When charging its customers of insurance premiums, car insurance companies base their decisions on the demographics of its customers. It is a known fact, for instance, that when it comes to age, younger people are charged higher premiums because of the fact that they are considered riskier drivers than other regular customers. Unfortunately, in the gender category, men are charged higher premiums by insurance companies because of a similar reason.
Men are deemed to have more risks than women. This is based on companies’ risk pooling assessment, as well as on the statistics gathered over time. This, therefore, translates to higher premiums to be paid.
One of the reasons why women are given lower premiums is because of the fact that they have less mileage than men. Statistics prove that women drive less than men, and only on short distances. This may reflect the fact that at present, more men than women actually travel for work – such as business related trips across the country. Women, on the other hand, are recorded to drive largely for emergency purposes, such as going to the grocery, around the neighborhood, or dropping their kids to school.
Also, the reason why companies charge more premiums from men is because, as mentioned earlier, men are considered to be generally riskier drivers. Again, companies have statistics that prove that more men than women are involved in accidents, and are commonly the party at fault. Records show that women drive at slower, more cautious speeds than men, and are thus not often involved in untoward accidents.
Another reason is because of the simple fact that women are more obedient in following road rules and regulations. Rarely are they given tickets for over-speeding, and seldom are they reprimanded for beating red lights or other road violations. On the other hand, records show that of the total number of incidents of road violations and accidents, 90% of the drivers at fault are males.
So what is a man to do if he wants to reduce his premiums? He should not fret, there is still hope. The reasons mentioned above should give male drivers the obvious idea of what to do. Since the fact that men drive more cannot be helped, men should then make amends by being more responsible drivers and honor and obey traffic violations. Also, men could polish their image to the insurance companies by taking refresher driver courses (available online) or defense-driving technique courses.
