The Young Ones – Insurance and the age gap. Fleet Voice
Wednesday 8 June 2011. Fleet Voice Column.
I am a man, not a number. All well and good for The Prisoner, but we are all prisoners to insurance. It’s not one of life’s adrenaline pumpers, but it’s a topic that has many fleet managers and those in the leasing business feeling vexed and perplexed.
It all comes down to equality, something we are continually told is the good and right thing to strive for. The problem here is equality is fine and dandy when we’re talking about pay, conditions and prospects, but there’s a limit when it comes to cars, or more specifically car insurance.
It’s a well established, and saddening, fact that young drivers are far more likely to be involved in a car accident than older, more experienced drivers. Of course, we all need to start somewhere to get on the road to experience, but it’s not fair when other drivers are being penalised for the mistakes of an easily and readily identifiable group.
Madness
The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) is the latest to point out the madness of regarding young, novice drivers in the same way we do those with more years and miles under their wheels.
It’s not just fast cars the BVRLA is worried about where young drivers are concerned. As the BVRLA represents those who hire out all manner of vehicles, they are also worried about young, less experienced drivers getting behind the wheel of minibuses and vans, which are every bit as dangerous in less capable hands.
What the BVRLA is becoming vocal about is the burden placed on leasing and hire companies to prove that young drivers are more likely to be involved in an accident. They want to be able to charge younger drivers more to hire a vehicle than those with more knowledge of driving.
This seems like a perfectly fair condition to make and one the current government even agrees with. However, those pesky meddling Eurocrats think differently and say this would be age discrimination.
Accountable
Surely, when there is a clear body of evidence that young drivers are involved in a higher number of incidents, it makes sense to make them more accountable for their actions? If nothing else, it means the hire or leasing company is less out of pocket when an accident does occur?
John Lewis, chief executive of the BVRLA, says: “Younger drivers are already able to hire vehicles and the government accepts that some younger or inexperienced customers should be charged more.
“But our industry is still being threatened by this new tranche of pointless red tape, which is something the current government has sworn to eliminate.”
The red tape in question is the onus of proof being placed on the leasing and hire industry. Rather than simply looking at the statistics and drawing some very obvious conclusions, the bureaucracy in Europe says the leasing and hire industry must provide proof of its claims every year.
Further education
Now, we’re not in possession of a crystal ball or have a direct line to Doris Stokes, but it’s safe to assume that young and inexperienced drivers are going to continue being the most at-risk group of drivers unless something fundamental changes.
Fundamental does not mean the insistence on equality in cost of lease and hire rates for all ages. When we say a fundamental change is needed, we mean tackling the horrific death toll and serious accident rate among young and newly qualified drivers. That would be an absolutely elemental shift in our thinking and would have a radical impact on the figures that show who is most at risk.
Driver education should not stop as the door closes on the test centre, new driver clutching a licence in their hand. Only continual, ever more rigorous and stringent testing for all drivers will see the steep decline in accident rates that we seem to think are acceptable.
Look at it another way. If we told you all men are more dangerous at driving and we have the statistics to prove it beyond doubt, you’d think it fair that insurers charged men more for cover. Okay, only half of you are thinking that and the other half wondering how much more men-bashing can be doled out.
Genders are so close
Well, we’re not here to take a swipe at the men-versus-women driver debate. Nope, we’ve left that to Total Accident Management, which deals with 300,000 company car drivers. It has analysed more than 25,000 accidents in 2011 alone to come up with some key facts.
Fact one is women are less likely to be involved in an accident deemed to be their fault (36%) whereas men are more likely (44%). However, men are less prone to none-fault accidents (41%) compared to women (43%). Total reckons the split between men and women’s driving comes down to just 5%, tipping slightly in favour of women.
Total’s Managing Director Penny Stoolman says: “Company motorists are professional drivers, some covering tens of thousands miles on company business each year and generally their standards of driving are very good. That’s why we believe the “at fault” accident rates are so close between women and men.”
This is why male and female company car drivers pay the same lease rate for a business car. There is no distinction between the sexes as it’s clear from established, reliable evidence that each is as safe as the other. If there was a much larger discrepancy, you can bet fleet managers and leasing firms would be looking at ways to reduce the gap.
All of which brings us back to the original point that young drivers are justifiably being charged more to hire or lease a vehicle.
If someone falls into a high risk category, it’s only right they should shoulder that burden. Yes, it’s unfortunate that many young, responsible drivers find themselves paying huge premiums to insure their pride and joy, or find they cannot hire or lease a vehicle, but that’s life.
Life is about numbers and how they stack up, and in this instance, they compute that young drivers are more at risk. Till we tackle what places them at such risk, such as poor driving habits and inexperience, we will continue to pay the price.
Alisdair Suttie
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1 Comment
Age 26
Driving for 2 years
Miles done 18000
Number of accidents caused, zero
Number of accidents involved with when a young driver was responsible, zero
Number of accidents involved with when a middle aged driver was responsible, two
Thought I’d share.
Philip Skinner
June 9, 2011, 5:58 am.
