Gender underwriting - Europe strikes again! - Business Works
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Gender underwriting - Europe strikes again!

Danny Cooper
I t's been said many times that being in 'Europe' is like being in a Looking Glass world where very little makes sense. In their learned judegment yesterday, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has done it again in ruling that gender can no longer be used as an underwriting factor.

The case was brought by some obscure Belgian consumer group for reasons best known to themselves. Surely, if the statistics show that women are safer drivers than men and that women live longer than men then isn't it sensible that this should be reflected in the price of motor insurance and pensions?

So, from December 2012, the insurance industry will not be allowed to quote lower prices to lady drivers and, depending on age, increases of 25%-50% are being bandied about. The Association of British Insurers are naively suggesting this will be balanced by a 10% drop in young men's premiums. Yea, right!

The real concern here is where is this going to lead? It seems to us that young drivers have just as strong a case for age discrimination and surely should be treated the same as older drivers? While we're at it, is it fair that those poor people living in London should pay higher premiums than those in Cornwall?


For further information contact Danny Cooper:
t: +44 (0)1795 890 804
e: info@theinsurancemanager.co.uk
w: theinsurancemanager.co.uk


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