Prangs involving parked cars cost £1.25 billion a year

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.

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