According to Compare the Market, young drivers with automatic-only licenses pay an average of £760 more for auto coverage each year than those who can also drive a manual car. (Photo: Joe Gough/Adobe Stock)
Seventeen-year-old newly licensed drivers in the U.K. have endured significant insurance rate increases since 2023, and now pay an average of £3,075 per year. According to data from Compare the Market, this is a £1,071 increase over the average cost of £2,004 in 2023.
When considering all ages of drivers, the average annual car insurance rate for someone with a provisional license is £726 – increasing to £2,731 when the driver receives their full license.
The cost of insurance for young U.K. drivers is also affected by the type of driver's license they possess. In the U.K., drivers have the option to test for either an automatic transmission-only license which, as the name suggests, only allows them to operate automatic vehicles; or they may take their test in a manual vehicle. The manual license allows the driver to operate both manual and automatic cars.
According to Compare the Market, young drivers with automatic-only licenses pay an average of £760 more for auto coverage each year than those who can also drive a manual car. On average, drivers under the age of 25 with automatic-only licenses can expect average rates around £2,803. This is a year-over-year increase of £916.
The number of drivers opting to take automatic-only tests has increased over the last decade, with DVLA data showing 138,354 passed in an automatic car from 2022 to 2023 compared to 34,749 from 2012 to 2013.
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