This could have huge implications for the premiums that young drivers are forced to pay, and in some cases could lead to large reductions for the most careful drivers.

Satellite boxes have only recently taken off, although they have been around for a while. At first there were concerns about privacy with drivers worried that the boxes might track where they had driven, and the technology was also expensive. But now it is free to use, and no records are kept of where people have been driving.

With the news that crashes can be reduced by 20% for young drivers, the technology could become even more popular.

Telematics works by using tracking equipment inside the vehicle. This monitors how the driver makes certain manoeuvres, how they accelerate and brake, and also what times the car is driven during the day. A better level of driving can then lead to lower premiums.

10,000 customers were analysed for the survey by Co-Operative Insurance, all between the ages of 17 and 25. It was also discovered that the typical claim for those using the satellite boxes was on average 30% less.

This could be great for those who have been affected by increasing premiums. For those aged between 17 and 22 premiums have gone up by a massive 40%. The older under 30s have also seen large increases.

Anything that can cut premiums has to be seen as a good thing, so we could be seeing a lot more cars fitted with telematics in the future.

Everyone wants to cut costs at the moment, but going without car insurance is not only illegal but it also forces all the other drivers with insurance to suffer, with £30 a year added to the premiums of everyone else as a result.

The reason for this is that if you are insured but crash with a driver who is uninsured, your insurer has to foot the bill. This costs insurers £500 million a year, and they need to get the money from somewhere, hence the £30 added onto each policy.

The report found that:

• 8% of drivers admitted to driving their own car without cover
• 6% said that they have driven someone else’s car whilst not covered
• A further 2% said they have driven their own car in between renewing insurance policies

Of the 16% of motorists who admitted to driving whilst uninsured:

• 18% said it was because they did not know it was a legal obligation
• 38% said they did so between insurance policies
• 5% could not be bothered
• 6% could not afford insurance
• 7% said there was no point because they won’t crash

The research also uncovered that the level of risk-taking varies between age groups. 29% of the 18-34 age group admitted to driving uninsured, compared to just 6% of the over 55s.

Also, men were twice as likely to drive uninsured, with 22% admitting to doing so, compared to just one-in-10 women.

Peter Harrison, from MoneySupermarket.com, said that drivers who are involved in a crash without insurance “could face thousands of pounds in liability, a conviction … as well as fines of up to £5,000.”

The advice? Never drive uninsured. It’s just not worth it.

It turns out that using a smartphone to access a social network whilst driving may be more dangerous than driving under the influence of both alcohol and cannabis.

The IAM carried out tests using a driving simulator, and the drivers who took part in the study were examined whilst they were accessing their Facebook accounts.

The results showed that their reaction times were slowed down by nearly 38% as a result of using their smartphones behind the wheel. In comparison, alcohol slows reaction times by 12.5% and cannabis by 21%.

Drivers also displayed difficulty in responding to standard situations on the road. For example, many struggled when the car in front of them changed speed, and some of the drivers ended up drifting out of their lanes.

The IAM is now claiming that using a smartphone is more dangerous than drink driving or driving under the influence of cannabis.

Other activities tested included sending text messages, which led to a slowing of reaction times by 37.4%, and using a hands-free device, which slowed reaction times by 26.5%.

What is even more worrying is that 8% of drivers admit to accessing their social networks or emails on smartphones whilst driving. This goes up to 24% in the 17-to-24 age group.

It is now becoming increasingly clear that more needs to be done to get the message out that driving whilst using a smartphone is simply not a safe activity.

That’s the revelation from the latest survey carried out by Admiral which questioned British drivers on a range of factors.

The survey, carried out by YouGov, saw 2,500 drivers questioned, and the most surprising statistic to emerge was that 74% of all drivers are worried about their cars being broken into or stolen.

The survey also found that the extent to which drivers worry differs by region. In Yorkshire and the East Midlands, drivers are the most preoccupied about car crime, with 80% of drivers admitting that it worries them.

This compares to just 63% of motorists in Scotland claiming that it is something which worries them.

The figures are surprising seeing as car crime has gone down dramatically over the last decade and British drivers are now safer than ever, based on claims statistics from Admiral.

It released figures stating that whereas 0.54% of the drivers it insures made a claim for a stolen car in 2001, this fell to just 0.16% in 2011.

The same is true of vehicle break-ins, with 0.61% of motorists making a claim back in 2001, falling to 0.16% in 2011.

According to Admiral’s managing director, Dave Halliday, the anxiety could be a reaction to the weak economy. But he also reassured drivers that modern vehicles are built with “excellent security features” so that they are becoming harder to steal.

The move has angered drivers across the country, and many will see their insurance premiums go up as a result.

For many years, women drivers have typically enjoyed much lower premiums than their male counterparts due to the lower level of risk associated with women drivers.

This has been especially pronounced amongst younger drivers, where young males typically have to pay a lot more for their premiums.

But the EU has decided that it is unfair to make insurance decisions based on gender and that it breaches equality laws; as a result young women drivers will see their premiums increase by about 11%, according to figures from the independent consultancy Oxera.

In contrast, young men may see their premiums drop by almost £200 as a result of the ruling, so it isn’t bad news for everyone.

The changes are to come into force in December 2012, and many people have expressed their displeasure at what they see as a ruling which does not make sense. They claim that insurance companies should base their premiums on the level of risk, and that gender does come into effect when it comes to car insurance.

However, it looks as though the ruling is here to stay, so young women drivers should start to prepare for the fact that they are going to have to spend more on their car insurance premiums from the end of next year.

However, now there is yet another deterrent to prevent people from carrying out such reckless behaviour, and it comes in the form of car insurance premiums.

MoneySupermarket recently revealed that drivers who are convicted for drink driving can expect their car insurance premiums to rise from an average of £424 up to £784.

This is a rise of 85%, and it can happen even if the motorist has an exemplary driving history and a no claims bonus.

And this is if the driver can get insurance at all, because they may find it harder to find an insurer willing to provide them with cover after being convicted.

It seems that there should already be enough deterrents in place to stop people drink driving. Anyone convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol could face fines of £1,000 and more, a complete ban on driving for a year or more and even a prison sentence.

A large proportion of accidents on the roads involve drink driving, and yet still people get behind the wheel after too many drinks.

The best advice is simply to refrain from drinking at all if you are going to drive. Instead of taking the risk of driving, make sure you plan your night out in advance so that there is always a designated driver in place to avoid the temptation to drive back at the end of the night following a few drinks.

• You may think that as a valued customer your insurer will give you a good deal but far from it! Often it is the new customer who will get the best deal so ask your insurers if they will match any offers available to non-existing customers.
• Illogically, a comprehensive premium is often cheaper than a third-party one on the basis that it is often the young drivers who opt for third-party cover and they are a high-risk group. Don’t make assumptions on anything!
• Use comparison websites by all means but bear in mind that some companies such as Aviva and Direct Line never feature on these sites so don’t forget to check their prices too.
• If you are a young driver consider a specialist policy where a black box is fitted to track your mileage. The less you drive the less you pay.
• Check the internet for cash-back deals and discounts to see whether you can reduce your costs further.
• It can often be cheaper to add a second driver to the policy but never be tempted into “fronting” i.e. saying someone else is the main driver if they are not.
• Make sure you opt for the highest excess that you can afford.

It goes without saying that motorists should never lie about their circumstances just to get a cheaper quote.

This, along the with other expenses involved in running a car and the high cost of petrol, means that the average young male aged between 17 and 20 will now have to pay about £6,500 a year to own and use a car.

At the moment, women in the same age bracket are paying just slightly over half that amount. However, this may soon change when insurance companies will no longer be able to discriminate on gender from the end of 2012 according to new EU legislation.

The research was carried out by Confused.com and Towers Watson. However, upon releasing the data, insurance firms announced that the prices they charge (average of £4,006 for comprehensive insurance for young males and £2,151 for young females) are justified because young men pose a much higher risk.

A spokesperson for Confused.com said that now a young male driver will have to pay so much to run a car that they will effectively be spending about half their average salary.

The fear now is that some young drivers will decide that insurance is just too much and will choose instead not to purchase insurance rather than stop driving altogether.

At the same time, the average cost of comprehensive insurance across all age ranges continues to rise. It is currently £858 a year, which is a £22 rise in the last three months and a £170 rise compared to last year.

The good news is that according to confused.com although 14% of us are still foolish enough to think that they can pull the wool over the eyes of the insurance company, the figure has actually dropped since last year. The figure for 2010 was a staggering 39% of motorists lying in order to get cheaper insurance, with men proving to be less honest than their female counterparts (32% of women and 46% of men lied).

The most common whopper is mileage, with many drivers understating their annual mileage. Next on the list of lies is details of where the car is kept overnight, either saying that the car is garaged overnight when it is in fact kept on the drive or saying it is kept on the drive when it is actually kept on the road.

Geographically London has the worst rate for lying (19%) with Northern Ireland doing best of all with only 2% of motorists failing to tell the truth.

Anyone tempted to stretch the truth would of course do well to remember that lies could invalidate any claim. This really is a case of honesty being the best policy.

The depressing figures come from The AA which recently released its latest British Insurance Premium Index. It found that, over the past 12 months, fully comprehensive insurance premiums have gone up by a massive 40%, meaning the average premium now costs £892 a year.

Third party, fire and theft premiums went up even further, jumping by a massive 82% in 12 months, meaning now the average premium is £1,533. In the first three months of this year alone the rise was 10.7%.

The rise in the cost of car insurance is the highest annual rise since 1994 when the AA began to collect data. But even so, insurers are still making losses.

The rise in premiums comes as a double blow to motorists who are also having to contend with rising fuel costs. The combination of the two means that driving is now less affordable than ever, and this is leading to other problems.

The AA claims that more customers are not giving their full information now when looking for quotes, and that people are also trying to get more from personal injury claims. Such claims are one of the biggest reasons for the rise in premiums, with the ABI (Association of British Insurers) claiming that for every £1 in compensation, 87p is now added in legal expenses. Now there are hundreds of claims being made every day for accidents, sometimes for ones which occurred years ago.