New bid to keep sex out of car insurance

Young women drivers could escape a £500 hike in car insurance premiums if efforts to change European legislation are successful. Industry and Deputy Women's Minister Jacqui Smith has lobbied her Euro pean counterparts to have insurance products excluded from proposed legislation that will ban the use of gender when determining the price of services and goods.

A DTI spokesman says: 'She set out clearly the government's reservations on the application of the gender directive to the insurance market, and proposed that, where sound evidence existed, it should allow gender to be used as a factor in calculating risk and setting prices for insurance-based products.'

However, the DTI says the draft legislation has yet to be amended, and the European Council of Ministers is not expected to reach a decision before the end of the year.

If unamended, the directive would particularly affect young women, who are statistically much safer drivers than young men and currently pay lower premiums to reflect the corresponding reduced risk.

Driving risks


Most motorists have unrealistic expectations about the amount they could claim on their insurance for the treatment of personal injuries such as whiplash, according to Norwich Union.

More than 58 per cent of 1,000 adults surveyed expected that they would be covered for this kind of physiotherapy cost, but David King of Norwich Union says: 'The law states that motor insurance should cover damage or injury to a third party - but doesn't say anything about cover for your own injury.

'If people are expecting their insurers to give practi cal help if they get injured, we advise them to read their policies carefully.'

Losing away


Holidaymakers going abroad can easily lose more than £100 by using their credit card when they could save money by working out how much foreign cash they need in advance.

Moneysupermarket.com has highlighted four main ways in which consumers can be bitten by using plastic: loading fees (typically 2.75 per cent) for making purchases and cash withdrawals in foreign currencies; charges (typically the greater of 2 per cent and £2) on cash withdrawals abroad; significantly higher interest rates on cash withdrawals than on purchases; and the loss of the interest-free period when cash withdrawals are made.

The website recom mends Nationwide's Classic card as relatively cheap, with no foreign loading charge and a fee on cash withdrawals of 1.25 per cent or £1.25.

In contrast, Barclaycard's Platinum card, Abbey's Pink and Lloyds TSB's Classic have foreign loading charges of 2.75 per cent and cash withdrawal fees of 2 per cent or £2.

Stake your claim


Time is running out for homeowners who took out an endowment policy and now want to seek compensation on the grounds that it will not repay their mortgage loan and was mis-sold. Thousands have already missed deadlines for lodging a claim. The Endowment Justice organisation (0870 041 0163) has set itself up to help individuals pursue these claims, but levies a charge of 17.5 per cent plus VAT of any compensation received.

A better route - for people who can do the paperwork themselves - is to complain directly to their endowment policy provider, but to make use of the free guidance available from the Financial Ombudsman Service (0845 080 1800 or www. financial-ombudsman. org.uk). If your insurer turns you down, you can still appeal to the Ombudsman.

New cash for old


Some households of elderly people are set to qualify for more than the £100 Gordon Brown promised in his Budget this spring to help with council tax. The age-related payment - due to go out with this year's winter fuel allowance to people over 70 - could be higher than £100 in cases where two or more elderly people live together but are not a couple.

The Department of Work and Pensions cites as examples two brothers over 70 living together who will receive £100 each if both are also receiving pension credit, and three sisters over 70 living together without being entitled to pension credit, who will receive £50 each.