If women have less accidents than men (which I truly believe) but men are only implicated in slightly less than 30% of accidents then the transgenders must be responsible for at least 41% of accidents and should pay more for their car insurance.

 

Or are those accidents caused by aliens or driverless cars?

9 hours ago, skomaz said:

My first car was a chevette...   1.3L in mushy pea green with a similar green interior!  It then had a black and red stripe put down the side and some big speakers in the side panels at the back with an upgraded headunit.   Not sure I could get 80 out of it though but I do recall it got very floaty on the A38 above about 65mph..

 

I kept it for a couple of years then bought my sister's Nova of her.  That was kept for a couple of years and followed by a Mitsubishi Colt that I had for 8 years before buying my MX-5 that I've had for 22 years now.  The Mitsubishi was bought by my girlfriend (now wife) so stayed with us until it was 13 after which we got a Fabia TDi estate as we needed more space and more economy for my wifes long commute across the Pennines.  The Fabia stayed for 13 years as well as I had it when my second daughter arrived and my wife wanted more space and we got the Octavia 4x4 to help with the commute in winter.  The Fabia was only changed as my father in law got a new car so we had his Civic 2.2 diesel off him.  That only stayed for 4 years though as bits started to fall off it so I got the swift.  We've had the Octavia 13 years now but are thinking of changing it...

 

PS reading that back it looks like 13 years is about right for us and cars...

My first car was a Mini 1000 in classic "Harvest Gold", as British Leyland called it. The car below wasn't mine, but mine was identical.

It ran alright, but was a bit of a rust-bucket and didn't like cold starting.

I mean, really didn't like cold-starting.

I learned more about cars in trying to get that little b@stard started and kept going on cold mornings than I care to remember.

I bought another Mini, a 1275GT, which I had a lot of fun in, then bought a Ford Orion 1.4LX. The Orion was like driving a limo in comparison with the Mini, but wouldn't do handbrake turns, which my 1275GT did exquisitely.

Mine was white, not silver, but you get the idea. That two-tone paintwork made it look at bit like the 1.6i Ghia if you squinted hard, which made it cool. 😄

It was a fine car with a massive boot, but it suffered from leaking valve stem oil seals, which meant a lot of smoke on start-up.

 

After that, it was a Rover 420SLi, which with Rover's 2.0L twin-cam 16V engine felt like it went like a rocket at the time. I adored that car, fake wooden trim and all

This was a car that benefited considerably from Honda's input to Rover.

Then I had a Seat Ibiza SXE TDi, which was very red, and was lovely until my wife stuffed it into the back of some poor sod in an Audi.

 

After that came another Ibiza, a TDi 110 Sport like the one below, which I pre-ordered and bought new.

Around this time, we each had a car, so it was a bit confusing as to who owned what, as we chopped and changed a bit as to who drove which car.

Anyway, after a wastegate fail on the 110 Ibiza, with big bills looming we swapped that for another Ibiza TDI. I thought it was an FR, but it was actually a TDI 130PD Sport

A very similar car to the one here. We got a stunning deal on the 110 Sport p/x and the 130 Sport purchase, which we were very happy about.

The 130 Ibiza was a fabulous car until my wife wrote it off by losing control of it on a motorway when she hit a puddle at speed.

After that I gave her my Mondeo and bought myself a nicer Mondeo (which I've just parted with.)

She wrote off my Mondeo and found herself in a Fabia 1.2 punishment car.

And now she's in her Fiesta. Literally in it, she's just gone shopping.

Edited 22 August, 20205 yr by EnterName

Harvest Gold and all the other colours of its ilk in those days were known collectively in the trade as "Spewdupon"

2 hours ago, EnterName said:

It ran alright, but was a bit of a rust-bucket and didn't like cold starting.

I mean, really didn't like cold-starting.

I learned more about cars in trying to get that little b@stard started and kept going on cold mornings than I care to remember.

 

I had several Minis of that age, all poor cold starters, everyone was transformed by changing the solenoid for one with the extra contact and using a ballast resistor & compatible coil, they would all start in 1/4 of a turn after that.

7 hours ago, Lady Elanore said:

So exactly as I said. Men cause more accidents! Thank you for showing my post was correct. The mileage is not relevant as it is the accident rate I quoted. Also, as is quoted in several studies, women suffer greater injuries when involved in accidents-which as you have shown is mostly caused by men. Several bodies suggest that owing to the different nature of female physical form, that crash safety design does not help them to the same degree as it does men. 

 

And now I have to pay for all these men having accidents. . 

 

Btw I too looked at the overseas figures, but didn't quote them as they are not particularly relevant to my insurance payments. The USA figures and facts do come up first in a search on the subject however (thank you Google  ), so any one looking to see UK figures will have to scroll down the page a little to find them 

 

Your welcome.  I am pretty sure my daughters get/got reduced premiums, one has a spy box in te car I provider her, ah Sheila's wheels.....

 

https://www.choose.co.uk/guide/how-much-female-drivers-pay-car-insurance/

 

One common question is whether women can still get cheaper motor insurance. As lots of people know, the laws around gender and insurance were altered a few years ago - but the results of the rule changes aren't obvious.

This guide covers the current laws about insurance and gender, whether women can still get cheaper car insurance, and what the future might hold.

Why do women get cheaper insurance?

Insurance providers have historically charged women less on their premiums.

The reasoning was simple: women get in fewer accidents, so they cost the insurance brokers less money.

Why do women have fewer accidents?

There are a few theories as to why men are the greater risk for road accidents.

First, men drive more on average: 4,209 miles a year, compared to 2,291 for women. Plus, some 80% of men have driving licences, while only 67% of women are licence holders.

 

 

To get back on topic with the rate of technology progress cars will be virtually un-crash-able or we will just be a passenger in an autonomous vehicle, might even sit in the back, have a snooze.

 

I also believe that the fact their are no F1, MotoGP women is more down to strength than talent and here is a picture of ex-World Champion Ana C who would show a clean paid of heals to me ...  

 

 

 

 

Edited 22 August, 20205 yr by lol-lol

My wife's insurance premium REDUCED when she added me to her policy as a named driver  - I'm male, younger than her, had a fault accident 2 years earlier and at the time had 3 penalty points so go figure???

Edited 22 August, 20205 yr by PetrolDave

@EnterName; that colour really works on the mk1 Fabia, no? Ours is corrida red which is nice, but I think that blue - whatever it is - works even better.

Generally I barely give half a gnat's crap about cars' appearances, but on/for a mk1 Fabia - I'd be happy with that.

 

Apparently I'm wrong; it's "awlright..." but not as good as the red. 😆

Edited 22 August, 20205 yr by Wino

14 hours ago, EnterName said:

Feminist activists campaigned long and hard for women to be charged the same as men for car insurance

 

 

 

??? I assume there are a lot of sites I can visit to read this info. 

3 hours ago, PetrolDave said:

My wife's insurance premium REDUCED when she added me to her policy as a named driver  - I'm male, younger than her, had a fault accident 2 years earlier and at the time had 3 penalty points so go figure???

 

 

Funnily enough I was advised by the insurance company to add a named driver to lower my premium. Seemed daft as I wasn't going to let them drive the car, I asked if it mattered whether the person was a (less likely to crash  ) female or a (more likely to crash  ) male, a younger person or an older one and was told it didn't matter. They don't even have to live with you! so you can put who you want on the policy (obviously not someone with a shocking driving record), although a Wookie would not be acceptable I reckon.

On 22/08/2020 at 10:28, J.R. said:

I had several Minis of that age, all poor cold starters, everyone was transformed by changing the solenoid for one with the extra contact and using a ballast resistor & compatible coil, they would all start in 1/4 of a turn after that.

I could barely afford to put fuel in the blooming thing.

16 hours ago, Wino said:

@EnterName; that colour really works on the mk1 Fabia, no? Ours is corrida red which is nice, but I think that blue - whatever it is - works even better.

Generally I barely give half a gnat's crap about cars' appearances, but on/for a mk1 Fabia - I'd be happy with that.

 

Apparently I'm wrong; it's "awlright..." but not as good as the red. 😆

Ours was a mess. I bought it in a hurry off a guy I knew at work and didn't do my due diligence.

So we ended up with a written-off and rebuilt car with a poor paint job on the bonnet that gradually peeled off.

As it was a punishment car, the fact the paint was peeling off wasn't a problem, but lesson learned when it comes to buying vehicles privately.

14 hours ago, Lady Elanore said:

 

??? I assume there are a lot of sites I can visit to read this info. 

There are one or two.

The grass isn't necessarily always greener on the male side of the fence.

Posting multiple quotes to distract from a simple fact is rather pointless. Regardless of mileage, men are more accident 'prone' (to put it nicely). Nobody in their right mind would want to pay more money for a thing than they have to if it was based on something as clear as the figures that the insurance companies use. Yes there are mitigating factors that men do more mileage, but that does not alter the simple fact, they also provide more of the accidents. Feminism is not about being anti-male, it's about equality, nothing to do with the grass is greener. Trying to get equality in something as simple as 'pay' is still something of a struggle and no, I don't expect many women would be able to compete with men where size and strength is important for a job, that's just the way the genetic cookie crumbles. 

 

Interestingly and back OT, when I go to change a car, it is fairly apparent that the opening salvo of the salesman is usually one of very slight sexism. By that I mean, the salesman may talk to me in a slightly patronising manner as if I don't understand the technical side of the car I am interested in and probably will need help to grasp the complexities of the financial packages available (I do know the difference between this patronising and simple trying to explain things about the car in question). A good salesperson should listen to the needs and requirements of the customer first and be able to ascertain many things along the way, eg seriousness of the buyer, how well do they know their product and are they aware of competitors pricing etc.  If I go with a man to buy a car, the salesman usually talks to the man by my side first and it's not until I engage him directly with the fact the car is for me and it is entirely my choice, do I get his full undivided attention. Weirdly, this happens much less if I am buying more of a petrol heads type of car, ie my M4 or my  previous M135 than when I bought my Golf or Octy. Perhaps it is to do with the price of the vehicle, but it is something I've found to be rather consistent over the years. I bought a C350 about 8 years ago and the salesman took me very seriously from the moment he greeted me, it felt great. Buying a reasonably expensive car as a single female, is not something that you see too often in the car trade and having sold cars, I really can't remember many single women coming into buy more costly and specialist cars, at least on their own. If she is uncertain in any way it is a good idea to bring help obviously and that does usually mean it's a man that will come with her which is understandable.  I am fairly confident after a few hours haggling with me, the salesman in question would have no doubt that I should be taken as a serious car buyer who probably knows more than a little about the product I'm interested in, to say nothing of the working of the i.c.e. It just would be nice if we started off on the same footing that my many 'petrol head' male friends take for granted

 

On a plus side for salesmen. I find I can get a better deal with them than with saleswoman on average, that's something I haven't quite figure out yet and may be in part because the salesman realises I should have been taken more seriously to start with and over compensates? I don't know if men find they get better deals with saleswoman?? Everybody got a good deal with me (not a euphemism) as I was 'lovely' to buy a car from....honest 

17 hours ago, Lady Elanore said:

although a Wookie would not be acceptable I reckon.

 

You would never fit a Wookie in your Z4 ...

Just now, StickyMicky said:

 

You would never fit a Wookie in your Z4 ...

 

I couldn't fit a whole Wookie into my M4, but I could in a Z4, I'd just have to drive around with the roof down all the time. Although I imagine that if it rained a Wookie would smell like a weapons grade wet dog and would take days to dry out. 

1 minute ago, Lady Elanore said:

I couldn't fit a whole Wookie into my M4

 

Apologies for the "Z4".  I'm not a Deutsche Auto mavin.  As regards the 'whole Wookie' debate, I'd have thought attempting to part out the Wookie would have met with greater resistance that trying to fit same into the vehicle ...

 

Do they come in Wooklet size? 

 

btw, got to be the award for word of the day...   "mavin" I've not heard it used very often. Top erudite effort  

So on a changing cars theme. Do you guys (non gender-specific 'guys' of course) have a preference for whom you deal with when buying cars? Old, Young, Male, Female, bit of a geezer, slightly posh, weeping silently into their cold coffee and failed sales figures etc??

1 minute ago, Lady Elanore said:

So on a changing cars theme. Do you guys (non gender-specific 'guys' of course) have a preference for whom you deal with when buying cars? Old, Young, Male, Female, bit of a geezer, slightly posh, weeping silently into their cold coffee and failed sales figures etc??

 

I just want one that's honest and straight to deal with and doesn't push a load of stuff I don't want.  The guy I bought the swift off was excellent to deal with and even though I purchased from a distance I was confident of what I was getting at a very good price and when the car finally arrived it more than met my expectations.  I'd go back with no hesitation (unlike the local dealer who seemed to know nothing about the car and wasn't interested).

I had a guy who was seriously ill with a shocking cold, eyes watering, nose running, sneezing and coughing, looked like death warmed up. He insisted on accompanying me on a test drive, but it put me off so much I dealt with a different dealership and when asked why I had come to the second dealership (their computer flagged I'd been elsewhere in the group first) I told them about this salesman. I was then told it was a shame as he was one of the nicest blokes you could even meet. Goes to show how important the first impression is

I don't normally take a car I'm interested in for a test drive but the Lady at my local garage insisted on me testing the 272 so we went out for a legal speed drive listening for any rattles/problems but the car was as described and fresh from the Skoda Management fleet at Milton Keynes. She did throw in 2 free services to clinch the deal as I was already happy with the part exchange offer on my Octavia and very happy to deal with however is professional and knows the product well enough to answer any questions I may have such as how much was the road tax which was £145 for the Superb.

25 minutes ago, Lady Elanore said:

So on a changing cars theme. Do you guys (non gender-specific 'guys' of course) have a preference for whom you deal with when buying cars? Old, Young, Male, Female, bit of a geezer, slightly posh, weeping silently into their cold coffee and failed sales figures etc??

I was thinking about this recently, and I like to be "sold" a car, as it were. I don't mind who's doing the selling, as long as they're enthusiastic about the product they're selling.

For some reason, car sales people seem to have next to no opinions on the vehicles they sell.

They seem to try and read what you're inclined towards and say whatever they think you want to hear. They also don't seem to know as much as I would like about the cars they sell, which I find infuriating.

 

I went to one of the nearly-new car supermarkets a while ago when I was trying to select a car, and had a fantastic salesman (from my perspective). As we were walking along talking about what I liked and thought I wanted, I indicated a lovely-looking Alfa Romeo.

"Nooooo! You don't want one of those.", he said.

"Why?" I asked innocently, knowing the answer.

"Too unreliable." he said.

 

Now that's the sort of honesty in a salesman I like. 

 

It just bugs me that they ask a whole load of questions, and never particularly steered me in the direction of the car I wanted. So I had to do a shed-load of research to find a car suitable for me.

And I still managed to buy on without a CD player. 🙄

Edited 23 August, 20205 yr by EnterName

11 minutes ago, shyVRS245 said:

I don't normally take a car I'm interested in for a test drive but the Lady at my local garage insisted on me testing the 272 so we went out for a legal speed drive listening for any rattles/problems but the car was as described and fresh from the Skoda Management fleet at Milton Keynes. She did throw in 2 free services to clinch the deal as I was already happy with the part exchange offer on my Octavia and very happy to deal with however is professional and knows the product well enough to answer any questions I may have such as how much was the road tax which was £145 for the Superb.

A good test drive is the secret to a car sale, IMO.

I took a customer for a test drive in a 206 CC (convertible) with a trade plate in the back window. When I cleverly dropped the roof as we drove slowly through some road works, the plate fell through a gap and disappeared onto the road without trace. Salesmanager called me a 'clot', or something similar.

16 hours ago, EnterName said:

And I still managed to buy on without a CD player. 🙄

I think you would struggle to find any car except an old banger with a CD player - some don't even have "normal" USB sockets now (only USB-C).