Women’s Car Insurance

What is women’s car insurance?

Women’s car insurance refers to car insurance policies designed around features that women drivers commonly want, such as telematics, low-mileage tiers, and secure-parking discounts. Since December 2012, UK insurers can’t use gender as a pricing factor under the EU Gender Directive (the Test-Achats ruling, 2011). So “women’s car insurance” today doesn’t mean gender-based discounts — it means a policy that fits the rating factors and driving patterns often associated with female drivers (ABI).

Whether you’re searching for women car insurance, womens car insurance, ladies car insurance, or car insurance for girls, the cover and price are calculated the same way. What varies is how well the policy fits your age, mileage, car, and postcode.

What affects women’s car insurance premiums?

Since gender no longer plays a role in UK insurance pricing, the same rating factors apply to female car insurance as to men’s. Women drivers often see lower premiums than men on comparable cover because of related factors, not because of gender itself.

The main factors that affect car insurance for women are:

• Age — 17–24 year olds typically pay the most; premiums drop from 25 onwards
• No Claims Discount (NCD) — women often build up larger NCDs due to fewer at-fault claims (Road Safety GB)
• Your car — insurance group, engine size, value, and security features
• Where you live — urban postcodes usually cost more than rural ones
• Annual mileage — low-mileage policies can help if you drive under around 7,000 miles a year
• Occupation — some traditionally female-dominated roles (nursing, teaching) carry lower premiums
• Overnight parking — garage or driveway is usually cheaper than on-street

For age-specific cover, see our pages on young drivers car insurance, car insurance for over 50s, or car insurance for over 70s.

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Since the EU introduced its gender directive in 2012 it has been illegal for insurance companies to use gender as a factor in their insurance premium calculations.

So although female drivers are statistically less likely to be involved in an accident than men, they can’t be offered cheaper car insurance on the basis of their gender.

Of course, fewer accidents usually translate into fewer insurance claims, which means some women are able to benefit from much better No Claims Discounts (NCDs).

They’re also less likely to receive driving convictions or points on their licence than men, which again can translate into cheap insurance quotes for some women drivers.

In fact, data from Road Safety GB, a national road safety organisation, has found that 72% of all penalty points added to UK licences are given to men, with women accounting for just 28%.

Similarly, men receive 69% of all drink-driving convictions, with women accounting for less than a third.

That doesn’t mean that all female motorists are treated the same, of course, because insurance companies take into account each individual driver’s age, occupation, location and driving record, as well as specific details about their vehicle, but by comparing insurance quotes from a wide range of providers you should be able to find a suitable policy at a competitive price no matter who you are.

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How to find cheap car insurance for women

Whether you’re a man or a woman your first priority when taking out a new insurance policy (or renewing your existing policy) should be to compare quotes from a wide range of providers. That way you’ll be more likely to find suitable cover at the best possible price.

Beyond using a price comparison website like Quotezone, though, there are a number of other things drivers can do to increase their likelihood of finding cheaper insurance. For example, they could: 

• Park their car off the side of the road, which should reduce the risk of the vehicle being sideswiped, vandalised or stolen.

• Opt for third party or third party, fire and theft cover, which is sometimes cheaper than fully-comp car insurance.

• Take an advanced driving test (such as the ‘Pass Plus’ or ‘RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders’ test), which can help to prove that they are a safety-conscious driver.
• Pay for the full year upfront, which is usually cheaper than paying the policy off on a monthly basis.

Are there women-only insurance providers?

Prior to the EU’s introduction of its gender directive in 2012 a number of women-only insurance brands were launched in the UK and were specifically designed to cater to female drivers.

Since accident data has shown that women drivers are less likely to be involved in a road traffic accident, less likely to receive penalty points and less likely to be convicted of a driving offence than their male counterparts women-only insurance brands like Sheila’s Wheels, Diamond Insurance, Drive Like a Girl and Diva Insurance were intended to provide women drivers with cheaper insurance.

Although the EU’s gender directive made it illegal for these brands to use gender as a basis for their insurance premium calculations, many of them still exist, but in most cases they now serve both female drivers and male drivers.

Why is car insurance cheaper for women and girls?

While the gender directive made it illegal for gender to be used in an insurance premium calculation some women drivers still enjoy cheaper insurance than male drivers. This is due to variables other than the driver’s gender, but some of those variables are still differentiated along gender lines to a certain extend.

For example, on average female drivers are more likely to have built up a substantial No Claims Discount (NCD) than their male counterparts, and drivers with large NCDs usually benefit from cheaper insurance.

The fact that women drivers are statistically less likely to have had their driving licences endorsed with penalty points can also result in cheaper insurance for those motorists, since penalty points can increase premiums significantly.

It’s also worth mentioning that insurance providers take the driver’s occupation into account when calculating insurance premiums, and some of the occupations that have been traditionally associated with women (nursing or teaching, for instance) also happen to be some of the occupations that benefit from cheaper insurance quotes.

Are young women drivers offered cheaper insurance than boy racers?

Insurance providers can no longer use gender as a risk factor when calculating insurance premiums, and this holds true no matter how young or old the driver happens to be.

So, despite the popular stereotype of the ‘boy racer’ in the UK the age of the driver will be considered but their gender won’t be, which means insurance quotes are likely to be more expensive for young drivers and less expensive for older drivers no matter whether they’re male or female.