Recent research from various motor insurance firms has revealed that many drivers, especially young ones, are turning their backs on motoring because of rising costs.
Fuel prices, car insurance costs, road tax, driving lessons, speeding tickets; it all adds up to a figure that some simply can't afford, resulting in people abandoning their cars in droves.
According to the latest research, young people are putting off learning to drive until they are older, with some just abandoning hope of ever getting their licence at all. The cost of driving lessons is one reason, and it really isn't surprising when an hour's lesson can cost as much as £25. The money and effort needed to pass a theory and a practical test doesn't help encourage youngsters to get behind the wheel either, but the main cause for the falling numbers is the price of young driver car insurance.
Motor insurance for teenagers and those in their twenties can be, to put it bluntly, exorbitant. The simple reason is that young drivers are involved in far more accidents than any other age group, and so insurance firms have got no choice but to cover their backs.
But now Hoot Car Insurance Services (www.hootcarinsurance.co.uk), specialists in young driver car insurance, are stepping in to put a halt to the exodus. They are appealing to motor insurance firms nationwide to pull out all the stops to give young drivers the opportunity to get cheap car insurance.
Mike Page, Hoot's spokesman, said, "Some insurance companies in this country just don't do enough to offer young people a good deal.
"Driving is part of growing up, something that everyone should have the chance to experience, but many youngsters are losing this right because of the price that some providers put on their young driver car insurance.
"We're appealing to motor insurance companies everywhere to ask themselves if they can offer a better deal and give these youngsters the opportunity to get behind the wheel.
"We can do it, so there's no reason why others can't."
If the big car insurance businesses fail to heed Hoot's request, the likelihood is that even more youngsters will be forced off the road and made to use dangerous, unreliable and over-priced public transport.
One young motorist who fears she could be forced from the road is 21-year-old Louise Wainwright, a struggling student from Hampshire. Speaking exclusively to Hoot, she said, "My car insurance premium is unbelievably high, and I've never had an accident so I don't think it's fair.
"What with the price of petrol and road tax too, I really don't think I'm going to be able to carry on driving next year. It's a real shame."