for women doesn't just affect car owners. It will be widened to include car hire too. If women are looking to travel overseas within Europe this Christmas, Ritmo Cars is advising women to arrange their car hire and insurance before 21 December when prices for Ritmo Cars car hire in Menorca, Majorca, mainland Spain, France and other popular winter sun destinations will rise.

Ironically, gender equality is something women have been fighting for, for more than 100 years. But this wasn't quite the way women had envisaged it to be implemented. Premiums are not being brought down to a happy medium between male and female rates; insurers don't want to underinsure men, so unfortunately, at least in the initial stages, this will result in over-insuring women. Ritmo Cars will aim to offer the fairest possible level of insurance for both men and women, while working within the new framework of the EU's gender equality ruling.

Website: www.ritmocars.co.uk

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