As the price of insurance cover for new young drivers continues to soar, more and more are looking to avoid the costs.

Issues around insurance are the most significant single reason novice drivers lose their licence within the first year of passing their test.

Now official figures reveal the problem is getting worse.

Double and quits

The number of young motorists punished for driving without insurance more than doubled between 2021 and 2023.

IAM RoadSmart analysed new statistics.

It gathered the data through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the DVLA.

This reveals that in 2021, 2,902 IN10 endorsements were added to licence holders aged 17-20.

By 2022, this increased to 5,486 and reached 6,316 by 2023.

 

 

Step out of the vehicle

An IN10 endorsement is the police code for ‘using a vehicle uninsured against third-party risks on a licence’.

It will typically be added to a driver’s licence following an investigation by police forces, either after a camera detects an uninsured vehicle on the road or a driver is stopped by a police officer and reported.

For those aged 21-24, the picture is more mixed.

While IN10 endorsements rose from 12,309 in 2021 to 13,138 in 2022, they fell to 11,103 in 2023.

IAM RoadSmart says these ‘hugely concerning’ figures coincide with rapidly rising annual car insurance premiums.

Average annual premiums increased by a quarter (25%) between 2022 and 2023.

 

 

Prohibitive costs

Nicholas Lyes, IAM RoadSmart director of policy and standards, said: “It is legal requirement to have the correct insurance to drive, so it is deeply concerning to see a surge in young drivers breaking the law in this way.

“Unless there is intervention, we risk an epidemic of uninsured younger motorists taking to the roads.

“Sadly, this is likely a consequence of the soaring costs of insurance premiums over the last 18 months.

“For young drivers who have recently passed their test, the cost of learning to drive, getting a vehicle, taxing it and then insuring it is becoming an extremely costly process.

“While the insurance sector believes we may now be over the worst of price increases, falling premiums will feel like a lifetime away for newly qualified drivers.”