Insurance

[BobbyJoeCool]

Why does car insurance for men cost more than it does for women? I mean, most of the men I know are very good drivers whereas most of the women I know are completely nuts!

 

"I can't go the speed limit, people will pass me!" ~A girl I work with who's had her licence taken away more than once.

 

Is it just the people around me are different from the rest of the world or is there a logical way to explain this?

[Nevermore]

Women are more prone to road rage, I agree.

[atinymonkey]

Most girls learn to drive in their fathers car, and are statistically more likely to drive there partners car when they leave home. Men tend to buy and drive their own car, and not borrow their partners/parents. Girls are also more likely to ask said father or partner to pay for any damage they cause while driving, so males lose more no claims bonuses than girls.

 

On top of that, boys tend to drive faster than girls. So although they have fewer accidents, they cause larger damage when they occur. All in all, it's just more sensible to give males a higher premium.

[RICHARDBATTY]

ladies tend to cause accidents by not thinking how their driving affects other road users. Like stopping or changing lanes without looking so they can see a shop better. Unfortunately this type of mistake usualy results in somebody running into the back of them. The insurance companys will always blame you if you run into the rear of a car. I had an experience with a lady driver indicating to make a turn, begining to make the turn, I moved over the junction line by 30 cm, she crossed the junction line, changed her mind swang round and removed the front of my car. That turned out to be my fault too.

[atinymonkey]

Well, it would indicate that: -

 

1) You were not anticipating the other drivers

2) You did not leave a sufficient stopping distance between yourself and the car in front

3) You did not have sufficient control of your vehicle

4) You incorrectly assumed a signal indicated commitment to turn

 

None of which substanciates your curcumstancial claim that women drivers 'tend to cause accidents by not thinking'. Indeed, the opposite appears to be true.

[timo]

Why does car insurance for men cost more than it does for women? I mean' date=' most of the men I know are very good drivers whereas most of the women I know are completely nuts!

[...']

Is it just the people around me are different from the rest of the world or is there a logical way to explain this?

Insurance companies tend to base their fees on statistics. So I´d say: Yes, it´s either the non-representative sample of the people you know or your insufficuently objective perception.

Oh, and: It´s not nessecarily the rest of the world that´s different from the people you know. Only the area where the respective insurance company operates in (at this point wanted to guess that you´re from the US but I figured out it´s actually written in your profile ).

[RICHARDBATTY]

Well' date=' it would indicate that: -

 

1) You were not anticipating the other drivers

2) You did not leave a sufficient stopping distance between yourself and the car in front

3) You did not have sufficient control of your vehicle

4) You incorrectly assumed a signal indicated commitment to turn

 

None of which substanciates your curcumstancial claim that women drivers 'tend to cause accidents by not thinking'. Indeed, the opposite appears to be true.[/quote']

In the same way that its your fault for tripping over a comicaly placed foot.

[Klaynos]

Also, men statistically drive more than women.

[atinymonkey]

In the same way that its your fault for tripping over a comicaly placed foot.

Interesting that you can be so cavalier with the law. Perhaps arrogant road use somehow bypasses the need to protect others from your incompetent driving. If the other driver had stopped the car, and reversed back down the road, you should have still followed the rules of the road. Using a indicator light is not a promise that the driver will move, and if anything it indicate to the drivers behind that should use more caution, not less.

 

It may be that you expained the event in a way that casts a poor light on yourself, by mistake. However, it still doesn't justify your sexist commentry on female drivers.

[c dawg]

i think everyone should start at the same price then if you crash your cost will increase

[JohnB]

It is time to reveal the secret of my shameful past to this community. I once *sob* sold insurance. Oh God, the shame.

 

A few things to know about insurance;

 

1. It is based entirely on statistics.

2. The stats go back a looooong time and are cross referenced.

3. Most of the insurance companies don't carry their own risk.

 

Dealing with point 3 first. A company will buy insurance from a reinsurer (a very large multi national company) at $x per $1000 insured, they will put a mark up on the $x and then sell it to you, the consumer.

 

What this means is that when you make a claim, they make a claim from the reinsurer.

 

The reinsurer is the one who really uses the stats to set the prices. Or your own insurer if they carry their own risk. For cars the insurance stats go back to the first "horseless carraiges" and even to the horse and buggy. (Life Insurance stats go back some 400 years. Seriously.)

 

From the statistics, they cannot tell if you, Bobby Joe will have a claimable accident next week. They can tell that of the group you are in (age 20 next birthday cross indexed with the value and type of car you drive [plus if they want to the suburb you live in]) 4 per thousand will have an accident with an average claimable value of $1234.56. (Figures for illustrative purposes only. ) And that sets the premium.

 

One of the reasons for premium varience is that a reinsurer is carrying the risk over a number of nations whereas a local insurer is carrying the risk for one nation or state. So the reinsurer's risk factor may be only 3.9 accidents per thousand when spread over the USA, England, Germany and Australia. ( I said they were very big international companies. )

 

Recent statistics show that young women especially are now driving more and instead of a "girl's car" are driving faster, more powerful cars. Hence the number of claimable accidents for women are increasing as is the average claimable value. So their premiums are increasing.

 

Does this mean that women are worse drivers than men? No. All it means is that in the past women were a better "insuance risk" than men and they are now approaching equality. For example, in the past you may have had only a 30% chance of having an accident with a woman, now it is more like a 45% chance.

 

So why are mens premiums increasing too? Because even if the male accident rate stays steady, the female accident rate is increasing (more and faster cars, more aggressive driving techniques) so the total number of accidents is increasing. Couple this with the increase in the cost of repairing cars and everbody has to pay more. (Remember when you used to buy a headlight for $50 and now it's a "headlight assembly" for $200? Or the blinker cover plastic for $10 which is now an "assembly" for $90?)