Does your auto insurer discriminate by gender?
In almost every walk of life, there’s a bad apple that spoils the bunch.
Like, with postal workers. Remember when those USPS employees shot up their offices a few times in the ‘80s? From there on out, “going postal” became known as losing all reason and lashing out in violence. For a time, every honest, hard-working mailman on earth became known as a psychopath because a few colleagues went crazy.
Car insurance? Same damn problem. The handful of the world’s meathead guy drivers that get pissed-up and crash into walls has ruined it for everyone else. Insurance companies see under-25 males as about as stable as Charlie Sheen at a Libyan protest (hey, topical!) behind the wheel.
But is relief on the way? For drivers under 25 in Canada, discrimination has long been at play. Because of insurance companies’ perceptions of young, male drivers – no matter how deserved they may be – policy costs are sky-high. By contrast, women drivers under 25 pay peanuts, relatively speaking, for automobile coverage.
A few high-ranking European officials have ruled this should stop. Earlier this week, the European Court of Justice said insurers will no longer be able to consider gender when pricing insurance policies for drivers.
That means that, starting in December of next year, the stereotypes get stripped away. According to U.K. newspaper the Mirror, women drivers under 25 could see their policies increase by at least 25 per cent, while guy drivers under 25 could see their policies come down by about 10 per cent.
Justice? That’s a tough sell, especially for women who are set to have their wallets lighten. But tell any young male driver with a good record that he should subsidize the reckless habits of a few, and he’ll tell you just how offensive the existing system is.
The big question: will Canada follow suit? By the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s count, five provinces allow insurers to account for gender when quoting auto insurance policies (Alberta, in addition, allows gender consideration for private polices, not those that are government-mandated). Yet, even in the wake of the European ruling, sources say Canada is unlikely to force its insurers to ban gender-based pricing.
“I am confident that while some may look at Europe, we would have to reflect long and hard before changing something that was so fundamental in identifying risk,” Frank Zinatelli, VP of legal services at the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, told QMI Agency.
“The system that is used in the life (and auto) insurance industry tries to reflect risk, so the use of gender is important.”
To anyone outside the insurance biz, this reads, “Why would we give drivers a fair and reasoned quote? Where’s the profit in that?”
Do you think Canada’s insurers discriminate drivers based on gender? Similarly, are male drivers under 25 charged too much for coverage?
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Ticked off Insurance payer | Mar 7, 2022 1:03:52 PM
I have been driving a vehicle for 20 yrs with no accidents or claims and only 1 speeding ticket which was about 8-10 yrs ago. So overall a very clean record. What Ticks me off is that regardless of how I have driven along with my wifes insurance and my house incurance also no claims and no tickets i might add. When I renewed my insurance I still got screwed and now pay an additional 20 pe rmonth more then I had last year!! This doesn't sound like alot but frankly when I have done nothing but pay insurance companies for the last 20 years and have gotten nothing from them in return, they are nice enough to tell me that my insurance rate has increased!!!!!! If you wonder why the economy has been so stale in the last few years take a damn look at the major costs of what every average joe has had to pay more for in the last 5 years. Increases in insurance, water bill, hydro, taxes, gas, property taxes etc. Gee I wonder why canadians have stopped spending money in the economy like years ago!!!! With most canadians lucky to see an increase in their pay by 2% <-- if they're lucky. The insurance business is no different and has helped contribute to the overall poverty and the decline of our economy. Not on it's own of course but just by removing a little more money from the average joe. The problerm drivers deserve to pay more but they believe in order to make more money insurance companies will just jack the rates up for everyone. After all that just makes good business sence to them. go figure!
Posted by: Freightliner trucks | Mar 8, 2022 6:17:12 AM
Well, insurance means transfer of risk from one person to another.the main goal of insurance company is to earn more and more profit and to expand their business. in case of gender descrimination , actually it should banned by insurance company.whether insurance companiies are automobile insurance or life insurance they charge as per the age of person not by gender.
Posted by: Insurance | Oct 16, 2021 5:35:30 PM
Currently, insurers are able to make such differentiation under several policies and they fear the banning of the system will be bad for the consumer. The new rules will are effective from Dec. 21, 2012. by businessweek article .. should be banned
http://www.aia.co.nz/en/