PRS investigates the staggering cost of car insurance for teenagers
£164,000 is just about the average price of a house. You could buy a brand new Bentley Continental GT for that and get change. It’s a lot of money. But that’s the price one Daybreak viewer was quoted to insure her car. And the car was worth less than a grand. The cheapest quote Emma O’Reilly was offered was £3,000, which meant she couldn’t afford to run the car and now she has to go on foot to the shops, with her 19-month-old son in his pushchair.
She got in touch with us to complain about the high cost of car insurance and it seems to have really struck a nerve with our viewers. Young drivers, particularly, are being quoted ridiculous amounts. Emma isn’t the only one being priced out of driving.
Some insurers are now installing trackers in cars that work on a “pay as you drive” basis. If you drive well, your insurance premium goes down, but if you drive badly, you can end up paying more. Your driving is judged on four factors: speeding, cornering, acceleration and braking, and what time of the day you drive – the night and early morning being a sign that you are more likely to make a claim.
I road-tested one of the trackers on a closed circuit in Staffordshire, which was an opportunity to drive like a boy racer and get away with it. On the strength of my test, I would end up paying more for insurance but I think young drivers might keep their driving clean in the hope of shaving pounds off those terrible premiums.