We have been hearing for some time now about the “ladette” culture amongst young women in the UK, and Direct Line’s report on vandalism certainly bears out the fact that we really do have a problem with “women behaving badly” in this country.

The vandalism is not just graffiti on walls and messing around with traffic cones either – almost 1.5 million women have admitted to having damaged someone else’s car on purpose. The extent of the damage ranges from scratching paint work, slashing tyres, smashing windows, pulling off parts and denting the bodywork in the new “car surfing” craze.

The women questioned give boredom as the main reason for committing the crime (23%), with alcohol being responsible in 9% of cases. This perhaps comes as no surprise given recent research into the epidemic, which revealed that the number of women being arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour has risen by 1000% in some places. Peer pressure is said to have been the motivating factor in 8% of cases.

Motorists’ experiences of car vandalism have grown overall from 11% two years ago to 30% this year. The good news is that Direct Line has recently decided not to penalise their policy holders should their cars be vandalised. Jennifer Culley of Direct Line says that no longer will the “actions of thugs” impact upon the innocent motorist’s no claims bonus.

In order to foil would-be vandals it may be a good investment to buy an alarm which sounds if the doors, windows or bonnet is tampered with and a locking petrol cap to stop trouble makers adding anything to your fuel.

If you are unlucky enough not to have off road parking, you will know that you pay a far higher premium than those who do. In the light of recent research this is not surprising. Accident Exchange has reported that each year 0.7 million cars are damaged whilst parked, resulting in a bill of £1.25 billion. 80% of these Parked Car Incidents (PCIs) happen on the streets, with only 20% happening in public car parks.

One in five prangs are PCIs, with almost 70,000 being reported in London alone. The capital tops the list of the worst ten cities for PCIs, with the repairs bill hitting a staggering £119 million. Despite proportionately far fewer cars, Glasgow takes second place with Birmingham, Manchester, Norwich, Oxford, Bristol, Liverpool, Newcastle upon Tyne and Coventry making up the rest of the list.

There are fears within the motor industry that motorists living in black spots will eventually be priced out of the insurance market and with 35 million motorists competing for 2.2 million spaces, things are set to get worse.

Many newly built developments in city centres only offer one parking space per home, despite the fact that the average household now owns 1.6 cars rather than the 1.3 of ten years ago. Many councils operate residents’ parking permit schemes, making the situation even more difficult for non-residents. Add to that the lack of concentration displayed by many motorists, the growing congestion on the roads and the fact that cars nowadays are bigger and wider than they used to be, and you have an explosive situation.

If you have ever been tempted to make a bit of money by inflating a motor insurance claim, or for that matter fabricating one, you may think twice about it in the light of some statistics published recently.

According to the ABI, detection rates are up by 70% and the penalties are suitably harsh – and rightly so when you realise that, far from being a victimless crime, fraudulent claims mean that the honest motorists end up paying to the tune of around an extra £40 a year on their premiums. Last year there were 24,000 fraudulent claims made, costing the industry a staggering £5 million a week!

Whoppers told by customers include the tale of a stolen car which was found having been hidden by the owner in a barn. The woman was ordered to do 120 hours community service. Then there was the man who said his car had been stolen when he had in fact pushed it over a cliff, planning to use his ill-gotten gains to pay off his debts. A criminal conviction was given to a Rolls Royce driver who claimed that £10,000 worth of parts, including hub caps, steering wheel, mascot and even seats had been stolen from under his nose. Unfortunately for him, the police searched his house and discovered the missing items.

The good news is that insurance companies are stepping up their detection processes and, according to Nick Starling of the ABI, perpetrators can expect to be caught, dealt with appropriately and, with a likely criminal record, will find it hard, and of course expensive, to get insurance in the future.

The results of a recent survey conducted by uSwitch make alarming reading for all road users. It seems that even the most experienced of drivers are sadly lacking when it comes to knowledge of the Highway Code, which could well account for the fact that insurance companies pay out a million pounds an hour in claims.

Two-thirds of all accidents are down to driver error and this is not surprising, when you learn that of the 2500 drivers put to the test by uSwitch, only 1% of them answered all the questions correctly, 34% scored less than half marks, whilst a staggering 8% got all of them wrong.

A third of the drivers were unable to specify the national speed limit, which may go some way to explaining the fact that 7,300 accidents are caused each year by motorists speeding (with fatal results in over a thousand cases) and some 16,000 are caused by people driving too fast for the road conditions. Other gaps in the knowledge included not knowing the shape of a Stop sign, or what to do when an amber light is displayed on its own. Being able to act correctly when traffic lights fail was something that stumped over half of the drivers surveyed.

Leaving aside the human cost of road accidents, they can also have a profound effect on the wallet, with the loss of the no-claims discount. On average one claim will add almost £200 to the premium.

As for the insurance companies, it is little wonder that premiums are spiralling when you realise that the cost of the average claim is almost £2000.

There has been much talk over the last few years about making the driving test tougher and these figures would seem to bear out the need for all of us (particularly the 30 million of us who have never had to take the theory test) to go to back to basics and get to grips with the fundamentals of the Highway Code (available from supermarkets, bookshops, newsagents and online at the likes of Amazon for only £1.49.)

New research has been released by uSwitch.com claiming that motorists who pay monthly on their car insurance pay an average of £50 more than the 52% of motorists who pay annually. This means that a staggering £624 million is being made by the insurance companies due to the fees charged on interest.

13 million people pay monthly on their car insurance, and the extra costs are an added burden that many customers do not even realise they are paying. With the recent 30% rise in petrol, the cost of running a car has gone up to £2,482 a year. To put this figure into perspective, it adds up to 14% of the average annual net salary.

The report claims that the average annual cost of car insurance if paid in one go is £459.44, but when paid monthly it rockets to £506.76. The world seems to be getting more expensive to live in lately and, with costs of just about everything else rising, people will have to think long and hard about how much they are spending on their insurance, especially as it is a cost that could be avoided.

The interest charged by insurance companies for customers who pay monthly is a whopping APR 23.8% on average. However, many people feel that they simply don’t have the resources to pay for a whole year’s insurance upfront. In this case, customers are advised to search for companies like Virgin who do not charge a monthly fee. But the advice comes with a word of warning: a low APR could mean a high premium, and you should always work out the overall cost before purchasing a new contract.

Essentially, customers should always pay upfront if they can, but if this is not an option then they should shop around for the best deal possible.