Confused.com has revealed that women who drive regularly could make their male partners big savings and could almost halve the cost of their car insurance by simply being added as a named driver.

However, there are only 154 days where such savings could be made so Confused.com are calling all men to put their partners to good use before it’s too late.

A new UK poll into women’s spending habits found that 35% of women spend on average more than £200 a month on household bills, 34% of women spend on average over £200 a month on essential food bills and 79% of women spend on average up to £100 a month on socialising compared with 72% of men.

On top of this, 93% of women spend on average up to £150 a month on clothes and 87% of women spend on average up to £100 a month on grooming and beauty products (£23 per week).

In fact, the research determines that thousands of pounds will be spent over a woman’s life, all in an effort to satisfy the insatiable urge to shop.

However while some men may despair when they see their partner’s expenditure, they can feel better about one thing: while women are spending they are also shopping around for great deals. In fact, women are much more likely to search incessantly for the best deal, while men are happy to pay more just to be done with the task of shopping. Fifty-four per cent of women admit they shop around and get better deals than their partner; with 38% of men agreeing with this.

As well as women being more savvy shoppers, the research also found that more women (57%) than men (47%) admit to saving, stashing away up to £100 a month.

In fact not only are women savvy savers but they could almost halve the car insurance bill for a man by simply being added to their insurance policy, if they are a regular driver. According to the latest Confused.com car insurance price index the average annual cost of comprehensive cover for a male driver is £954 if he is the only driver insured on the car. However, by adding a spouse it could cause the policy to decrease as the average for a driver and spouse is just £452, creating a potential saving of £502.

When a driver adds a female driver to their comprehensive policy, average costs come down. For example, a 21-25 year old male pays an average of £1,763 for their car insurance, but by adding a spouse who drives on a regular basis, average car insurance prices reduce by 29%, making insurance £1,257 for fully comprehensive cover and creating a potential saving of £506.

Surprisingly, 63% of men surveyed didn’t know that by adding their female partner they could reduce their cost of their policy.

While there is a chance women could currently save their partner money on their car insurance, this is expected to come to an end when the Gender Directive ruling comes into force. From 21 December 2012, insurance providers will no longer be exempt from a wider EU principle covering gender equality meaning insurers will no longer be allowed to take gender into account when they calculate car insurance premiums.

Until then, insurers can continue to use gender as a rating factor, charging men and women different premiums.

Via EPR Network
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