Young female drivers could be about to see their car insurance premiums rise by as much as 50% if an anticipated ruling from the European Court of Justice is made next month.
Typically, young male drivers are hit by the highest car insurance premiums as they are deemed riskier to insure. However if the ruling from the European Court of Justice goes ahead as planned, it would make it unlawful for insurers to calculate premiums based on gender.
Up until now, insurers were able to justify charging young male drivers more for their cover as there is strong statistical evidence to suggest that young men pose more of a risk to insurers compared to young females. Males aged 17-22 years are twice as likely to make a claim on their cover compared to their female counterparts, while young men are 10 times more likely to be involved in a serious accident.
Despite this evidence, if the European Court Rules that calculating insurance premiums based on gender is discriminative, women could be about to see their annual car insurance premiums rise by as much as £1,000 a year, while young male drivers may note a slight decrease in the cost of their cover.
