Teenager Quoted £17,000 To Insure £2,000 Car

James Hayes, who is about to turn 17, has saved hard for months to buy a Vauxhall Corsa, which only has a 1 litre engine, but the insurance companies want to charge him a phenomenal fee to allow him to drive it on the road.

Quotes that he has received include £17,000 (about US$24,000) to insure his car, which is only worth £2,000 (about US$3,000).

According to a road safety organisation, men aged 17 to 20 are ten times more likely to have a serious accident than older drivers, and one in five have an accident within six months of passing their driving test.

For this reason the insurance companies are increasing their rates for young male drivers, but this is either causing parents to state that they are the main driver on their children's insurance policies, which is illegal, or in many cases the teenagers are driving without insurance.

The UK has had many incidents of "boy racers" who speed through housing estates at night, often in stolen cars, but it also has a lot of foreign drivers, immigrants from the European Community, who have not registered their cars in the UK, and who often remain uninsured here.

The problem that insurance companies face, as well as the number of accidents that involve young drivers, is the number of accidents involving motorists without insurance.

This often forces a driver who has insurance, but has been hit by a driver that doesn't, to be faced with increased insurance charges, which is all wrong, especially if it isn't his fault.

The twin problems of young drivers and uninsured foreign drivers are two of the biggest issues that face car owners and insurance companies alike in the UK.

Sources:

The Daily Mail