Premiums for car insurance dropped year-on-year in 2012 but are still 61% higher than they were in 2006, according to the latest confused.com/Towers Watson car insurance price index.
Average premiums for women fell by 3% year-on-year, taking the cost for a comprehensive policy to £751. But ladies in some parts of the country are facing large rises in their car insurance costs as insurers prepare for a change in European Union laws that will ban gender discrimination.
"The European Union gender equality law bans the use of gender as a factor in calculating the cost of an insurance policy and comes into effect on 21 December 2012. As a result, we expect women everywhere to see hikes in their car insurance costs," says Gareth Kloet, head of car insurance at confused.com.
Meanwhile, men have seen the cost of comprehensive car insurance drop by 1.8% year-on-year, bringing the average policy price to £869 at the end of March 2012.
The biggest premium rise has been in the Manchester and Merseyside area where women in the 66-70 age group have seen their premiums go up by 9.7% in the past year.
The most expensive comprehensive car insurance premiums in the country are in London for women, where a 17-20 year old would pay an average of £3,181 a year. Whereas 17-20 year old men in Manchester and Merseyside pay the highest premiums for males, coughing up £5,530 a year on average.
