Parents spend £781 a year to help kids run a car

Seven in ten drivers between the ages of 17 and 24 have had help from their parents to pay for the costs of motoring, a new study has found.

Comparethemarket found that drivers who have been given financial support by their parents received an average of £781 per year, with its report highlighting just how dependent young drivers are on their parents to pay for the costs associated with motoring during the cost of living crisis.

In total, Comparethemarket spoke to 2,000 young drivers and 2,000 parents of young drivers to see how much financial support new motorists were getting from their families.

Julie Daniels, motor insurance expert at Comparethemarket said: “It would be difficult for many people to comprehend how they would get by without a car. It gets us to work and to see our friends and family. However, our figures show that for many drivers, the cost of running a car is becoming impossible.

“A concerning proportion of young people rely on the generosity of family members to stay on the road, placing a considerable financial burden on those supporting them. It also means that, if costs continue to rise, some of those who can’t rely on parental support may not be able to get to work.”

More than half of parents who contributed to their child’s driving did so within their first year of motoring, while more than a quarter gave financial support during their kid’s first two years of driving. Eight per cent kept these contributions up for three years or more.

Parents contributed an average of £277 towards their child’s car insurance. The average insurance premium for a 17 to 24-year-old now stands at £1,156, meaning that parents are paying more than a fifth of this annual expense.

Repairs and maintenance are the second most common financial contribution, at £197 a year, followed by fuel and then vehicle taxes and MOTs with contributions of £176 and £131 respectively.

On top of this, 46 per cent of parents said that they had helped their children to buy their first car, putting an average of £2,514 towards the cost of this.