Penalty points costing £132m
Penalty points on driving licences are costing UK motorists over £132 million a year in higher insurance premiums, according to new research by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and MoneySuperMarket.
Of these it’s the drivers with the highest number of points who are unsurprisingly paying the most – those with 10-11 points, and 12 or more have respectively paid 81.8% and 89.3% more for their car insurance.
In terms of regions, motorists in London, Glasgow and Birmingham are having to shell out the most, paying more than £8 million, £4 million and £3 million respectively in more expensive insurance.
The IAM and MoneySuperMarket have calculated the increase in premiums for drivers with one to three penalty points, four to six points, seven to nine, 10-11, and 12 or more for every postcode area of the country, as well as major towns and cities.
The research shows that even getting the lowest number of points (between one and three) is costing drivers in London more than £2.4 million, Glasgow £1.5 million and Birmingham more than £1.2 million.
It adds that across the UK those with one to three points will pay an extra £49.5 million in higher insurance, those with four to six points an extra £57.4 million, seven to nine £18.9 million, 10-11 £3.5 million and 12 or more £2.6 million.
The full top ten is:
London £8,079,529
Glasgow £4,080,190
Birmingham £3,423,840
Nottingham £2,833,865
Newcastle £2,642,079
Cardiff £2,586,075
Sheffield £2,535,609
Edinburgh £2,070,783
Swansea £2,036,358
Manchester £2,026,561
People in Bournemouth, Brighton, Bristol, Chester, Coventry, Derby, Leeds, Liverpool, Norwich, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Stoke and York have all paid more than £1 million in additional insurance premiums. Bath and Plymouth sit just below the £1 million mark.
MoneySuperMarket claims that those with one to three penalty points have paid 5.1% more for their insurance than someone with no points at all in the past year. Having four to six points really hikes premiums up, costing motorists 25.8% more. Having seven to nine points has cost drivers 45% more in the past 12 months.
