£17,000 To Insure £2,000 Corsa

A learner driver has been quoted an astronomical £17,000 to insure his Vauxhall Corsa for a year.

The vehicle, which is only valued at £2,000 is 17 year old James Hayes first car and shows the reluctance that insurance companies are having insuring young drivers or first time drivers.

The failure to offer reasonably priced insurance to younger driver is also being blamed for the sudden increase in numbers of incidents involving drivers without insurance.

Statistically young men aged between 17 and 20 are ten times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on the roads that older drivers. Also one in five new drivers will have an accident within six months of passing their test.

Failure to have insurance has also impacted on other motorists with the current bill for uninsured accidents stands at £500m a year.

Watchdogs say the punishment for driving without insurance is not enough as people can get away with as little as six points on their licence and a £200 fine.

The average price for insurance is around £700 but young driver can expect to pay nearly three times this for their policy.

James Daley editor of Which? Money said:

“Uninsured driving is just a knock-on effect of insurers charging high premiums. If insurers really want to combat this then they need to come up with innovative solutions to help young drivers reduce their costs.”