An increasing number of hard-up children are staying insured on their parents’ car insurance policy into their late 20s and early 30s as the cost of premiums continues to rise.

As household budgets have been squeezed during the recession and unemployment has risen, the average age of sons and daughters registered as secondary drivers on their parents’ insurance has gone up from 25 to 31 years old.

The rise in the number of grown children adding themselves to their parents’ car insurance policy rather than taking out one of their own reflects the increasing number of youngsters who save money by continuing to live at home and take advantage of parental support.

Young drivers generally pay significantly larger insurance premiums than older drivers because they are much more likely to have an accident on the road. According to the AA, a 17-year-old male driver will pay nine times more than someone aged 25, and 14 times more than someone aged 35 to insure the same car in the same location.

Because of the recession, and an overall increase in the cost of car insurance premiums, many younger drivers are seeking to forego this expense by registering as a secondary driver on the policy of a more experienced motorist.

An increasingly common practice, known as fronting, is for a young person to buy and register a car in their own name, but name a parent as the main driver. This is actually illegal, and has contributed to a large rise in car insurance fraud in recent months.

Yesterday, the AA reported a 14% rise in the cost of car insurance since last October, warning of further rises in the future.

A separate report by the Motor Insurer’s Bureau also showed that one in every five young motorists on the road drives without any insurance whatsoever.

Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance said: “Uninsured driving is not a victimless crime. Young drivers are 10 times more likely to be involved in a collision than more experienced drivers. If they have no insurance, any claim has to be met by the MIB which in turn, is funded by honest insurers.”

This entry was posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 12:55 pm and is filed under Car Insurance, Insurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.