Motor Insurance

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30793, 3 July 1965, Page 14

Motor Insurance

Sir, —It was announced in “The Press” today that insurance companies will in future require drivers in the under--25 age group to pay the first £25 of accident claims, as this group is responsible for 39.8 per cent of recorded accidents. In the accident statistics published by your paper some weeks ago it was stated that it was the male drivers in this particular age group who caused the accidents, and that the accident rate from young female drivers was practically negligible. Is this new insurance rating to apply to male drivers only, or have we yet another case where women have to suffer for the follies of the male? —Yours, etc., J. June 25, 1965.

(The chairman of the public relations committee of the Auckland Fire and Accident Underwriters' Association (Mr E. Lane) replies: “Admittedly there is some evidence to support the correspondent’s contention, but it is not conclusive, and insurance companies have not yet statistics enabling them to differentiate between the actual accidents caused by male and female drivers. The proportion of under-age female drivers is known to be considerably below that of male drivers. Further, as was indicated in the statement, the excess penalises a driver only when he or she is negligent. Therefore the male could well be responsible for the damage caused by his folly and the impact of the excess on the female could be negligible.”]