Cost of getting on the road jumped by 19% in 2024

A new report from Go.Compare Car Insurance has revealed that the cost of getting on the road in 2024, including the cost of a first car, has increased by 19%, from £5,947.40 in 2023 to £7,100 in 2024.

The report is compiled annually by the comparison site and looks at the overall costs associated with getting on the road, including the total cost of driving lessons, the price of tax and insurance, the cost of a first car, alongside a number of other factors. This year, the report has found that the total cost of getting on the road has jumped by 19% since this time last year.

In 2023, the report revealed that the cost had dropped below £6,000 for the first time in four years, but this year’s data has shown that this drop was short-lived. Not only this, but the 2024 increase means that the costs are now higher than they’ve been since the report started in 2019 when it was an estimated £6,846.

The report has shown that a number of the costs associated with getting on the road have increased in the past 12 months, including the amount that young drivers are spending on their first cars, rising 15% from £2780 to £3100. Added to this, the average amount that 17- to 21-year-olds pay for their car insurance has gone from £1,446 to £1,776 – up by 23%.

The research asked parents of new drivers about their biggest concerns when it comes to their child taking to the road and found that the high cost of insurance is still a top concern, with more than half of parents (55%) saying that the cost insurance was their biggest concern, followed by concerns around safety on the road (38%) and the cost of driving lessons (30%).

Both parents and young drivers found the cost of driving lessons surprising, with 37% of those who took part in the survey saying that these costs were higher than expected, and a further 34% saying the cost of car insurance was also far greater than expected.

The same research also found that parents are still helping out financially when it comes to getting their kids driving – with over a third of parents (36%) saying they’d bought their child’s first car, and a further 13% of parents saying that they pay for all of the running costs associated with their child’s car.

Commenting on this latest report, Tom Banks, car spokesperson for Go.Compare said, “No one will be happy to see the increase in these costs – after a brief hiatus in 2023 where it seemed like they were coming down, costs have jumped by 19% in the past year, making the average cost of getting on the road a significant figure at over £7,000. So, it’s no surprise that 14% of those who took part in the research said that the cost-of-living crisis has been a barrier to getting on the road.

“The report also shows that the costs associated with getting road-ready have gone up across the board, including driving lessons, how much people are spending on their first car, and the cost of car insurance.”

The costs of getting on the road in 2024

Requirement	2023 cost	2024 Cost
Average spent buying first car	£2,780	£3,000
First year insurance premium	£1,446	£1,776
Driving lessons to successful test (44 lessons)	£1434.40	£2,025.00
First year Vehicle Excise Duty (road tax)	£148	£180
Driving tests (theory and practical- if taken on a weekday)	£85	£85
Provisional driving license (if applied online)	£34	£34
Total cost of getting on the road	£5,947.40	£7,100.00