16 Jun 2019
Posted by Barry Aldworth 
Over a quarter of Irish people have had to assist one of their children with the cost of motor insurance early in their driving career, a recent survey has found.
In response to an AA Young Driver Car Insurance survey, 26.60% of the over 5,000 people surveyed stated that they have had to provide a significant level of financial assistance to one of their children to cover the cost of insurance when they were first learning to drive. Meanwhile, a further 7.14% indicated that they had provided a lesser degree of financial assistance to at least one of their children.
Parents Bearing Burden Of Lack Of Government Action
“Insurance costs for learner drivers have always been on the higher end of the scale, with the expectation that over the course of your entire driving career these costs would even off as you gained more experience. Unfortunately, in the last couple of years the cost of insurance for those on a learner’s permit has increased significantly and at a higher rate than the increases seen by the general driving population,” Conor Faughnan, AA Director of Consumer Affairs stated. “As opposed to being a separate issue, this is really a symptom of the wider insurance crisis and underscores the importance of continued government and industry actions in order to resolve this issue.”
“Ultimately, learner drivers are viewed as a higher risk and therefore some insurance providers have less willingness to include them in their books. However, if some of the wider issues such as varying court awards for personal injury were resolved, these companies would be in a better position to carry the risk associated with learner drivers and do so at a more reasonable rate.”
1 in 8 Delay Learning Due To Costs
The survey also found that 1 in 8 respondents who had learned to drive within the past 5 years initially delayed doing so because of the cost implications.
Of those surveyed by the AA, 12.86% strongly agreed that they initially put off learning to drive because they could afford insurance as well as the running costs of a car. Meanwhile, a further 12.57% indicated that they somewhat agreed with this statement.
“The up-front costs of learning to drive can place significant strain on young drivers and their families, with this cohort really bearing the brunt of the slow progress to date in tackling the insurance crisis. While some forward steps, such as the more widespread use of ANPR by Gardaí, have been made, many of the most problematic issues have been ignored or kicked to touch to an extent,” Faughnan added. “Ultimately, this not only increases the risk of uninsured driving among this cohort, but can also have an impact on the ability of young people, particularly those living in rural Ireland, to find part-time work as their commuting options may be extremely limited.”
