Britain’s £2,000 driveway deficit: Drivers with out one are stung by punishing insurance coverage and parking allow premiums

The driveway divide has been found to be unfairly penalising drivers who do not have access to off-street parking, costing motorists thousands of pounds extra over a decade.

This is Money exclusively reveals that over a 10-year period the average household without a driveway pays £1,939 more than their neighbours with off-street parking, based on new findings from GoCompare.

The costs are a combination of insurance and average parking permit costs, using projected compound growth of eight per cent per annum for insurance and 15 per cent for permits.

The study, which analysed data from 399 council websites across the UK and cross-referenced it with Go Compare’s own insurance premium data, also found that some drivers are being stung an additional £2,000 every single year due to their postcode.

Those without off-street parking in East Devon’s EX8 can face up to £2,118 in additional costs from insurance and parking fees combined. With inflation, that’s £30,690 over 10 years.

This is Money exclusively reveals that over a 10-year period the average household without a driveway unfairly pays £1,939 more than their neighbours who do have a driveway

The most expensive council areas in the UK overall for combined on-street insurance premiums and residential on-street parking permits – a ‘driveway deficit’ – are found in the Midlands or the South.

The top three are East Devon, which sees a driveway deficit of £1,131, followed by Canterbury with a deficit of £728. Thirdly, those in the City of London shell out an extra £615.

Islington (£615), Teignbridge, Devon (£576), Dudley in Worcestershire and Staffordshire (£545), Camden (£488), Boston in Lincolnshire (£465), Brentwood (£461) and Tunbridge Wells (£428) make up the rest of the top 10.

When looking at residential on-street parking permits alone, Cumbria is the priciest county with drivers there paying a massive £5,484 over 10 years compared to those with driveways.

Preston in the North West tops the list for insurance premium stings, with motorists there paying £5,375 over 10 years (£371 extra annually) compared to those with the luxury of a driveway or garage.

Concerningly, Go Compare’s data places Oldham, Birmingham and Hull in the ten most expensive areas in the UK for insurance costs linked to on-street parking, some of the most deprived in the country, which raises serious concerns about a cost burden that falls disproportionately on lower-income households.

Go Compare’s map shows the areas where the driveway deficit is hitting drivers hardest

78% of London households already lack a driveway and could end up paying a significant more annually because of this

The driveway divide problem is getting worse too, with parking space provision declining at an alarming rate.

Analysis of data from 5,000 London residential developments approved since 2016 reveals that parking provisions have fallen by 75 per cent in that time. Today, just one parking space is being built for every six new apartments, and one in five developments have no car parking provision at all.

With 78 per cent of London households already lacking a driveway, the figures suggest hundreds of thousands of future residents could face the same unavoidable annual penalty.

Diesel drivers face an additional sting, with most councils adding a surcharge of between £50 and £100 per year on parking permits for higher-emission vehicles – and in some areas the surcharge is considerably higher still.

Insurance premiums are higher for all the reasons you’d expect.

Insurers set premiums based on historical claims data, and that data tends to show higher claim frequencies for street-parked vehicles. On-street cars are more vulnerable to theft and break-ins, accidental damage, vandalism, and overnight exposure.

Location plays a part with urban areas tending to have higher overall claims rates due to traffic density, crime rates, and congestion. Insurers use parking location as a proxy for these broader environmental risks.

The top three most expensive postcodes for on-street insurance premiums are WV7 in Shropshire (£835 annual cost), B25 Birmingham (£561) and PR1 Preston (£531).

The least expensive in the top 10 is City of Hull’s HU6, which will still cost £383.

Again, some of the areas in the top 10 are notably deprived, raising the same concerns about how low-income households cope with this driveway divide.

Diesel drivers face an additional sting, with most councils adding a surcharge of between £50 and £100 per year on parking permits for higher-emission vehicles

Steve Ramsey, motoring insurance expert at GoCompare, said: ‘These data sets tell a connected story. Households without driveways already pay up to £2,118 a year more than their neighbours in terms of higher insurance and parking costs. 

‘At the same time, London’s planning policies are actively reducing parking provision in new developments, ensuring that hundreds of thousands of future residents will face the same financial penalty.

‘For car-owning households, this represents a growing and unavoidable cost of urban living.

‘Outside of London too, there is a growing trend of local towns and councils not providing ample on-street parking for drivers without driveways. 

‘Even those who do pay for parking permits are not guaranteed to have spaces, and most councils charge extortionate amounts for public car parking. 

‘This means that for many drivers annual charges are likely to be even higher than those calculated in our report.’