Car Insurance Articles
Sexism In Car Insurance
2009-11-25
One of the charges sometimes leveled against car insurance companies is that their policies discriminate based on a person's sex. Customers argue that it's unfair to pre-judge someone based on whether they're male or female. Unfortunately this factor has been a part of the car insurance industry for many years, much to the chagrin of male drivers. The reality is that companies really do discriminate on certain levels when deciding car insurance premiums, but their judgments are based on statistics designed to save the insurance companies as much as possible. Here's a look at how someone's gender can affect his or her insurance rate.
Car insurance coverage and rates are determined by a wide variety of statistics maintained by auto insurance companies. These statistics might show anything from the amount of crime in a certain area of a city to the safety features of certain car models. As you're probably aware, the greater the risk to the car insurance company, the higher the car insurance rate for the consumer. Insurance companies also look at statistics at the drivers themselves to determine risk status. They are likely to offer higher rates for high-risk groups like young drivers. And yes, a driver's gender is one of the factors that car insurance companies use. Male drivers are generally considered less safe and more likely to make car insurance claims than female drivers, so they are typically charged more. The amount of the difference between male and female auto insurance rates varies from insurer to insurer depending on the statistics used.
While this may be unfair for safe male drivers, many would argue that it's not exactly sexist. If changes in society led to men becoming statistically better drivers, they would receive lower rates from their car insurance providers. For that reason, it's not considered unfair discrimination by most governments and insurers. The sex of a driver is simply a significant factor in trying to statistically determine whether a driver will make a high number of claims on their policy. It's just another statistic that the insurers use, but it's certainly not the only one. And, at least for car insurance companies, it's based on the risk they take on as an insurer, not an outward prejudice.
There is good news for male drivers, though. As drivers get older, the difference between insurance costs for males and females diminishes. Older drivers have lower rates, statistically, whether they're male or female.
Whether or not insurance company policies are sexist is debatable, but if you're a safe driver, the differences in costs won't be huge. Keeping a clean record is still the best way to keep rates low, regardless of your sex.
