As with just about everything else, the cost for a new driver to get on the road is on the rise.
The average total for taking lessons, passing a driving test and then buying, insuring and running a first car is now £6,574, according to GoCompare – that’s the highest it has been since before the pandemic.
To help motorists choose which models they should be considering for their first motor, it has revealed the top 10 cheapest cars to insure for a young driver between the ages of 17 and 21.
A big price to pay for independence: A driver aged 17 to 21 will pay over £6,500 in total to get on the road for the first year in 2022, according to a new report
The total cost of getting on the road for a young drivers – and their parents who are likely to be offering financial support – has risen 3 per cent from £6,394 last year.
It is the highest since 2019, when the average motoring bill for young driver was £6,846, though the figure dropped significantly in 2020 to £6,071, most likely due to far lower insurance premiums due to restrictions on driving during Covid lockdowns, according to the price comparison website.
The total amount is a combination of licence applications, driving lessons and tests, and then first-car cost, insurance and tax.
GoCompare says the annual increase for new drivers is ‘solely attributed’ to higher vehicle costs.
Used car values have increased for 29 consecutive months, according to AutoTrader.
Its latest report says the average August price for a second-hand model was £17,039, which is 16 per cent higher than the same month in 2021.
For new drivers who are likely only able to afford an older, small used vehicle, this has had an average knock-on effect of more than £200, with the average young motorist under 21 spending £3,592 on their first set of wheels – compared to £3,366 in 2021.
While the average price paid for a first car has risen, the cost to insure one has gone into reverse, the report claims.
For 17-to-21 year olds who bought their first year’s cover via GoCompare between August 2021 and July 2022, they paid an average annual price of £1,430 for a fully-comprehensive policy – that’s £42 less than it was in the 12 months prior.
Purchasing the right first car will also have an impact on premiums, with the report listing the cheapest models for young motorists to insure.
The report says the cheapest motor for them to insure is a Skoda CitiGo at just £908 a-year over the 12-month period reviewed.
The mechanically-identical sister cars, Volkswagen’s Up! and Seat Mii, made up the top three of cheapest motors to insure, at an average of £930 and £960 respectively.
Those living in the South West were found to benefit from the lowest cost of car insurance with an average of £1,221, while youngsters living in London are fleeced with the highest premiums at an average of £1,896.
You can read our ten top tips to cut the cost of car insurance in just a few minutes in our report.
The study also calculated that a fifth of the total outlay to get on the road was driving lessons, with the RAC saying the average learner needs 45 before passing their test, which at a price of £30 comes to a whopping £1,350.
Learners have to pay an average of £1,350 in driving lessons in order to get on the road, according to the calculation
An additional survey of more than 1,000 parents of new drivers found that more than one in four (27 per cent) thought the cost of their child’s motor insurance was far greater than what they had expected.
Some 44 per cent of parents said they contribute towards the cost of their offspring’s first car, though a fifth (19 per cent) also described the process of helping children to get on the road as a ‘significant drain on their own finances’.
Ryan Fulthorpe, GoCompare’s resident motoring expert, said the company’s ‘Cost of getting on the road’ report serves as a benchmark to breakdown the costs that young people and their families will be up against once they come of driving age at a time when living costs are on the rise.
‘We knew that this would be a challenging year for a number of reasons – the global increase in second-hand car costs, the cost of living crisis happening in the UK and not to mention this being the first year that we are somewhat back to normality following the pandemic,’ he said.
‘Sadly, it appears that while costs for young drivers were going in the right direction over the past couple of years, we are now seeing a slight rise in prices.’
It’s important to note that GoCompare’s calculation doesn’t include fuel costs, which have risen dramatically in 2022.
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