BRITISH drivers face forking an extra £209 for their car insurance if they have three penalty points added to their licence. Penalty points have added a staggering £230million to the costs of insurance for UK motorists, a new investigation has revealed. A recent study by comparethemarket.com has revealed insurance costs remain broadly flat if a […]
BRITISH drivers face forking an extra £209 for their car insurance if they have three penalty points added to their licence.
Penalty points have added a staggering £230million to the costs of insurance for UK motorists, a new investigation has revealed.
A recent study by comparethemarket.com has revealed insurance costs remain broadly flat if a driver goes from zero to three points on their licence, with the average premium costing £750.
However, if you jump from three to six points, the cost of insurance rockets by more than £400 to an average of £1,159.
That means that on average having three points added to your licence costs £209.
The cost of insurance gets progressively higher the more points are added to your licence, reaching an average premium of £1,466 for those with 12 points.
Penalty points can added to your licence for a range of offences, including speeding, drink driving and
driving while disqualified.
Motorists who have 12 points on their record are then automatically disqualified from driving for six months.
The breakdown also found nearly two million men have points on their licence, compared to just 786,000 women.
Dan Hutson, head of motor insurance at comparethemarket.com, 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 fact that men have received nearly 70% of penalty points goes someway to explaining why the cost of insurance is so much higher for men than women, despite the EU regulations.
“It comes as no surprise that speeding is by far and away the most common reason for points being added to licences.”
