New EU rules that ban gender discrimination in insurance pricing come into force today- 21st December 2012.
From today insurers can no longer take gender into account when setting premiums .The change will affect car insurance, annuities and life insurance, which all previously used gender as a risk factor when determining prices.
The gender directive will only apply to new policies and renewals taken out from 21 December.
Up to now – young women have been able to get much cheaper car insurance than young men because they are less likely to have an accident. From today the price of car insurance for men and women will be the same. Car insurance prices for women have gradually been rising over the past few weeks – and younger men should see some lower prices for new policies from today.
Men have lower life expectancy than women – so life insurance has been cheaper – but that will no longer be the case.
As insurers have all changed their pricing systems, it’s now more important than ever to shop around for insurance and not automatically renew with your existing provider.