The statistics that insurance companies use to determine how much premium to charge customers do favor women drivers.
Insurance companies base the rates they charge on large similar groups: male, female, age, location, etc. The bottom line is that groups that require less money paid out in insurance claims get lower rates. These low-cost groups are the ones that the insurance company wants to insure. After people are broken out into basic groups, the company looks for the exceptions to the "rule" and charges those people higher premiums. So, a woman with several traffic violations and claims will end up paying more than a man with none even though she is a women.
The statistics that stand out when comparing men and women drivers are numerous; here are a few of them:
1. In auto fatalities male drivers die at a rate of almost 3 to 1 compared to women drivers (30,000 men vs 13,000 women). More driver fatalities also mean more passenger fatalities and more money that the insurance company has to pay out.
2. Men get more speeding tickets than women do and the amount over the posted speed limit is greater for men than women. Higher speeds mean more damage to both people and property if an accident occurs and results in more money paid out in claims.
3. DUI's and DWI's - this statistic really stands out, 9 out of 10 citations for these violations are male drivers. Only 10% of people operating a vehicle while impaired are women.
4. Actually, women are more likely to be involved in and file an accident report than men (.2% more accidents for women than men for every 100,000 miles driven); but, the average cost of the claim is much lower than the average cost of claims filed by men. Maybe, the guys are just taking care of the fender benders themselves? But, the claims men are filing are more serious; so, more money is paid by the insurance company resulting in higher premiums for men.
We all know there are exceptions to every statistic; that is where the stories come from about "women drivers", "snowbirds", etc. Comedians, actors, and musicians all make lots of money with their tales about these types of drivers; remember the Beach Boys song about the "Little Old Lady From Pasedena"?
However, my personal experience has been that throughout a driving history of 33 years as a woman driver in three different countries; I have been "involved" in a total of 7 accidents. I was "at fault" in 2 of them and in each case it was caused by "mechanical failure" (brakes failed in one with $730 in claims and a steering/suspension problem in the second with a $270 claim). Of the remaining 5 accidents, I was hit by a women driver in only one of those accidents and the damage was less than $300.
Of the four accidents caused by male drivers, one was so minor we both just laughed it off and went on our way; the other three resulted in major body damage to my vehicles and if I had not taken evasive action in two of them the damage would have been much worse to both my vehicle and myself. Out of a total of seven accidents three were caused by women and four by men. In the accidents caused by women none even came close to $1,000. In the accidents caused by men only one was less than $1,000. In my personal experience, the statistics proved true and the insurance companies have been making a profit off me and the premiums I pay every year.