Gen Z costing parents £1,300 a year by refusing to learn how to drive

Once considered a rite of passage, only one in four young people now have a licence

Parents are paying more than £1,300 a year to taxi around Gen Z children who refuse to learn how to drive, according to research.
It comes as half as many 17- to 20-year-olds hold a full driving licence today than three and a half decades ago, according to official figures.
Little more than one in four people in that age group now have a driving licence, data from the Department for Transport shows, down from almost one in two young adults in 1989.
Learning to drive, once a rite of passage many raced to complete after their 17th birthday, is increasingly being delayed until well into a person’s late-20s.
In 2016, those passing their driving test were on average 25 years old and are now between 26 and 27, according to Red Driver Training, one of the largest driving schools in the country.
But driving-age children who are yet to learn could be costing their parents a small fortune every year in lifts, research by price comparison site Money Supermarket has found.
It showed that the average British parent estimates they spend just over nine hours every month driving around their 17- to 20-year-old children, over four and a half days every year.
The cost of taxiing driving-age children around is estimated to be £1,336 for a parent on an average salary of £34,900, the research said. The figure is based on the potential extra fuel usage of the journeys.
The cost of getting behind the wheel is even higher, however, at £7,600.
The prices are linked to Money Supermarket’s household money index, based on its website data, which showed driving lessons, insurance, buying a car and paying for fuel have all surged in recent years.
Compared with the cost of learning to drive in 1989, which was £1,285, or £3,234 adjusted for inflation, new drivers today face paying 135pc more.
Insurance was by far the biggest cost to new drivers, with the average quote for 17- to 20-year-olds now standing at £1,700 – up from £1,240 in 2019.
Almost half of young people surveyed by the comparison site said that the cost of learning to drive was the main barrier to obtaining a driving licence.
Official figures from the Department for Transport show that only a quarter of people aged 17 to 20 hold a full driving licence – half as many as 35 years ago.
Sarah Newell, of Money Supermarket, said: “When you’re faced with the decision of slogging it out as a taxi service or coughing up the cash so your kids can get on the road, it’s not a straightforward choice – as the Household Money Index shows.
“In our survey, 95pc of people we asked underestimated the costs of learning to drive today. If you have children who are approaching 17, knowing the breakdown of the £7,609 total cost means you can prepare and discuss early on how much you might be able to help.
She added: “There are ways you can make savings. Black box or telematics insurance policies and technology have come a long way. A smartphone app or plug-in device collects data about your driving which can help to bring down prices for careful motorists, especially new drivers facing higher premiums.”
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