Premiums to drive you up the wall

Add as a preferred source on Google

As we know, apart from the kind of vehicle you drive (which I have found is not really relevant either), insurance companies will increase a premium if the person is young or unmarried, while your profession can also play a part in how much you have to cough up at the end of the month.

The fact that younger drivers are a greater risk on the road has apparently been proved, according to a new report by the Transport Research Laboratory in the UK.

The report has re-confirmed the global understanding that young and inexperienced drivers are a significant threat to road safety.

According to website comparison engine hippo.co.za GM Amanda Thomas, young drivers are four times more likely than older drivers to crash – largely due to inexperience.

It has also been found that these younger drivers have a greater propensity to speed, run red traffic lights and drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

In the UK, the government is considering much stricter rules, and a higher legal driving age limit, for young people qualifying for driver’s licences.

There are even suggestions of two years of test driving before one can obtain an unrestricted licence at the age of 19.

During the learner stage, young drivers will have to total at least 100 hours of daytime driving and 20 hours of night-time practise, under supervision.

Now, one can understand that there are all kinds of stats and figures to support the insurance companies’ claim to penalise young drivers, but, seriously, there is something wrong with this idea from the outset.

There is a general consensus that all young people are delinquents, rebellious, dangerous and a risk on the road. It is as if you get a sign of your forehead which says “BEWARE” on the day you obtain, at times miraculously, your licence.

Frankly, I take offence at such a notion, because the way you drive doesn’t really have to do with inexperience or even driving skills. It has to do more with your psychological state of mind, which is influenced by a myriad of factors over a number of years.

Thus, to penalise someone just because they are young is quite ludicrous.

I bet there are more good drivers on the road who have driven for only a year or so, than there are people who have driven for decades.

Yet, as soon as you pick up the phone to make the dreaded call to the insurance company, you just know that, if your age is “below par”, somewhere, a big red light will flash and the word “WARNING” will echo across the globe. And what does marriage have to do with this insurance?

Apparently, if you are not married, you are more prone to be irresponsible and reckless.

Again, there are probably a lot of “mature”, non-married people driving on the roads than those who are married.

I would venture that many married people are under more stress than those who abide by a single lifestyle.

The truth is, inexperienced and experienced drivers get into accidents.

These include every race, every age, and every gender.

During this year, out of curiosity, I sought a quotation from a different insurance company (excuse my masochistic tendencies, because this is a painful process).

At the time of my inquiry, I was married, no longer “young” in the strict sense of the word, and was driving a vehicle that was manufactured in 2004.

To my surprise, my premium was still higher than when I first applied for insurance five years ago, on the same vehicle and when I was single and, of course, quite a lot younger!

So, go figure.

The way we drive simply has very little to do with our age or experience, no matter what the reports or stats suggest.

It is about the mechanism in our head, called our brain, and it is about the way we were educated and raised, and it is about the kind of person we are.

Accidents happen for various reasons and, no, it is not just young people who drink or who get high. These days it is a common occurrence in all age groups.

Emotional maturity also doesn’t necessarily come with time and age, but only life experience and how we deal with it.

There are those who have barely reached adulthood, who already have more life experience that some who are grey and sitting in a rocking chair.

It therefore remains unfair to label and brand all young people as being a risk.

Isn’t this just another way to cash in on millions when it comes to insurance premiums?

Frankly, I suggest alternatives to test how much a driver must pay, such psychological tests, and please, do factor in for real the vehicle the person drives, instead of just pretending it matters.

And, also scrap the so-called importance of marriage – that is just another ruse.

There is another problem these days with selling insurance – the struck deal is faceless and even voiceless (modern day use of cellphones and the internet).

For all that insurance companies know, they can be offering insurance at a low rate to someone who has violent tendencies and could be a real danger on the road.

However, as long as the person is supposedly mature, like a good cut of rump, then who cares if they are potentially a threat to others?

The more we think about it, the more illogical, irrational and absurd insurance premiums appear to be, but, sadly, all those who were once young or are still of fledging age have to pay for a system that continues to make no sense.

Just like e-tolls.