Head over to The Independent today for an interesting analysis of how insurance and pension companies use gender-based statistics to calculate premiums and to tailor their products to individual customers.

Most of this article is pretty sober and makes a lot of sense, as well as offering advice on how to get the best deal whatever your gender, age group and lifestyle. The following however had me gaping in disbelief and giggling like a loon:

Nikki Harris, a hairdresser from Cardiff, decided to call Sheilas’ Wheels, the specialist women’s car insurer, the last time she needed to renew her motor insurance.

“My car’s pink, and I’d seen all their pink adverts, so I thought I should at least give it a go,” says Nikki.

She chose her car insurance based on the fact that she has a pink car, and that their adverts feature pink cars? Do Sheilas’ Wheels by any chance offer a special insurance package for the completely moronic?

Sheilas’ Wheels also offers specialised counselling services for female claimants, and trains all its repairers to follow a ” female-friendly” code of practice.

What, like not using long words?

Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with insurance companies using gender-based statistics. They use statistics of many kinds, so why should gender be different? As long as the statistics that they use are accurate, comprehensively analysed and regularly updated, the practice gets a thumbs up from me.

Posted by Samara Ginsberg on 10 November 2007, at 10:18 AM