Confused.com? I certainly am!!!

(Car Insurance for women)

by Maria

Until last week, the pink and fluffy insurance group, Sheila’s Wheels, were looking for an ordinary girl for their ‘Make me a Sheila Star’ advertising campaign … a great opportunity for one of their insurees to join the fun of the ‘Sheilamobile‘ … and a fabulous way to actively promote the company!

Women-only car insurance has taken off big-time! We know we are the safer drivers, and we know we are condemned by men who believe us to be a little brainless behind the wheel, but the proof is in the pudding - official figures found that of the total 281,810 drivers involved in accidents last year, only 93,448 were women.

So, when Moneysupermarket says that premiums for women’s insurance have fallen by 8.2 per cent in the last year reflecting our safe driving thus giving us exclusive and cheaper insurance, is this really true?

Last year, when renewing my insurance, I thought I would take a look. It seemed the savings would be good, and knowing that I am a safe driver, I would be quids in (at the time, my renewal was £295 with Direct Line). I have a small run-around, like most women, have no previous convictions, and can pretty much shine my halo when it comes to my licence, no-claims, etc etc … but boy, it seems to make no difference.

Having put all my details into many of the ‘ladies only’ sites, not only am I sore but theoretically I am poorer!

So is there any rhyme to it all? Well, with a little digging there doesn’t seem to be.

Firstly, lets look at one of the best known ‘ladies’ car insurances around, Diamond. After filling out the form, honestly and with the same information as all the other companies, I was quoted a pretty respectable £286.90. After a closer look I notice that they are owned by Admiral. Hmmmmmmmm?! So, after filling in the same form with Admiral, I receive a quote for …. £264.85 (a not very massive, but significant) £22 less for same insurance, but for being, basically, anybody!

Is this how it works all over? Is this another marketing ploy to fleece the good of their hard earned cash? Well, a little good news! Sheila’s Wheels quoted £293.14, not the cheapest by far, but this group is owned by esure, who quoted £308.63. So yes, Sheila’s Wheels are cheaper than their parent company (by a not very massive £15.49), but heading in the right and ‘moral’ direction, I think. But esure is owned by Halifax who quoted £304.54 ( a mere £11.40 more than Sheila’s Wheels).

By offering insurance to ‘ladies only’ are these companies actually doing themselves a favour? Or are we still paying for this exclusive ‘prerogative‘? They are, after all, cutting their market base by a whooping 52% by excluding the male popluation.

And there are just so many companies offering exclusive ladies only insurance, all offering a ‘fictitious’ discount for being the fairer, and safer, sex … amazingly one of the worst offenders was Tesco who quoted £353.85 (or £379.74 by d/d) and their ‘Value’ insurance quoted £290.00 (more than a good, comprehensive insurance from Diamond).

However, there was one company that has managed to redeem the exercise, Insurance4Girls with a very competitive £249.00 (or £288.00 if paying in instalments). Although still £37 over the cheapest overall quote, it is £44.14 cheaper than our ‘worst offender’ Sheila’s Wheels … which shows that it does pay to keep trying.

But even all of these are no saving on what I already had. So, turning to Confused.com I got a rather nice surprise. The cheapest insurance was with Direct Choice at £211.67 (a massive £75.23 saving on Diamond and the equivalent to 2 hours with Jeeves). Sadly, Diamond came a very poor 22nd on the list, after the likes of Marks and Spencer, Norwich Union, Barclays and the Post Office …

"The thing about driving is that it is not a single skill. There are many skills involved. There is a motor skill, there is rule learning, attention, spatial awareness and confidence as well … What we tend to find is that in certain aspects men are better - things like navigation, spatial awareness and confidence. But they have more accidents … For things like attention, there is evidence that females are better … There is a female advantage on certain frontal cortex tasks. We know that this brain area has oestrogen receptors so it is sensitive to this hormone.’ Hopefully this means that us women have cottoned on to this little insurance ‘discrepancy’ and will still seek and use the normal, cheaper companies …