Young drivers passing their tests are finding it increasingly difficult to afford their own cars. The soaring costs of fuel and insurance are effectively pricing teenagers off the road. The new figures just released by the Driving Standards Agency shows that the number of 17 year-olds taking their driving tests has fallen in the last 3 years by 55,000.
Many of those who can’t afford to run a car are opting instead for a motorbike, and the number of people who are taking the compulsory basic training courses had risen by 17% in the past year. This figure comes courtesy of Get On.
The campaign director, Mike Taylor, says that more people are comparing the price of running a car for 12 months with a motorbike, and realising that they can literally save thousands. These savings can be even more if they ride a smaller motorbike, like a 125 cc. The sales of this size of motorbike are up by 25% on last year, and the sale of scooters has risen by 30%.
Taylor said that opting for a motorcycle should be a no-brainer for many who wanted to maintain their transport independence, particularly youngsters at university facing increased tuition fees and rental costs.
Get On provides free riding sessions to give potential motorcyclists a taste of life on two wheels, and Taylor said: “There is a strong interest in bookings from young people and we would encourage them to look at motorcycling as an affordable form of personal transport.”
In the past year, drivers have been hit by an average 40 per cent increase in car insurance premiums combined with record fuel costs, up an average of 15.43p a litre compared to a year ago.
Newly-qualified drivers can face premiums of up to £6000 a year.
Against this background, the number of 17-year-olds taking a driving test has fallen nearly 15 per cent from 384,571 in 2007/8 to 329,307 in the year ending March 2011, the steepest falls coming in the past two years.
In contrast, the number of people taking motorcycle tests increased from 68,792 to 105,362 in the decade up to March 2009.
Robert Balls, of specialist motorcycle broker Bikesure, said the days when youngsters could put themselves on mum and dad’s policy as an “occasional” driver were over, with insurers wising up to a practice known as fronting.
“People keen on getting their independence often used to ride a motorcycle for a few months before they passed their driving test and got their own car at the age of 17 or 18,” he added.
“But we are seeing more people sticking with their motorcycles, or even selling their cars and coming back to bikes.
“The premium for a 125cc motorcycle is often less than a quarter of that for a car, and when you add in lower fuel costs and cheaper road tax you can see the temptation of sticking with two wheels.
“For example, a 17-year-old can insure a 125cc bike for about £400, whereas a car might cost 10 times that, and for some teenagers that’s the only way they can afford their own transport, even if they have passed their driving test.”
Research by Get On shows a saving of over £4000 in the first year, and £3700 a year thereafter, for a new Honda CBR125R compared with a used Peugeot 306, based on a 19-year-old living in Birmingham.
