A ruling that means women can no longer be charged lower car insurance premiums than men could open the floodgates to a raft of similar changes, according to a legal expert.
The European Court of Justice has decided that using gender as a factor in setting premiums is sexual discrimination, after ruling on a challenge by Belgian consumer group, Test-Achats.
Insurers have been outraged by the ruling that will come into effect in December 2012.
Suki Harrar, Partner in Wright Hassall’s employment department, feels that not only will this verdict have an immediate impact on insurance premiums, it has also set a dangerous precedent for future cases.
She said: “It is strange that the has come to this conclusion in trying to achieve equality while ignoring numerous other factors that determine whether a system is equal or fair.
“This particular case only dealt with gender, but it raises the question - what of other issues such as age and disability?.
“Women are clearly the ones who will lose out with regards to car insurance but when it comes to pensions, men will be subsidising women as women generally live longer.
“The outcome of this case may well encourage more people to challenge the model of charging different premiums based on factors that could possibly be interpreted as discrimination.
“This could open the floodgates and have wide-reaching effects on different areas of finance.
“Obviously it is a long way off but ultimately we could end up in a situation where everybody pays exactly the same.”
