While insurance premiums for females aged 21-25 were hit with a rise of 8.6% between the end of September and December, married women in the same age group benefitted from a 1.5% decrease.

The findings were revealed in the latest Confused.com/Towers Watson Car Insurance Price Index, which found year-on-year car insurance prices have dropped for women – going down by 9.2% in 2012.

However, women who have only insured themselves on their policy have fared worse than those who have a spouse, paying £841 on average compared with £406 for women drivers insured with their other half.
The new EU gender directive, which came into force on 21 December 2012, is thought to be part of the reason for the price spike in female car insurance premiums.

Gareth Kloet, head of car insurance at Confused.com says: “As expected, our index shows that women have seen the greatest changes in their insurance premium as insurers prepared for the change in legislation with what is effectively a gender tax on their car insurance premiums. Unsurprisingly however, to level out car insurance prices, during the same period, males have started to see their premiums drop by an average of 5.6% in Q4 2012.

“As well as young drivers being affected women who are only insuring themselves are paying a lot more than women who are married. Putting a spouse on an existing female only policy could save the female driver hundreds of pounds.

“Our advice to drivers is simple, with gender neutral pricing now having taken full effect, the need to shop around has never been greater, as much has changed in terms of pricing. We encourage everyone to shop around in order to get the best deals and if you are married, consider car sharing with your partner to benefit from cheaper car insurance premiums.”

More than four million quotes are used in the construction of each quarter’s insurance price index.