General Insurance Article - EU Gender Directive - What is all the fuss about?

 Comment by Linden Holliday, CEO of insurance telematics specialist, MyDrive Solutions

 As of today, motor insurers are no longer legally allowed to price insurance premiums using gender as a proxy. The ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ), announced in March 2011, marked a major shift in the insurance market and has provided motor insurers with over a year to prepare. However, motor insurance companies have kept their cards close to their chest with the majority only disclosing their newly priced premiums today.

 Insurance policy prices are likely to be inconsistent for months to come and even once prices have levelled out, young drivers – in particular, young female drivers – will still be affected by huge increases in the insurance premiums, some even being priced out of the market.

 No doubt there will be uproar amongst certain drivers who see their premiums increase sharply. However, through adopting a telematics based policy drivers can ensure they are paying a premium based on individual driving profiles. The future of the motor insurance market will see policies priced on actual driving behaviour through the use of telematics. This is one means by which responsible young drivers can maintain affordable motor insurance premiums.

 As motor insurers increasingly adopt the use of telematics to create modern driver profiles and therefore calculate risk based on how a driver actually drives, rather than an estimation currently defined by outdated proxies - gender doesn’t even come into it – so what is all the fuss about?