Young Bus Driver Can’t Escape High Insurance Costs

In what might be one of the most ironic stories in professional driving history, the Daily Mail recently highlighted the frustrations of a young professional bus driver who cannot escape the excessively high cost of car insurance. The driver, 19-year-old Tim Clarke, cannot afford to put his own car on the road.

The Daily Mail reports that Clarke was quoted between £3,000 and £5,000 to insure his Suzuki Jimny. One company even refused to insure him at all because of his lack of driving experience. This, despite the fact that the young man has completed his bus driver training, is CPC certified, and has logged thousands of hours behind the wheel.

Even more ironic is the fact that Clarke has an absolutely clean license. His employer also speaks very highly of him and has nothing bad to say about his driving skills. Yet that’s not enough for UK insurance companies to give him a break on insurance premiums.

Statistics Play a Huge Role

In defence of the insurance companies, there are legitimate reasons why a 19-year-old driver like Tim Clarke is quoted such a high price for car insurance. Statistics show that young drivers make up only 8% of the total number of drivers on UK roads. Yet they account for more than 25% of all the serious accidents. In the United States and other countries, that number is closer to 30%.

Young drivers under the age of 25 pose a greater risk because they tend to be less experienced and more willing to take risks. Therefore, while that may not be true of Mr Clarke, it is true of younger drivers in general. Perhaps the proper solution here is to give Clarke some consideration due to his professional credentials.

Clarke has been driving a bus since January after completing a six-week training course. In addition to his standard bus driver training, Clark also had to earn his Certificate of Professional Compliance (CPC) in accordance with EU regulations. All bus drivers and other PCV licence holders must be CPC compliant by September in order to keep driving professionally.

HGV drivers also need to be CPC certified, but they have until September of next year. The HGV Training Centre offers CPC driver training to both individual and company drivers. We even work with fleet managers to provide ongoing training to their teams.

Good Career Choice

The demand for bus and HGV drivers should continue to increase over the next several years. Between retirements, career changes and economic growth, the haulage and transport industries expect to hire thousands of workers in the future. Learning to drive a bus or lorry is a good career choice for drivers of all ages.

Earning your PCV or HGV license is not difficult when you choose a company like that HGV Training Centre to work with. We are here to assist you throughout every step of the process, from your initial medical exam all the way to your practical skills test.