Insurance Shock for Young

By Roger Mills

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

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

Over the past 10 years, the cost of car insurance for young drivers has gone up by 92%.

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

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% of the market, yet they account for 16% of offences, and under-21s account for 34% of dangerous driving offences.

This, and the fact that young male drivers are also10 times more likely to be involved in an accident, could go some way to explain why insurers charge such high premiums.

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