A survey conducted by Autonet Insurance showed that the average van insurance premium in January 2011 for males aged 22 and below was £2550. This figure decreased to £2210 this January, which amounted to a difference of 13.5%. For females in the van category, the premium took a dip from £2530 in 2011 to £2000 last month, amounting to a comfortable 20.8 per cent difference.

Also, studies revealed that the average premium for males between 23 and 29 years was £1135 in 2011, decreasing to £1118 a year later. For females, the average premium was £1228 in the month of January 2011. This decreased to £1044 in January 2012, which is a difference of 15%.

The discrepancy between the insurance premiums paid by male and female van drivers flies in the face of the upcoming EU legislations which have been approved by the Court of Justice. According to the new laws, male and female drivers must pay an equal amount for van insurance premiums. This will come as a significant blow to female drivers, who until now had been enjoying cheap van insurance premiums as compared to their male counterparts. The EU legislations will be coming into effect by the end of the year.

In other news, UK’s van drivers seem to have decided that comprehensive van insurance policies are worth the monster expenses. Studies have shown that van drivers are choosing to go with fully comprehensive van insurance policies rather than cheaper third party policies.

According to one of UK’s leading van insurance brokers, more than 70 per cent of UK’s van drivers are still buying fully comprehensive van insurance cover for their vans.

Van insurance companies have been reporting a rise in customer queries related to advice on downgrading van insurance policies, but so far, only seven per cent have followed through.

Generally, there are 3 types of insurance cover that van drivers can avail. Firstly, there’s the Third party cover, which covers damage to the passengers and any other vehicles that are involved in the accident. However, they don’t cover the vehicle or the driver responsible for causing the accident. Secondly, there’s the Third party fire and theft, which covers expenses if the vehicle is stolen or gets damaged in a fire. Finally, there’s the Fully comprehensive insurance policy, which covers everything, from damage to the vehicle, its driver, contents and any damage caused to third parties.

According to Phil Moss, the vehicle manager at a leading van insurance company, “We’d always advise drivers to take out a fully comprehensive insurance policy as this gives the driver the maximum amount of cover. Though fully comprehensive policies are more expensive, if an accident was to happen or a car was stolen, then a third party policy will end up costing the driver large sums of money – something that many of us cannot afford to do in these difficult economic times. Any van driver thinking about downgrading their policy to third party should speak to their broker before doing so.”