Thank you for reading and commenting about my blog. Good to get it off my chest for the moment! And good for you Glamma, Anagram and Jeni re your insurance negotiations.
It looks as if some insurers are starting to up their premiums for women drivers already. Before December many of us will have paid less for our car insurance than our male equivalent but after that date it is likely that most of us are to be arbitrarily charged more.
No insurer prices risk by individual circumstances to begin with. They start with charts of known/likely risk factors such as age, gender, postcode, occupation and type of car; hence the sky high premiums for young male drivers based on likely gender risk re accident and speeding statistics. Then premiums are adjusted for good things like PassPlus training, no claims, garaging, theft devices and so on. And anyone with a poor claims history, speeding offences and so on is required to pay more; that's only fair of course.
But for insurers to be allowed/encouraged to charge all UK women the same as all men for starters is like loading all household insurance premiums with high risk flood potential - it is massively unfair for UK females in my book.
So, when your renewal arrives, I know you'll shop around, either using online comparison sites or a big High Street insurance broker (if you prefer face to face personal service; they should offer the same/similar deals).
If you decide to negotiate a reduction from your existing insurer, like Glamma, be sure it doesn't come with an increased 'excess' ie the amount you pay towards a claim before the insurer chips in. In some instances motorists are underwriting their own insurance this way but only find this out when they need the cover after an accident and it isn't all they need it to be.
And if you have a story about your insurance experiences to share with other women (not just we Grans) I will relay this of course or you might contact me via Twitter or at Facebook.
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