Insurers are keen to offer women drivers cheap deals on insurance, it seems the numerous jokes that float around about women being worse drivers than men are fictitious, since it is women who get the best insurance deals. It is a proven fact that women make less insurance claims than men, and the numerous insurance companies dedicated to covering women are further proof of this.
Home office figures showed that men are liable for 83% of speeding offences and 97% of dangerous driving offences, so it seems it’s down to men that women pay less for their insurance. It is facts and figures like this that have resulted in the popularity of companies that only offer women’s car insurance.
Plus, statistically women drivers have significantly lower annual mileage than men, the lower the mileage, the cheaper the insurance, because the less you are on the road, the less chance there is that you will damage your car and make a claim. Women are also less likely than men to make an expensive claim or write-off their vehicle. Overall they are a cheaper and safer bet than their male counterparts.
These figures do not prove that women don’t have as many accidents as men, women simply do not do as much damage when they do crash because they drive slower than men. This is why women are offered cheaper car insurance by women-only insurers, but are they really being offered a better deal?
Despite the clever marketing used by the insurance companies that are exclusive to women, Diamond even offers handbag insurance as part of the package, it seems the products are nearly identical to those offered by mainstream insurers and are not always the cheapest.
Direct Excellence conducted independent research which concluded that three out of four women drivers would save money opting for mainstream insurers. The best option for women is to thoroughly research the prices and packages of different companies. Price comparison sites such as Only Finance, are the quickest and most efficient way to compare hundreds of different premiums while only inputting information once.
Of course, for some customers specialist women’s insurance packages will work out cheaper and offer a better package, although other factors will make a big difference. The size of the engine, the make and model of the vehicle, safety features you have installed and even the postcode in which you live will all affect your quote.
There are currently no companies who offer men an equivalent exclusive deal to those that women receive in abundance, although men can benefit from insurers’ favourable treatment of their mother/wife/sister/aunt. Being a named driver on a female’s insurance policy can often work out cheaper for men than being the policy holder, so it’s definitely worth looking into. Alternatively having a female driver named on a male’s insurance policy can also bring premiums down.
Despite the fact that at present women are classed as safer drivers with fewer high cost claims and write-offs, it seems that women are gradually becoming more aggressive drivers and more likely to drive competitively, as well as driving longer distances than in the past.
According to Confused.com’s analysis database, which surveys 5.5m users, 16.8% of men have driving convictions compared to 9.8% of women. However the gap between the sexes is closing, the number of women drivers with points on their license has more than doubled to 4.8%, compared to the figure from three years ago.
It is likely that, until the government release figures proving this theory, insurers will still look favourably upon women and offer them better deals.