The insurance premiums in the states seem very reasonable at first but there are so many add ons and taxes it ends up as much if not more than the UK.

The USA has many disimilarities with the UK, including much lower rural traffic densities

Yet despite that you're 4 times more likely to die on an American road than a British road, yet their insurance is cheaper than ours.

Do you really think that UK insurers are penalising new drivers by loading their premiums even higher than their claim costs? For what end, to subsidise drivers with lower claims ?

Bashing the customer you don't like to benefit the one you want to keep would be an entirely new tactic wouldn't it.....

Insurance is a competitive industry, like any other, so plenty of scope for a new insurer to "undercut" all the others by offering purely risk-based premiums - how come no-one does?

Because - much like our political class - they're all the same. They're all run by the same people, usually linked to the same bank and under close inspection are all the same 2 or 3 companies.

Industry and commerce either works under free market conditions or state control with price controls - there is no in-between.

Don't think major financiers and brokers are free marketeers though, they're not. They're the biggest socialists this side of Ken Livingstone.

Inexperienced male drivers have much higher claims than inexperienced female drivers but recent EC legislation requires their risk-based premiums to be shared

It's the EU, not the EC and if you don't want it to apply to Britain then vote UKIP.

I certainly feel that's a step too far

Well first off this actually started because Belgian womens groups complained about having lower annual private pension payouts (because they live longer) and that movement grew into equalised insurance. Its application to car insurance was an accidental side effect really.

It's only really got this far because insurance prices have become so silly. You can't tell me inexperienced drivers cause more carnage now than they did 30 years ago, so the real reason for rising claims costs must lie with the insurance industry itself.

They managed to insure the inexperienced 30 years ago on - adjusted for inflation - cheaper premiums, why can't they do it now? Probably because they don't want to.

I'm not usually a fan of meddling legislation - and I'm not a 'fan' of this sticking plaster solution either - but when insurance companies ignore basic mathematics like women drive less miles and make up a minority of motorists so obviously they'll claim less, something does have to be done.

Edited by jamie745 on 14/05/2013 at 00:02

"Jamie, you seem to treat this site as your personal whingeing space. Maybe you should choose to settle in a country you like better, and give us the break?"

I cannot believe you said that. Jamie regularly contributes perceptive and succinct comments on a range of topics, never allowing personal prejudice to stand in the way of sensitive responses to other posts.