ECJ Ruling Set to Hit Young Female Drivers Hardest

A new ruling by the European Court of Justice could hit female young drivers in the pocket as car insurance companies will no longer be able to use gender as a factor in calculating risk.

The new ruling, passed on March 1, will come into force in December 2012 and from that time onwards, women will cease to benefit from cheap car insurance premiums, despite the fact that they are statistically less likely to have a crash than men.

Car insurance expert Steve Sweeney from MoneySupermarket, believes the new ruling will have long-lasting, wide ranging implications for the car insurance industry.

He said:

"The ruling will no doubt hit female drivers the hardest with premiums rising in line with male drivers. If your car insurance is due for renewal in the next couple of months then you should shop around and buy your new cover as soon as possible before any new rules come into force."

My wife and some of our lady friends are quite unhappy with the ruling. So what do you think?

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The Electric Car Wars

Edited from the press release by Dr Peter Harrop, Chairman, IDTechEx

Toyota announced today that their global cumulative sales of hybrid vehicles have reached 3.03 million worldwide. They entered the market with the Coaster Hybrid bus in August 1997 followed by the original Prius in December of the same year. 

The Toyota Prius, now made in still drives almost all of its hybrid car sales. It is now joined by the hybrid version of the Auris, global production being in the UK. Other electric versions of all its car models are being rapidly introduced. Toyota is not very keen on pure electric cars at present levels of battery performance and focusses on the hybrid versions of their model.

Many car companies only realised the potential too late and the only way they had a chance of competing with Toyota from a position a long way behind, was to form alliances with other car companies. 

Now the BMW cooperation with PSA Peugeot Citroen is being solidified into a 50:50 joint venture, functioning in the second quarter, to share the formidable cost of developing hybrid powertrains and seek early volume.

Before that, Daimler AG, bought 10% of Tesla, and developed electric Smart and Mercedes models. They have struck a partnership with Renault Nissan to develop small cars, notably pure electric ones. Renault Nissan also partners with Mitsubishi on this. Mitsubishi promises electric versions of all new car models. Like Nissan and Fiat, it seems to prefer the pure electric small car route.

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