Gender discrimination

[N16SHP]

Well it's been decided that as of December 2012, men and women will be paying the same price for insurance policies as it is 'gender discrimination' to charge men more for insurance than woman. Link to BBC News article (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12606610)

I can totally see both sides of this, after all, statistically women are better drivers as they annually make less claims than men, and are involved in less accidents. However it's a well known fact that men can maneuver 3D objects in their heads much better than women i.e. parking for example, men can do it quicker and more accurately than women on average.

This is not a thread to start the debate on whether men are better than women as frankly, that issue will never be proven, but I will leave you with a passing thought:

Women argued and complained for years to get equal prize money at Wimbledon for years, now they have it, does that mean they should now be forced to pay 5 sets? Is that gender discrimination?????

[G17RDY]

In the interest of fairness i think it is a good thing, however it's not something that i thought about before, having a different quote to a female, you never can tell just what factors really truly determine your insurance price, i just accept it and get on with it i guess!
I don't really see however that quotes for males will come down, probably female prices will come up to the same level as males now, you know what insurance is like, anything to get more money out of you!!

I think discrimination, is taken a little too far with things nowadays, the world's gone to PC mad, and it'll only get worse.
However, you could take the whole discrimination thing to the Nth degree and it could get way out of hand. Discrimination can be applied to a load of unnecessary situations, it's one of those things used quite often (IMHO) so that people can force their point of view or get their own way!

I actually wrote to the Olympic council, saying that because i am short and fat, they shouldn't discriminate against me for this, and should give me a 9 second head start in the 100m to compensate - I'm waiting on a reply, fingers crossed!!

[Burple]

Got to agree with this. Equality should mean EQUALITY.

Not just make things equal when it suits you. This obviously goes both ways. :thumbs up:

[Forbes]

Fair point re the tennis. Wasn't aware of that

[Gismo]

It'll only be better for the insurers cause they will have another excuse to increase the premiums.
Equality, rubbish, if women have less accidents why should they be penalised, same as 17 - 25 year olds are more likely to have an accident, they have higher premiums.

I knew about the tennis and feel that for the same money they should play the same amount of sets

[Neil - TXJ]

The only people winning from this will be the insurance companies. Premiums for women will go up but will premiums for men come down?

This could have wider implications and could mean in the long run higher risk people will pay less while lower risk people pay more. It will all depend on what category you fit in to if this is a good or bad thing.

Personally I would prefer insurance premiums were based on statistics like they currently are. Will age discrimination be next so that the insurance companies can't link premiums to age, this would be good news for the youngsters but everybody else’s premiums would increase considerably.

[The Dogfather]

You'll find that certain insurance companies will just stop insuring young people which is likely to result in more uninsured drivers

[Sheilz]

I think its a load of bull. Insurance premiums are based on risk and statistically young males outnumber all other categories of drivers for accidents so why should any other group be penalised for it. Now if young women were to begin to match these unfortunate statistics then I would agree with the ruling. However now that we have this European ruling I am away to find quotes for health and life insurance and woe betide the company that gives me significantly different quotes for me aged 24, 34, 44 and now 54 because I will complain like hell if I'm discriminated against because of my age. The fact that statistically I am more likely to need medical aid than me at 24 is irrelevant now. Hmm! Now just got to chose my target company, one that can afford to pay me lots and lots of compensation!!

[Stewart]

I just expect everyone to get shafted:ragin:….to balance it out. Insurance and Banks never lose out. Its ok young people will not need insurance by December 2012 as the price of fuel will £2 a ltr so who can afford to drive!!!!! :frown: