Motor insurance news

American research may cause change in the cost of car insurance for women in the UK

The price of car insurance for women may be calculated differently if the UK motor insurance industry takes into account a new car accident study from the US.

Researchers from Purdue University have been looking at the injuries that are sustained in car accidents and how these are affected by occupants' age and gender.

They hope that the results from the study can be used to improve the design of cars and roads and reduce the number of injuries suffered each year. However, their conclusions may also have an impact on the cost of car insurance for women of those ages who are found to be statistically more likely or less likely to be seriously injured.

Findings of the research include that roll over accidents are a great deal more likely to result in death for older women than young women and a failure to wear a seatbelt also resulted in a greater likelihood of injury to older women than young or middle-aged ladies in an accident.

Young women, on the other hand, are much more at risk of death from an accident in rural surroundings than the other female age groups.

Fred Mannering, of Purdue University, said: "We can only speculate as to why these differences exist. Possibilities include differences in reaction time and physical differences relating to height, weight and body structure and vehicle design attributes that affect drivers differently.

"Another possibility is that vehicle safety systems, such as safety belts and airbags, may be more effective for some age and gender categories than for others."

*A replacement car can normally be arranged under one of the following conditions: (1) Comprehensive policyholders – a replacement car may be available under the terms of your insurance policy. Please check your policy details for more information. (2) Non fault accident – where we have the name, car registration number and insurance details of the person who caused the accident, we can supply a replacement car. This is done on a credit hire basis which means the costs for this service will be passed onto the insurance company of the person who caused the accident. We may not be able to arrange a replacement car where we are unable to get an admission of liability from their insurance company, or where the driver is untraceable or uninsured. (3) Repair garage – if your car is booked in for repairs following an accident, the repair garage may be able to provide a replacement car (subject to availability).