Married females were quids in on their car insurance premiums in Q4 2012

-Car insurance prices soar for young women in Quarter 4 2012 by 16.4%-

The Confused.com/Towers Watson Car Insurance Price Index for Q4 2012 shows:

• Average quoted comprehensive premiums for 17-20 year old women rose by 16.4% across the UK between the end of September and December.
• Females aged 17-20 when insured as the only driver saw car comprehensive insurance price rises of 17.1% in the quarter. Young females insured with a spouse on the policy (aged 17-20)  saw a lesser  quarterly rise of 4.8%
• Females aged 21-25 when insured as the only driver saw comprehensive car insurance price rises of 8.6%. Young females insured with a spouse on the policy (aged 21-25)saw a quarterly decrease of 1.5%
• Average car insurance costs for female drivers insured with their spouses are £406, compared with £841 for insured only female drivers
• In Q4 2012, female drivers aged 17-20 were paying £974 LESS than men of the same age

The latest Confused.com/Towers Watson Car Insurance Price Index reveals that between the end of September and December 2012, average quoted comprehensive premiums for 17-20 year old women rose by 16.4% across the UK. Quoted prices for 17-20 year old men fell by an average of 10.7% over the same period.

The average comprehensive car insurance price now stands at £737 as of Q4 2012, compared with £844 for Q4  2011, a significant year-on-year fall of £107 (-12.7%). For Third Party Fire and Theft cover only, average premiums for Q4 stood at £1,139, showing minor reductions year-on-year of -2.0% and a slight increase of 0.7% quarter-on-quarter.

Comprehensive Car Insurance Price Index 2012

In Northern Ireland, for the first time in 18 months, women aged 17 to 45 have seen quarter on quarter price increases - with 17-20 years being affected the most with an increase of 21.8%, and a policy costing £2,287 on average. This compares with a 6.9% decrease for men of the same age and region who in Q4 2012 paid £3,161 for a comprehensive policy.
Women aged 17-20 living in Inner London also took a hit on their premiums, experiencing car insurance price rises of 18.5% in Q4 2012, whereas 17-20 year old males living in the same region saw a decrease of 8.6 per cent quarter on quarter.

In Outer London, women aged 17-20 were grappling with price hikes of 18.4% in Q4 2012 as the price of a comprehensive policy rose to £2,411. By contrast, their male counterparts saw a significant decrease of 9.8%.

Interestingly, both East Midlands and the South West saw women aged 17-20 being affected with significant quarterly increases of 17.9% and 17.4% respectively for their comprehensive car insurance. This compared with a quarter on quarter decrease of 9.8% for men aged 17-20 living in the East Midlands, and a decrease of 9.5% for males of the same age group living in the South West.

Despite being landed with regional hikes, women have been paying less for car insurance than men. The Confused.com/Towers Watson car insurance price index shows that for the fourth quarter of 2012, female drivers aged 17-20 were paying £974 LESS than men of the same age. The average cost of a fully comprehensive car insurance policy in the fourth quarter of 2012 for a female aged 17-20 is £1,986 compared with males of the same age who pay £2,960.

Comprehensive Car Insurance Prices for the Age Group 17-20

Gareth Kloet, Head of Car Insurance at Confused.com says: “With the EU gender directive taking effect from the 21st December 2012, it’s clear to see that the insurance industry has both reacted and prepared for the well documented and anticipated change in legislation during the last quarter. 

“As expected, our index shows that women have seen the greatest changes in their insurance premium as insurers prepared for the change in legislation with what is effectively a gender tax on their car insurance premiums. Unsurprisingly however, to level out car insurance prices, during the same period, males have started to see their premiums drop by an average of 5.6% in Q4 2012.”

“On average males aged 17-20 are now paying £2,960 for their car insurance compared with £3,829 in Q2 2011, meaning men are now having a greater chance of getting on the road as their premiums come down.”

“Our analysis shows that females aged 17-20 have started to see the impact of the EU Gender Directive with an overall increase of 16.4% and as much as nearly 22% in some regions. The latest data also indicates that the greatest impacts on premiums have been targeted at younger drivers.”

“As well as young drivers being affected women who are only insuring themselves are paying a lot more than women who are married. Putting a spouse on an existing female only policy could save the female driver hundreds of pounds by doing so, as the data clearly shows. However,  All females who fall into this situation need to do is run a quote on Confused.com to see how they could save.”

“Our advice to drivers is simple, with gender neutral pricing now having taken full effect, the need to shop around has never been greater, as much has changed in terms of pricing.  We encourage everyone to shop around in order to get the best deals and if you are married, consider car sharing with your partner to benefit from cheaper car insurance premiums.”

More than 4 million quotes are used in the construction of each quarter’s insurance price index - this makes it the most comprehensive insurance index in the UK. Unless otherwise stated all prices referred to are for comprehensive cover.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:
The following web pages will be updated to reflect the new figures and can be linked to:
http://www.confused.com/car-insurance/price-index

Media information:
Confused.com press office: 
Email Sarah.wenham@confused.com or phone 02920 434275 or 07788 310289
Email Helen.beckett@illuminatecomms.com or phone 07551005877

For further information:
www.confused.com/car-insurance/price-index

About Confused.com:

Confused.com was the UK's first price comparison site for car insurance. Confused.com is one of the UK’s biggest and most popular price comparison services. Launched in 2002, it generates over one million quotes per month. It has expanded its range of comparison products over the last couple of years to include home insurance, holiday insurance, pet insurance, small van insurance, motorcycle  insurance, breakdown cover and gas and electricity, as well as financial services products including credit cards, loans, mortgages and life insurance. 
Confused.com is not a supplier, insurance company or broker. It provides an , objective and unbiased comparison service. By using cutting-edge technology, it has developed a series of intelligent web-based solutions that evaluate a number of risk factors to help customers with their decision-making, subsequently finding them great deals on a wide-range of insurance products, financial services, utilities and more. Confused.com’s service is based on the most up-to-date information provided by UK suppliers and industry regulators.
Confused.com is owned by the Admiral Group plc. Admiral listed on the London Stock Exchange in September 2004. Confused.com is regulated by the FSA.

About the Index:
The index is compiled using anonymous data from all enquiries submitted on Confused.com. In line with the draft Office of Fair Trading (OFT) commitments on the use of competitor price data, the prices used for calculating the index are based on an average of the best five quotes received on Confused.com.
 
About Towers Watson:
Towers Watson (NYSE, NASDAQ: TW) is a leading global professional services company that helps organisations improve performance through effective people, risk and financial management. The company offers solutions in the areas of employee benefits, talent management, rewards, and risk and capital management. Towers Watson has 14,000 associates around the world and is located on the web at www.towerswatson.com.