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Research from the AA has revealed that young male drivers are often paying twice as much for their car insurance premiums compared to those for young female drivers.

A study of pricing trends has shown that car insurance for young males has dramatically risen since 2003, whilst premiums for young females fell. There is now an indifference of 60 per cent between the two sexes, which has steadily grown over the last five years.

The AA’s British Insurance Industry Index, which tracks premiums for 1,000 different risks across the UK, revealed that insurance had gone up last year in all areas, with the average quoted premium for annual comprehensive cover rising to £724.28, an increase of 7.6 per cent.

Third party, fire and theft cover showed a slight fall by 0.6 per cent to £879. This is a popular option for young drivers as it is often the cheapest.

Despite this small decrease, the general trend is one of rising costs. The Shoparound Index, which the AA also offers, provides an average of the three lowest premiums quoted for each risk and shows a rise of 1.2 per cent over the past quarter of the year to £591. This works out as a huge increase of 11.6 per cent on last year.

Young drivers face further bad news with a number of top insurers including Allianz, withdrawing from the market to offer quotes for third party, fire and theft cover.   

It appears young male drivers are being penalised more heavily, as this is the group of motorists who are responsible for making the largest insurance claims, according to Simon Davies of AA Insurance. The average claim for males under 30 years old is £4,500 compared to £2,700 for females of the same age group. Male policyholders over 30 years old claim on average £1,400, with females claiming £1,200, around £3,000 lower than young drivers do.

Unfortunately, young males are much more likely to be involved in road accidents resulting in injury or death than other motorists. Men aged less than 21 years old are 10 times more likely to have an accident than male drivers over 35 years old are. For women of the same age groups, those aged below 21 years are only five times as likely to be involved in a collision.

It appears that men are also a lot more likely to try to insure expensive cars, with 63 per cent of 17-21 year olds asking for quotes for cars with engines over 1250cc, according to a report by comparison website Gocompare.com.

This will be another problem for young male drivers when trying to insure their cars and provides further evidence as to why the gap for premiums between the two sexes is widening.