Study: Women in Louisiana Pay More for Car Insurance, Regardless of Driving Record

The rates for women were higher regardless of driving record, and are higher for women over 50

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It’s no secret that Louisiana already has some of the highest insurance rates in the country, but if you’re a woman, those rates are even more escalated. A new report shows that women in Louisiana pay more on their annual car insurance premiums than men, regardless of their driving record. The premiums were even higher for women over the age of 50.

The study was put together by The Zebra, the nation’s leading insurance comparison site. They found that in Louisiana, women aged 50-59 pay $118 more each year than men the same age, regardless of their driving record. Women in other age groups paid an average of $68 more each year.

This is in spite of the fact that men, on average, are more likely to engage in risky driving behavior than women and file more claims. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, male drivers account for 68-70% of all driver crash involvements, and 70.5% of all driver deaths. In addition, 79% of all drunk drivers involved in fatal crashes are men, as well as 79% of drivers in speed-related fatalities.

Only seven states - California, Michigan, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Montana, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania - ban gender as a rating factor for insurance premiums. This year, Louisiana has the opportunity to join them. State Senator Jay Luneau (D- Alexandria) has introduced Senate Bill 55, which would prohibit insurance companies in Louisiana from using a person’s race, color, creed, national origin, widow/widower status, credit score, or gender as a risk factor for any driver over the age of 25.

“One lady that talked to us about it told us she had driven just about every day taking her husband back and forth to the hospital and doctors and things of that nature and that she rarely drove except to go to the grocery store after her husband died and they still increased her rates,” Luneau told Radio.com. “We had testimony last year that clearly showed that a male and a female with the same job, same credit history, same everything except the male had a DWI and the female didn’t; the female still paid more.”

Real Reform Louisiana, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the hold of the corporate insurance lobby on the Louisiana legislator supports Luneau’s efforts.

“Louisiana has some of the highest insurance rates in the country because the insurance commissioner and corporate lobbyists have rigged the system in favor of the big insurance companies,” said Eric Holl, Executive Director of Real Reform Louisiana. “To lower rates, we need real reform that makes insurance companies play by the rules and ends abusive practices like the use of gender, occupation, and credit score in rate-setting. Insurance rates should be based on your driving.”