Post date: 10-Dec-2019 11:12:46

Having three penalty points added to your driving licence costs an average of £209 in extra insurance premiums, new research has revealed.

The increase in price is so high that penalty points have added a massive £230million to British drivers' insurance costs, according to data from comparison website, Compare the Market. It found that, whilst premiums remain largely flat if a driver jumps from zero to three points on their licence, with the average premium currently standing at nearly £750, the cost of insurance rockets when a driver goes from three to six points, soaring by more than £400 to an average of £1,159.

Insurance costs get increasingly higher the more points are added to a driver's record, reaching an average premium of £1,466 for those with a potentially licence-losing 12 points.

Statistics for the research were sourced from the comparison site, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and a survey conducted by Populus of 2,400 motorists in the UK. The poll relates to why people got the penalty points and how they responded to receiving them whilst the penalty points data came from both the DVLA and Compare the Market.

It found that the average of the premium increases between the different amount of points is £209, for example, when taking an average from zero to three points from three to six points and so on. Whilst some drivers receive fines for reckless driving, many may not consider the longer term impact that being penalised for poor driving can have on insurance costs. Penalty points can be added to your licence for a number of reasons and, if you have 12 points, you are automatically disqualified from driving for six months.

Analysis of the DVLA's licencing statistics found that over 70 per cent of these points were handed out to men with nearly two millions male drivers having points on their licences compared to just 786,000 women. This could go someway to explaining why the cost of insurance is so much higher for men than women, despite the EU regulations. The data also revealed that whilst there are nearly two million people with three points on their licence, the number significantly drops as the number of points increases.

Over 500,000 people have six points on their licence while only 80,000 have nine points and 7,000 have 12 points.

Just over 3,500 have over 13 points, effectively banning them from driving.

With over 2.6million British driving licences with penalty points on them, motorists are paying more than £230million in increased insurance premiums.

This figure was calculated by multiplying the extra amount that people were spending on insurance by having additional points by the number of people with that amount of points on their licence.

Dan Hutson, Head of Motor Insurance at Compare the Market, said: 'The cost of a motor insurance policy depends on the risk profile of the driver. If you are deemed more likely to be in an accident, the insurer is more likely to have to pay out and therefore your premium will be higher. 'One of the many ways that insurers analyse risk is the number of penalty points that you have on your licence and these statistics put in to focus the serious impact that irresponsible driving can have on a policy.

'Beyond the obvious safety concerns, drivers should be incentivised by these numbers to take care when on the road or risk being charged a huge amount for cover.'

The majority of penalty points were found to come from speeding violations, accounting for 85 per cent of respondents with points on their licence. Running a stop sign or traffic light and using a mobile phone while driving was the next most common infractions accounting for seven per cent and five per cent of respondents.

However, despite millions of motorists having points on their licence, the points system seems to work well as nearly 75 per cent of drivers with points on their licence said that receiving points made them change their driving habits to be safer on the road. Hutson added: 'It comes as no surprise that speeding is by far and away the most common reason for points being added to licences.

'However, what is encouraging is that the points system works. While the fact that 2.8million people have points on their licence implies that it does not deter people from breaking the law, 73 per cent of people have said they drive safer having received the punishment.'

Source: Daily Mail Motoring

News Items < Back - Forward >