With average insurance premiums of £3,730 for young men and £1,959 for young women many new drivers are finding themselves increasingly priced off the road. A new service from insurance providers, Autosaint, aims to rectify this by dealing with drivers on a case-by case basis rather than applying the usual risky driver loading to young drivers.

Autosaint will assume that all drivers are safe from the outset making for premiums up to £1,900 cheaper than its competitors. The company will then monitor the safety of drivers my means of a telematics 'black box' with quarterly reports to reward those who are driving safely and punish the unsafe.

As if the prospects of insurance premiums rising due to bad driving are not enough to dissuade youngsters the system also sends an email to parents if it detects poor driving with full details of time, location and actions involved. We are pretty sure a scolding from their mother will be more effective at slowing down young drivers than a rise in insurance premiums so Autosaint seems to have got the right idea on this one.

Paul Healy - 28 Mar 2012