It'll soon be illegal in Europe to differentiate insurance risk by gender...
theparliament.com
theparliament.com
In their attempt to achieve "equality" and "fairness," they've actually achieved neither - the two concepts are mutually exclusive in the insurance world. The whole concept of insurance, like life itself is predicated on inequality in the boolean algebraic sense of the word. It just proves how meddlesome the Eurocracy is becoming.
Besides, where does it end ? It's likely now that male pension annuities, up till now cheaper than female ones, due to the earlier death of the average male will increase too. That's not "fair," is it?
If the fact that "Statistically, male drivers are more dangerous" would mean that no matter how safe am i driving, my insurance cost will be higher than my wife's insurance would prob make me feel discriminated based my gender. I want my_insurance= f(driving_experience, incident_count, my_car, my_area, etc) not my gender.
Premiums are based on the groups to which you belong. Some of those groups are driving experience, your car, your area, your incident count, etc. Another is, of course, your gender. If a valid statistical correlation can be found between gender and revenue, they will adjust the premium to compensate.
I dont know much about how car insurance are calculated but if their formulas still have some gender discrimination - this should be banned.
Is it my driving experience (i.e. age)? How many incidents I have had? My ability to afford a safe car or live in a nice area?
Where are we allowed to draw the line?
my funtion is perfectly applicable for firsttimers. in this case some of the args are zero So first time male/female drivers in same region, age, cars, other characteristics should have similar costs for their first ins_period.
Again I dont see any troubles with this initiative, to me it makes perfect sense.
As for the ruling itself, I don't see what's wrong with it. It's gender discrimination, and gender discrimination is (IMO rightly) unlawful. I have never been in a car accident, I'm a careful and relatively safe driver and I don't appreciate having to pay more just because I happen to be male.
I'm sure you can come up with statistics that show people of a certain ethnicity are more likely to be in an accident too, but insurance companies know that's a no-go. Discriminating by gender is exactly the same; it's based on something you are that you can't change, unlike driving experience and where you live which you can.
Statistically, a woman is more likely to have an accident than a man while driving. The difference lies in the severity of the accident. A woman is more likely to have a minor bump or scrape [many of which will go unclaimed via insurance as it will be cheaper than the excess], while a man will end up with far more damage which requires going through insurance.
Also, I've seen report of studies that show that while younger women are safer drivers than younger men [taking less risks]; older men are safer drivers than older women. Yet the premiums have never reflected this.
Anecdotally, I've seen more women drive badly than men too - I see vastly more women on the phone while driving than men. Then there's also the school runs, which are more likely to be women driven, where the driver will be potentially getting distracted by unruly children in the back. Again anecdotally, I've had to make a lot of dangerous manoeuvres to avoid terrible driving from women, who have then driven on oblivious to the near damage they've caused. [My dad's saying has been "women cause accidents; men have them"]
Great; we'll get to enjoy that for one day ;)
Perhaps I was too naive?
So in the long run, my statement stands, it will cost me less.
Their may have the same under-writers who set the same rates for every broker. Its the brokers were the competition is.
Not only have I worked for insurance companies, but if I ran one, this is exactly what I would do if I was told everyone had to be treated equally. How can I charge men less if I know that they are going to make more claims?
This ruling is terrible, I have been benefiting from having my girlfriend on my insurance for 10 years.
Not only have I worked for insurance companies, but if I was one, this is exactly what I would do if I was told everyone had to be treated equally.