Not the same age groups, but this UMich study (PDF) compares the effects of age and driving experience on accident rates, for ages between 18-25 and driving experience between 1-2 years.
According to the study:
[ul]
[li]Age-related factors level off around age 23 (not 25, when insurance companies typically drop rates)[/li][li]An 18 year old driver with two years of experience is about as likely to have an accident as a 20 year old driver with one year of experience[/li][li]A 19 year old driver with two years of experience is about as likely to have an accident as a 25 year old driver with two years of experience[/li][/ul]
One thing to consider, you can’t base rates only on frequency of accidents you must also consider the severity of the claim. I own an insurance agency and I see what money comes in and what is paid out in claims
When you compare a sixteen year old female and a sixteen year old male, my agency statistics show accident frequency is similar, but the amount paid out in the male’s behalf is almost five times greater.
Using an example, when a sixteen year old girl has an accident she is more likely to be alone in the car backing out of a parking spot or hitting a curb. But it only takes one sixteen year old boy traveling at 94 miles an hour with four people in the car, hitting another car killing four people, to skew the rates for the entire age group.
Most males drive just as well as most females but the few huge losses they suffer skew the rate upward for the entire group.
In my opinion, the entire insurance industry is headed for a meltdown. The value of claims paid will continue to increase, necessitating spiralling premiums. But the there is a limit beyond which the public can no longer pay increases, no matter what the penalties, the money just isn’t there. Is it realistic to expect them to stop driving, and bring their lives to a halt? No, they will continue driving, without insurance. There will be more uninsured motorist claims, increasing costs and fueling the claims/premium spiral. Ultimately, something has to give, and if drivers continue to leave the system, it is going to be the insurance companies. I predict widespread bankruptcies withing the next ten years, or, at the very least, fewer companies writing car insurance policies at astronomical rates that only the very wealthy can afford. The rest of us will just go outlaw.
Having been an Insurance broker in Alberta primarily for 13 years, let me tell you how it works.
Your rates are based on your age, gender driving record. The rates are determined by others of your age, sex, and driving record in the past. Insurance is a financial arrangement and that is why the statistics are used they way that they are. It is not discriminatory for the insurance company to charge you exactly the same amount as they would for another person of your age, gender, and driving record.
Alberta has very high rates for males under the age of 25. That is due to the fact that there are a lot of males under the age of 25 that speed around the back roads while drunk, and smash up their cars and trucks, and cause damage to other people’s property. I know, because I was with some of these guys when I was under the age of 25.
There is no way that Insurance companies are going to expose themselves to high financial loss by underwriting young men at a lower rate because they think that maybe they won’t have accidents. It doesn’t work that way. Insurance is there so that the losses of the few are paid for by the premiums of many. Insurance will be there to pay out when you have an accident purely because so many people pay into it.
Hold on for a few years. It drops drastically. Try to get to a broker that deals with Wawanesa, or ING Western Union - they will look at younger men with clean records or driver training, so long as you’ve been in a Facility market for a year or two. If you give me your location, I will find a broker for you that I have dealt with in the past.
Do not discount the fact that a caring broker will do everything they possibly can to help you out, if they’re any good at their job. I have kids that I helped out years ago that still send Christmas cards.
