A study by LendingTree recently revealed that women in Florida pay close to $200 more than men in car insurance, the largest gap in the country.
According to the study released in February, Florida women pay an average of $2,687, while men in the same state pay $2,488, a difference of $199 annually.
Nationally, women pay $32 more in car insurance than men, according to LendingTree.
LendingTree analyzed data from 35-year-old men and women with mostly clean records and minimum and full-coverage car insurance policies.
Rob Bhatt, a LendingTree analyst, said using gender as a component for car insurance rates is actually banned in eight states.
"There are states that ban this practice because this has been controversial and considered unjust," Bhatt said. "If you look at California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, those are voting states that ban gender rating or ban which prohibit insurance companies from using gender. North Carolina and Pennsylvania also be on the practice. So some states have just said this isn't fair and let's not do it."
Florida, though, is not one of the eight states that ban this practice.
An independent insurance agent said gender is just one factor many car insurance companies use when determining your quote.
"Is this something that I can ask my agent, like can you ask me to see if my insurance company is charging me more just because I'm a woman?" said Jay Wolfberg, president of We Insure. "Yeah, I don't know if you can narrow down that level. But if you're paying too much, you're paying too much because this is what the insurance company thinks the reason is, so it's definitely worthwhile to shop out."
One independent insurance agent can get you several quotes from five to six different companies at no charge.
