Car Insurance for Young Drivers: Tarred with the same old brush

Car insurance for young drivers has been a sore point for many years now, with constant increases threatening to price these drivers of the future off the roads before they even start. In 2010 a recorded increase of 47% was recorded by the AA for 17-22 year-olds, noted as the biggest annual increase since the records were started in 1994. For a 17 year-old, a premium of around £2,800 - £3,000 p.a could mean the dream of driving comes to an end all too quickly. Attending college or university often means working part-time, which in turn results in very low annual earnings. Similarly, many young people in full-time employment will find that their annual earnings are not sufficient to incorporate the sudden additional expenses driving entails. Historic bad behaviour of young drivers has lead to frequent adjustments of risk profiling for insurers, and as such has negatively impacted current and future new driver’s policies for the worse. Many young drivers of the current times feel this is unfair but unfortunately the statistics speak for themselves. In 2009 the Department for Transports annual report stated that accidents involving at least one young driver accounted for 26% (approx. 42,000) of the total reported personal injury road accidents. Opposing this is the noted consistent year-on-year decrease in accidents involving young drivers observed from 1994 to 2009. These reductions could be due to improvements in road safety awareness or even new technology within cars. Some may also insist that younger drivers are more responsible now than 10 years ago. Whatever the reasons, it is undeniable that young drivers are very much tarred with the same brush as the previous generations. Fair or not, it appears the only way to overcome the issue is to take steps to be responsible, accept the current risk profiling and drive safely so reductions in premiums are seen in the annual renewals.

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