Staveley Head: Young Drivers Give Insurance Companies a Headache Earthtimes (press release)
FLINT, UNITED KINGDOM -- 07/10/09 -- Drivers under 21 are frequently horrified by the huge premiums quoted by insurance companies when they buy their first car. A 17 year old male driver will pay up to nine times more than a 25 year old to insure a similar car, in the same post code area; and fourteen times more than a 35 year old. The reasoning behind these huge premiums levied on young drivers is easily explained. Drivers under 21 years of age have far more accidents than their more experienced elders.One in five new drivers will be involved in an accident within six months of passing their test. Drivers under 21 are twice as likely to be involved in an accident as those over 21, five times as likely to have a claim involving personal injury and ten times more likely to be the cause of a serious injury claim.
A spokesman for Staveley Head, one of the UK's leading motor trade insurance providers said "These premiums are not arrived at arbitrarily. Insurance companies employ highly qualified actuaries and provide them with sophisticated software programmes to enable them to analyse all the risks they put on cover, according to age, area, vehicle, driving experience, occupation or any combination of those and many other considerations. An obvious result of analysing these statistics is the fact that 17 year old female drivers are involved in proportionately fewer accidents, and cost insurers a third less in claims than 17 year old male drivers. Consequently, a 17 year old female pays a third less for her car insurance than the equivalent 17 year old male."
The expense of insuring a teenage driver is no joke; it really can break your bank if you are not careful. Young drivers obviously lack experience in driving and insurance providers are not lenient on the price of giving them coverage. They know these kids can often be persuaded into careless driving by their passenger peers by turning the radio loud, engaging in noisy conversations, talking (or heaven forbid, texting) on the cell phone and thinking these things are innocent fun. But more experienced drivers know that any kind of careless driving leads to accidents, which is why the insurance companies charge higher rates for teens.