the_legend_of_yrag
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Registered: 7th Jul 03
Location: Cambridgeshire
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WHY ARE WOMEN DRIVERS SMILING?
By John Husband
WOMEN are the winners in a new price war which should send car insurance costs tumbling.
They have always been charged less than male motorists - but the gap has suddenly widened.
Latest figures from car insurance website confused.com reveals that women are now paying just £660 on average compared with £759 car insurers charge men - a 15 per cent difference. This compares with the 13 per cent gap exposed by the website's survey in June.
Managing director Kate Armstrong says this is the opening salvo in a new price war which should benefit men as well as women in the months ahead.
Insurers lost billions in the 1990s as they slashed premiums to grab new customers. A truce was called just before the millennium - and premiums rose.
Now insurers are hoping to grab extra business without loss by "cherry picking" drivers such as women, who make fewer and less costly claims.
Women are lower risk because so many tend to use their cars mainly for low-speed local trips such as shopping or the school run, while men do more higher-mileage faster trips where the risk of more serious - and costlier - accidents is greater.
Car premiums generally have just stopped rising for the first time in five years and eased back by 0.8 per cent to average £710 in the past three months. And Kate predicts much bigger falls in the months ahead.
Drivers of economy cars - most favoured by women drivers - tumbled by 6.5 per cent to average £462. But insurance on performance cars - male favourites - rose a further per cent to £1,832.
Meanwhile you can cut your premiums by shopping around.
Savings by doing that average 31 per cent - £223 - at confused.com, for instance
Among those already benefiting is Olivia Lamont, a 56-year-old school cook from North Cadbury, Somerset.
She saved £120 on her car insurance when her son Ewan took up the challenge of finding her a better deal over the internet.
"I have never used the internet, but my son claimed he could find a better deal in a matter of minutes," she says.
Using confused.com's search site, Ewan cut the premium on her 1998 Peugeot 306 from £343 to just £173, a saving of 35 per cent.
You can't change your sex to reduce your car insurance premiums.
But next time you plan to move home, remember that where you live can make a big difference to the premium you pay.
As our table shows the average price paid in Manchester - the dearest place - was twice as costly as the cheapest, Dundee.
You pay more in big cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow, because the higher crime and vandalism rates and more traffic congestion mean you're more likely to claim.
Other ways to reduce the cost include going for a lower-powered car next time you change vehicles and agreeing to pay a higher excess on any claim.
But the biggest overall saving comes from shopping around insurance websites such as confused.com.
Anyone used the site before?
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