News

UK parents spend £2 billion a year keeping their kids motoring

Some parents spend over £1,000 a year and continue to help with car and insurance costs until children are into their thirties

By:Martin Saarinen

19 Jun 2015

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Parents are shelling out £2 billion a year to cover their children’s motoring costs, a survey by Kwik Fit has found. The study found 59 per cent of British parents with children aged between 17-25 contributed an average of £381 to the cost of getting their kids on the road. Around 10 per cent contribute in excess of £1,000 a year. The typical costs include learning to drive, with both lessons and test fees covered, as well as the upkeep of cars and insurance. 16 per cent of parents said they’d helped out with paying for a MOT or servicing while 11 per cent had funded accident repairs.

One in five parents either purchase or contribute to the purchase of the child’s first car, and 15 per cent lend a helping hand to cover the high insurance premiums.

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For those pondering which parent to cook breakfast and order flowers for, the study finds mothers slightly more generous with the average mum contributing £396 a year on their child’s driving activities compared to £367 from fathers.

It’s not just the early years of driving that parents are covering, either. The research revealed more than 40 per cent of parents chip in to cover the costs of driving with offspring aged 26-30, and a third of parents support children past the age of 31. The reason why parents remain so involved in the driving activities of their children isn’t always to do with finances, however. Over a third of the parents interviewed said they wanted to ‘ensure their child was driving a vehicle that they knew was safe.’

Roger Griggs, Kwik Fit communications director, said: “Becoming a motorist and passing the driving test is exciting, but it can also be expensive, particularly for young people who are unlikely to have much in the way of spare income. “There’s often a temptation to cut corners to help bring costs down but this is likely to be at the expense of safety, so it’s good to see parents are keen to help cover these costs.”