The Insurance Forecast For Young Drivers Is Not Good

Published Wednesday August 25 2010

The UK Automobile Association (AA) are due to release a report this week which is expected to reveal that young drivers car insurance has increased by 14% in the last 3 months  of 2009 alone.
While the younger drivers are getting hit in the their wallets they are not alone, the parents of young drivers who are in the age bracket 40-49  years who  add their children onto their car policies have also been hit with a 11% increase over the same 3 months.
The above statistics are hard to argue against as insurance statistics show that 1 in 5 young men will be involved in a crash in their first year as drivers on the road and more often than not they will have passengers with them which increases the risk of injury compensation. Statistics show that 40% of passengers killed or seriously injured (lost limbs, suffered paralysis, brain injury or other life changing injuries) in 2007 were in a car driven by a young driver.
Those young male drivers who have recently passed their driving test will have seen their premiums rise by 33% over the last year and find it is extremely difficult to source cheap car insurance for their vehicle for under £3500, that is even if they can find an insurance company willing to take them on; very, very, few companies now will accept them, even if this happens then there could be restrictions such as minimum age to apply. 
One of the big dilemma's young drivers find themselves in after passing their driving test is how to insure and comply with the law.
It is now more likely the case that most new drivers, on getting an insurance quote, will find their insurance costs more than the cost of their desired car. Unfortunately, as a result of the car scrappage scheme presently run by the UK government, which has taken tens of thousands of older cars off the roads, this has restricted the buying choice of car for the new driver meaning he/she will have to pay more for the vehicle and thereby leaving less of the budget for the insurance, in some cases it could lead to a decision not to have any insurance at all 'THIS IS STRICTLY NOT RECOMMENDED.
The position has probably already been reached where most drivers will now find the cost of car insurance a huge burden on their budget and those who have to rely on their cars for either work or other necessary commitments are either reducing their risks, i.e. converting to some form of third party cover which could then leave them the possibility of being open to a huge financial blow should the worst situation ever happen.
Until a new protocol of control and follow-up monitoring of newly passed drivers on the road is introduced The Car Hub team do not see much hope of motor insurance costs being reduced.
A possible solution to the problem of high cost insurance for young drivers perhaps could be a combination of:- restricted to use only low powered unmodified cars, 12 month probation period, distinguishing probationary licensing plate; if a series of mini follow-up tests in the first year were to be introduced, and this is not a huge undertaking, then car insurance costs could possibly be driven down.
Bill Williams
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