Over 4,000 women petitioned Government Minister Patricia
Hewitt to keep their motor insurance costs down.
Diamond, a direct insurer specialising in car insurance
for women asked their customers to support a postcard and email campaign
against EU plans to remove the use of gender
when calculating car insurance
costs.
Over 4,000 postcards were returned, supporting Diamond's
concerns that ruling out the use of statistical evidence on the differences
between men and women's driving records,
will mean women paying for men's
more reckless driving.
Diamond has delivered the postcards to MP
Patricia Hewitt,
Secretary of State for Trade & Industry, Minister for Women. They
are urging her to
support an amendment to the EU Directive, allowing gender
to remain as a crucial factor when determining
premiums.
Diamond's premiums currently reflect the fact that women
have a different driving pattern to
men. In insurance terms women, particularly
young women, are better drivers than men because they have fewer expensive
accidents. This is reflected in the lower premiums which women pay. Recent
research by the Home Office
supports insurance industry findings. Home
Office figures reveal men commit nine times more motoring offences than
women, including 97% of dangerous driving offences and 94% of those causing
death or bodily injury.
Sian Lewis, managing director at Diamond, said, "The
message from our customers is loud and clear. They agree
that the current
system of calculating premiums is fair. Introducing this law will not
create equality,
instead women will end up paying for men's more expensive
claims costs."
