A leading motoring group has blasted the car insurance industry for not doing enough to attract young drivers.
The RAC Foundation has called on all motor insurance companies to play their part in helping to reduce the number of young people who drive without cover on UK roads. It claims that the huge numbers driving illegally, as much as one in three according to new research, is due to the high prices offered on young driver car insurance.
A spokesman said, "The RAC Foundation would like to see more competition in the insurance business with more effort from some companies to attract young drivers.
"A number of companies refuse to insure young drivers despite the fact that these drivers will become their future customers."
Several online companies do already exist that deal only in young driver car insurance, and with low overheads, these specialists are able to offer unbeatably cheap prices. Hoot Car Insurance Services is one such firm and spokesman Mike Page said, "We're able to offer cheap car insurance for young drivers, so there's no reason why other providers can't too.
"I don't think a lot of these firms fully understand that today's young motorists are tomorrow's middle-aged motorists and the customers they'll need in ten or twenty years. They really should treat them with a bit more respect and offer them cheap car insurance."