Women have always been painted to be bad drivers by media and pop culture. How often do we hear jokes about women drivers? But if car insurance for women are to be the basis, this is clearly not so. There are a lot of reasons why insurance companies target women for car insurance. Here is why.
- A Better, Growing and More Dynamic Market. According to VMR International, there are more female drivers now, with the overall percentage of female drivers increasing year on year, while the percentage of male drivers is decreasing. Women are also buying more vehicles, with more than half of new vehicle and used car purchases being made by women, according to statistics from the VMR International and Woman Motorist. What all these boils down to is there would be a lot more needing car insurance for women!
Safer to Insure. Not only is there a resurgence of female drivers, which translates to a lot of potential customers for insurance companies, female drivers are also seen to be less risky than their male counterparts. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety president, Brian O'Neill, women are safer drivers because they are:
- less likely to drive at night
- less likely to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs
- less likely to do other things while driving, like talking on the phone
These factors have led the Advertising Standards Authority to declare women as better drivers than men. What happens is that insurance companies are less likely to have some problems with car insurance for women because they get into far less accidents in the long run!
- More responsible in maintaining and repairing their vehicles. In 2001, VMR International found that women drivers are taking over the responsibility of maintaining and repairing their vehicles. They also said that there are more women who take their vehicles to a repair shop than are there men. In fact, VMR International has said that as many as 80% of repair shop customers are women. As such, vehicles driven by women are less likely to break down, and it shows. The Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association says that women drivers are less likely to have their vehicles in the shop for muffler repairs, air filter replacements, spark plug replacements, oil changes, and transmission repairs.
The fact remains that female drivers are now slowly outnumbering men hence they make a more attractive segment for insurance companies. The fact that they are better, more careful drivers also make them less of an insurance risk. That is why the competition in car insurance for women is very heated, and women drivers could expect to have some preferential treatment: discounts, discounts and more discounts!
