Women drivers to pay up to €300 extra insurance

15/10/2012

According to today’s Irish Independent, insurers have already begun to increase premiums for females, with new rules banning gender discrimination coming in in December.

Increases of between 10% and 45% are being imposed on women drivers between the ages of 17 and 30, with lower rises for older women. The trends have emerged in data compiled from 16 insurers by brokers AonInsure.ie.

There are around 200,000 women in Ireland with a full driving licence who are under the age of 30. Women have traditionally paid much less for insurance than men because they are seen as lower risk drivers - but from December an EU ruling will not allow insurers to charge different rates to men and women.

Obviously, instead or reducing rates for men, insurance companies are levelling things out by increasing rates for women. And, typically, they have already started to increase premiums even before the new ruling takes effect.

€300 x 200,000 equals €60m in extra profit! Understandably, the Consumers' Association has accused insurers of profiteering, with Michael Kilcoyne commenting in the Indo: "Insurers are profiteering here. They have a captive market because by law we all have to have car insurance."