Insurance for Young Drivers

Newly qualified young drivers are more statistically more likely to have an accident than most categorisations of other drivers. This is why many insurance companies can charge them higher premiums. On the other hand, you are more likely to be paying out big money after accidents involving them.

This put young drivers into the high-risk category, which sometimes can be unfair because not all young drivers are actually high risk. What is true is that all young drivers start driving with no insurance history, and thus no claims history, and no chance for a no-claims bonus. Thus, their premiums are high from the start, and higher profits can be made.

With the added extra premium for the perceived higher risk for insurance 4 young drivers, and you can understand the temptation by some insurance companies to target young drivers.

It is therefore unfair to categorize all young drivers as bad drivers. There are some facts to back up these preconceptions, so it is not always unfair to group insurance 4 young drivers into this category.

Having a licence does not mean you are a good driver. This comes after years of experience. Young drivers lack the judgement to read a situation. You can't be taught judgement this comes from experience. Young drivers don't have this, and the driving test only tests lower level skills. So passing the test is easy for bad drivers.

Some of the judgement issue is the ability to recognise when danger is afoot. Research has shown that young drivers take up to 2 seconds more to do this, and when you extrapolate this to accidents, young drivers are 9 times more likely to be at fault when an accident happened than someone aged 31-40 with the same experience. For every mile driven, a 17-year-old male is 7 times as likely to have an accident than a middle-aged man. Young drivers make more journeys at night, which can explain why they are involved in more accidents.

Some of the judgement issue is the ability to recognise when danger is afoot. Research has shown that young drivers take up to 2 seconds more to do this, and when you extrapolate this to accidents, young drivers are 9 times more likely to be at fault when an accident happened than someone aged 31-40 with the same experience. For every mile driven, a 17-year-old male is 7 times as likely to have an accident than a middle-aged man. Young drivers make more journeys at night, which can explain why they are involved in more accidents.

To cover these risks, insurers charge higher premiums, which is why they might specialise in young drivers.