Do women pay less than men for motorbike insurance?

For years it was common knowledge that, on average, women paid less for their motorbike insurance than men.

That all changed in December 2012, when the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that pricing in the motorbike insurance industry should not be influenced by gender.

And that doesn’t just apply to motorbike insurance; a wide range of insurance types were affected by the change.

Why is gender not considered anymore?

The gender ruling was brought into force because it was decided that allowing insurers to factor gender into risk profiles counted as discrimination under European law.

At the time there was a lot of backlash as it was argued that not using gender, where relevant to the risk, would stop men and women getting accurate prices for their insurance policies.

There was also a lot of concern that insurers would instead just increase prices for female riders to make up their losses.

What was the effect of the ruling?

Lots of experts predicted that motorbike insurance prices for women would rocket after the change, pushing the prices they pay in line with men but over four years later, that doesn’t seem to have been the case.

Statistics from The Bike Insurer’s quote database show that women still pay less for their motorbike insurance than men.

The average comprehensive motorcycle insurance premium for female riders stood at around £357 in February 2017.

Men in the same month paid roughly £60 more, with the average policy for a male motorbike rider costing around £422.

Do women still get special deals?

Women don’t benefit from any special deals or offers from insurers.

The reason for the difference in cost and why they pay less on average is instead because insurers can still raise men’s premiums indirectly, according to a study from the University of Newcastle.

The study said that by raising insurance costs for male dominated professions insurers can still charge male riders more without breaking any rules.

On top of that, females also make less claims and have fewer convictions than male riders in general, another reason why their insurance premiums tend to be lower than men’s.