When it comes to driving, the battle of the sexes still causes confusion.
Who are the better drivers - men or women? Let's find out ...
First, let's talk money.
In 2012, the EU Gender Directive made it so that insurance companies couldn’t use a person’s sex when calculating insurance premiums.
Just after it was announced, the difference between men’s and women’s insurance costs were closer than they’d ever been.
Largest gender gap before EU Gender Directive
Gender gap immediately after EU Gender Directive
Largest gender gap after EU Gender Directive
But the gap has widened again, with men paying £84 more than women for their car insurance.
Some might be a little confused why this might be.
Well, this is why.
British population
British drivers
Tearing up the
L-Plates
Lawbreakers on the road
Accidents and insurance claims
This is the British population as 100 dots. Each dot represents 1% of the total. So if Great Britain were made of 100 people, one dot would be one person.
As you’d expect, the split between men and women is pretty even.
Source: Statista. 2018 data
But when you look at the British driver population, things are slightly more skewed towards men.
Source: DVLA licensing statistics. 49 million British licence holders (full and provisional)
1.6 million people took their driving test in 2018. How did female learners fare against their male counterparts?
Source: DVLA practical driving test statistics
More women took their driving test.
But more women failed.
And fewer women passed first time.
In 2018, 539,000 people were convicted for breaking the law when on the road in England and Wales.
When it comes to breaking the law on the road, men outnumber women almost 4:1.
And when you look at the most common offences, men dominate across the board.
Over 1.4 million car insurance claims were made in 2018.
Source: Confused.com 2018 data
Men are almost twice as likely to make a car insurance claim than women.
Men are more likely to be ‘at fault’ when making a claim. They also make more theft claims.
Not only do men make more claims, but their claims are more expensive.
So men have more motoring convictions, and also make more claims, than women.
But why is this? Is it because they drive more?
Well, not really.
When it comes to average annual mileage, men and women are pretty much even.
Take a look at our tips and tricks to keeping your car insurance costs down.
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