Canadian man legally lists gender as female to get cheaper car insurance: report

A Canadian man legally changed his gender to female so he could take advantage of better car insurance rates offered to women and save up nearly $1,100 Canadian Dollars, a report said.

A man, identified only as “David” who lives in Alberta, told CBC News that he was given a quote of $4,500 Canadian Dollars for the insurance of a Chevrolet Cruze he wanted to buy. The insurers told him his yearly bill would be around $1,100 less if he was a woman.

Men normally pay higher rates as the insurers deem male drivers under age of 25 having a higher risk of getting into traffic accidents than compared to women of the same age.

“I was pretty angry about that and I didn’t feel like getting screwed over any more,” the man said, adding that he asked the insurers to change his gender on the insurances police, a request they refused.

"I was pretty angry about that and I didn’t feel like getting screwed over any more."

- David

To take advantage of the lower rates and “beat the system”, David had to legally change his gender on a birth certificate. To do so, he had to acquire a note from the doctor acknowledging his identification as a woman before he could proceed with the change.

“It was pretty simple,” David told the outlet about the process of legally changing his gender. “I just basically asked for it and told them that I identify as a woman, or I’d like to identify as a woman, and he wrote me the letter I wanted.”

After submitting all the documentation, just weeks later, David was legally a female and was subjected to lower premium rates for the insurance. “I was quite shocked, but I was also relieved,” he said. “I felt like I beat the system. I felt like I won.”

“I'm a man, 100 percent. Legally, I'm a woman,” he said, noting that he will be saving around $91 Canadian Dollars per month. “I did it for cheaper car insurance.”

"I'm a man, 100 per cent. Legally, I'm a woman ... I did it for cheaper car insurance."

- David

But the man’s trick didn’t earn him universal praise and even drew criticism from some elected lawmakers. Stephanie McLean, a Member of Legislative Assembly for Calgary-Varsity, said in a tweet that the man committed perjury and that he should face time in prison.

"Alberta man admits to Perjury – ‘changes gender on government IDs for cheaper car insurance.’ He thinks he’s so clever. Perjury is an offence liable to imprisonment of up to fourteen years. IT’S NOT A LOOPHOLE IT’S A CRIME!” she tweeted.

The transgender community also criticized David for his stunt, saying it downgrades the whole process of changing ones gender.

“I think it cheapens the whole process. It sort of casts doubt on everybody else's motives for making those changes," Marie Little, a former chair of the Trans Alliance Society, told CBC News. “I think it gives ammunition to people who want to take rights away from trans people.”

But David acknowledged to CBC News that some people may need to change their gender on their birth certificates and insisted that he didn’t intend to make fun of the transgender community.

“I didn't do it to point out how easy it is to change genders,” he said. “I didn't do it to criticize or ridicule transgender or LGBT rights.”

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