Julie Owens: The big worry is: what is next for insurers?

We WILL now see a fundamental and significant change to the UK insurance market. This move will be detrimental to UK consumers, and in the case of car insurance, premiums for female drivers will increase sharply as a result.

Companies, especially those tailored towards women, will not be able to offer such competitive deals, although I believe they will market themselves in the same way.

This is just a hit on the consumer at a time when the cost of motoring is already increasing. With record price increases to car insurance premiums, the ruling means it is likely many more motorists will be forced off the road, or even worse, be more tempted to drive without any cover at all. It is going to be very difficult.

It is a statistical fact that younger males are involved in more accidents, and premiums are priced accordingly. It is also a fact in life insurance that women tend to live longer than men.

Although the new regulations do not come into force until December 2012, I think what we will see is that insurers will begin to put their prices for women up - and start to balance it out - a lot sooner.

So if your car insurance is due to be renewed in the near future, the sooner you do it, the better deal you will get.

What worries me now is what is next? It could open a whole can of worms. Could it be age discrimination they look at next, or some other factor used by insurers?

I really do believe that this ruling is a step backwards for the industry.

• Julie Owens is an insurance expert at Moneysupermarket.com