The British Insurance Brokers’ Association(BIBA) has conducted research confirming that motor insurance premiums for young female drivers are expected to increase after Friday with the introduction of the ECJ Gender Directive.
Depending on their age, the average premium for a young female driver is expected to increase by between 15% and 38%.
This is supported by similar research from a BIBA broker, with over one million customers, showing increases of 36% for under 25 females. For young male drivers, BIBA indentified decreases on average of 8% and its member similarly identified a 7% discount.
Once the policyholder passed the age of 26 there was very little differential.
The increase is expected following a European ruling that means insurers can no longer offer female drivers lower premiums than male drivers because of their gender.
Graeme Trudgill, BIBA’s head of Corporate Affairs, said “The main group of drivers affected will be young females. The average premium increase that we saw for this group was 15%, although we did see some examples of increases of up to 38% for the youngest female drivers.”
Leighann Forsyth, BIBA’s head of Communications, added: “BIBA is concerned about the impact on females under 25 and would suggest that they look at the other areas that make up their premium to see if savings can be made. Specialist brokers should be able to help and young female drivers should consider black box telematics technology which can still effectively give safer young drivers a significant discount.”
BIBA has warned that drivers should be cautious if seeking to cancel their insurance just before the implementation date of 21st December. This is because some policies have cancellation charges and if there has been a claim there may not be a refund.
In addition consumers should consider that they would not earn their full no claims bonus for that year. Drivers are advised to take advice from their insurance broker before cancelling any policy.
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