The European Court of Justice (ECJ) made it illegal for insurance companies to take gender into account when calculating the cost of insurance (a man successfully challenged that women should not get cheaper insurance than him). The law came into place on 21 December 2012 It made it illegal for insurers to use gender as a criteria when pricing insurance But car insurance premiums did not rise dramatically for many female drivers (and they certainly did not drop for men). This was because the other criteria insurance companies use may mean many men still pay more for insurance.