£740 cost of using phone at the wheel
DRIVERS caught using their mobile phone at the wheel will be out of pocket by £740, the AA reports.
On top of a fine of £200, offenders will see their insurance premiums soar by up to 40 per cent, or cover withdrawn completely.
That’s because insurers believe those using their mobiles while driving are at greater risk of causing a crash than those caught speeding.
The AA obtained quotes from nine insurers for a 35-year-old man who owns a Ford Fiesta and lives in Gloucester. It then compared quotes for the same man with a clean licence and then again after he has been caught using a phone at the wheel.
It found that five of the nine insurers would not offer cover for a driver with a mobile phone offence.
Of those that were prepared to provide cover, premiums were increased by an average of £542.98 over five years.
Once the £200 fine is added that amounts to a total bill of £743 on average for offenders.
One insurer quoted an annual premium of £399.77 for a clean licence, rising to £548.44 after a mobile phone offence. The premium then falls gradually but over five years the driver will pay £677.31 extra.
The AA revealed the research ahead of the first anniversary next week of tougher penalties.
Following a campaign by the Daily Mail, the penalty for being caught using a mobile at the wheel doubled to £200 and six points.
The AA also revealed that the total cost of using your phone at the wheel is significantly higher than a first speeding offence.
In that case, only one of the nine insurers declined to provide cover and of those that did, the average increase in premiums over five years was £332. Add the £100 fine for the offence and the total cost of speeding is £432.
The AA’s Michael Lloyd said: ‘Insurers have long recognised that drivers using a hand-held phone are at considerable risk of being involved in a crash.’
In the six months after the Government doubled mobile phone penalties, 27,614 drivers were caught. That was about 149 motorists a day across the country and under the £ 200 penalty, up to £5.5million was raised in fines.
The law for mobile phones still applies if you’re stopped at traffic lights, queuing in traffic or even supervising a learner driver.
‘Considerable risk of crash’