Everyone knows that for a woman, car insurance is so much cheaper than for a man as we are known to be safer drivers.
However, women motorists have been put in the spotlight recently, following news from Confused.com, the online car insurance comparison site. The motor insurance company found that the number of ladies being convicted of driving offences has risen dramatically - doubling in the last three years.
Men are still the primary source of motoring convictions, with 16.8% currently having their licence endorsed, but women are fast catching up and 9.8% of female drivers now possess penalty points.
A spokesperson for Confused.com put forward an explanation for this trend: "There are more professional women on the road than ever before. Therefore, statistically, the chances of women incurring convictions are greater than in the past and they appear to be steadily on the increase."
The cost of car insurance for a woman with driving convictions is often substantially higher than for a lady without any penalty points, although this does depend on the motor insurance company chosen. On average, one motoring conviction will put up a woman's car insurance by £74.60, whilst two will see a rise of £182.92 and a third conviction will mean an increase of an astounding £301.84.
The growing number of female drivers with convictions may well have an impact on how cheap the average woman's car insurance premium is. This is because women motorists will be seen as increasingly risky to insure and as a result ladies may end up losing the right to much cheaper car insurance based purely on their gender.
However, it has yet to be shown that the trend of increasing number of convictions will also mean that women have a great number of car accidents, another major factor that is taken into account when deciding women's car insurance rates.