Why Are Car Insurance Rates Lower for Women Drivers?

While most men are probably chagrined by it, women tend to get better car insurance rates than men do. Interestingly, some men believe women are inferior drivers who are a hazard to the roadways. The stories of bad driving by women have circulated in male conversations and jokes for almost as long as there have been automobiles on the road. In reality, however, those claims are unfounded.

Insurance companies do not arbitrarily determine insurance rates.

Careful statistical analysis of data reveals certain types of drivers have fewer and lower valued insurance claims from accidents. Those drivers get better auto insurance premium rates. An insurance company cannot make money if it pulls slips of paper out of a hat with insurance classes on them to decide who pays how much for insurance.

Drivers who cost the insurance industry fewer dollars in claims get the best rates.

This is why teen drivers are almost always going to have to pay high car insurance rates. It is also the reason that getting a ticket will almost automatically lead to rising auto insurance premiums. If you have too many accidents too close together, your rates will not only go up, but you may find yourself having to find a new car insurer after your policy is canceled. On average, younger drivers, elderly drivers and reckless drivers pay more for insurance, and so do men.

Insurance companies have determined that women are generally a better risk as drivers than men.

Although there may be cases where a specific woman is not a better driver than a specific man, overall as a group, women are considered to be safer behind the wheel than their masculine counterparts. From this point, it does not require much imagination to understand why women get lower insurance rates than men as a general rule.

Woman drivers are involved in fewer major accidents and receive fewer tickets than male drivers.

It is likely that women overall drive fewer miles than men. Regardless of this, the dollars paid out from insurance claims on accidents attributed to women are smaller than men. Less cost translates directly into lower premiums for women. Women also tend to not be as likely to burn the tires and speed recklessly down the street. This draws less attention to their driving and results in them being ticketed less often.

Women who are reckless drivers and draw many tickets will not benefit from cheaper rates.

Almost all insurance companies apply the class discounts until the specific driver proves to be unworthy of the reduction in rates. Once a person of any gender begins to stack up tickets and have excessive accident claims, their car insurance cost will shoot up quickly. A woman in this situation will require the same amount of safe driving time to pass before gender-based insurance discounts will once again be applied to her policy.