A Canadian man in his early 20s was unhappy with the high quote he got from his car insurance company, so he decided to do something about it: legally switch his gender from male to female.

The cunning 24-year-old resident of Alberta, Canada, first detailed his insurance stratagem on Reddit back in April, boasting that changing his gender on paper saved him nearly $1,100 a year.

'I have taken advantage of a loophole,' the man, whom CBC.ca called David, told the news outlet. ‘I'm a man, 100 per cent. Legally, I'm a woman.’

These two images show a 24-year-old Canadian's old birth certificate listing his gender as male, and his new one obtained this year listing his gender as female. He made the switch on paper to obtain a lower car insurance rate

Earlier this year, then-23-year-old David purchased a new Chevrolet Cruze and was required to get a full-collision insurance policy.

When he contacted his insurer, he was quoted $4,517. His driving record included a minor crash and a couple of speeding tickets.

‘So I ask. “Out of curiosity, how much would my premium be if I was a woman?”’ David wrote in an April Reddit post. ‘The broker comes back with a quote of $3423. Holy f***.’

Both in Canada and the US, male drivers under the age of 25 are normally required to pay more for car insurance than women because they are statistically more likely to get into car accidents.

David was angered by what he perceived as gender-based discrimination and asked his insurance broker to change his gender on paper to female, but his request was denied.

Undeterred, David decided to legally change his gender with the Government of Alberta so that he could obtain a new birth certificate and a new driver's license listing him as a woman, which he could then take back to his insurer.

In order to do that, the frugal motorist learned, he had to get a letter from his doctor saying he identified as a woman.

At first, David thought that was the end of the road for his enterprise because he did not want to undergo a gender reassignment surgery, but he was mistaken: all he had to do was tell his physician that he wished to change his sex.

The man shared on Reddit in April the packets of documents he got from the Government of Alberta outlining the ways in which he could legally change his gender

Based on this information, the man had his doctor write a letter saying he identified himself as a woman

After submitting the doctor’s note and all the necessary forms, David received in a mail his new birth certificate, in which his sex was listed as female.

‘I was quite shocked, but I was also relieved,’ he said. ‘I felt like I beat the system. I felt like I won.’

Armed with his brand-new birth certificate, David went back to his insurance company and got the lower rate, saving him $91 a month.

'I did it for cheaper car insurance,' he admitted to CBC, although on Reddit he added a disclaimer saying that he did not legally change his sex ‘solely for cheaper auto-insurance, though, that was and is a big factor for me and other people who suffer from gender-dysphoria.’

Members of the trans community in Canada have reacted with outrage to David's cost-cutting scheme.

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

An elected official in Alberta angrily tweeted last week that David has committed - and then admitted to - the crime of perjury punishable by up to 14 years in prison.