Insurance at Pounds 3,000 a Year?

Young drivers could see their annual car insurance premiums soar to more than pounds 3,000 by 2017, it has been claimed.

Motorists aged 17-21 are already paying more than double the annual average insurance, research from uSwitch.com found.

Over the past ten years, the cost of car insurance for young drivers has gone up by 92 per cent.

And by 2017, it could cost a young driver as much as pounds 3,097 to insure a Ford Fiesta.

Average premiums for all drivers are now around pounds 409 a year, but for 17-21-year-olds the figure is pounds 948, with young males forking out pounds 1,181.

If premiums continue to rise at this rate, by 2017 the average young driver can expect to pay pounds 1,820 for annual car insurance.

Young drivers represent just 4.2 per cent of the market, yet they account for 16 per cent of motoring offences, and under-21s account for 34 per cent of dangerous driving offences.

This, combined with the fact that young male drivers are also ten times more likely to be involved in an accident, could go some way to explain why insurers charge younger drivers higher premiums.

Aron Thompson, head of insurance at uSwitch.com, said: "We urge young drivers to research insurance before buying a car."

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