Could a New Taskforce solve the cost of rising Car Insurance? - News

The excitement of passing your driving test can often be short lived once you find out how much your car insurance will be. This is especially true for younger drivers. According to Confused.com, the average 18 year old can be paying £3,162 for a year of fully comprehensive insurance, which is an eye watering amount to pay, especially after having to finance driving lessons.

As the driving test backlog doesn’t go away and the cost of learning only seems to increase, we have experienced a huge surge in Under 17 Driving Lessons that can help spread the cost of learning from a young age. This is one way to work around it, but it still feels like a pretty hard time for anyone to get on the road right now.

However, will this change with the recent news the government has appointed a new task force to address rising car insurance?

Not overnight - but the Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, alongside the Treasury has announced they are bringing together car industry experts, consumer champions and regulators to help crack down on the spiralling costs of car insurance. This comes ahead of recent figures showing a 21% rise in insurance premiums in two years.

The new government task force aims to work with industry experts to create fairer deals for drivers across the board and also focus on those hit hardest by rising costs including those who fall within ethnic minority groups, lower incomes and elderly and younger drivers. They aim to identify the factors behind rapidly increasing premiums and will in the future - aim to come up with solutions to keep costs under control.

The short answer is this is a step in the right direction - but until legislation is passed to control the rising costs of insurance premiums and the ever growing driving test backlog, those on the roads will struggle to feel the effects of any change immediately. 

Despite this, there are some things that new and old drivers can do to help keep their quotes low. If your insurance is up for renewal and you’re worried about how much it could be, make sure you try the following to keep costs down:

1. Adding an experienced named driver to your policy - young or old, especially with no claims, could help reduce the cost of your premium.
2. Keeping your car safe - the more secure the car, the more you will be in the insurance provider’s good books. After all, cars will be safer parked on private property, kept in a garage and off public roads. If any of that applies to you, make sure you declare it to your insurance provider.
3. Paying upfront - if you can take the hit and pay the annual amount instead of having monthly payments, it’s going to work out cheaper as the provider won’t charge you any interest. If you pay it in one hit - you can often save up to 20% than spreading it out in instalments.