Most expensive UK cities to be a motorist revealed

• Liverpool is the most expensive place in the UK to be a driver, with an average annual cost of £4,009.89, followed by London and Manchester
• Brighton is the cheapest place, with motorists spending £2,028.26 - nearly one hundred per cent less than those in Liverpool
• Edinburgh is the most expensive city for fuel, with an average yearly cost of £997.78
• Parking fees, repair bills, finance, Tax, MOT costs, fines, tolls and insurance bills also examined city by city
   

A new study by Privilege Car Insurance has revealed the most expensive towns to drive in the UK.

The study examined the cost of parking, congestion charges, fuel, vehicle tax, MOT tests, car finance, tolls, insurance, and repair bills, as well as speeding and parking fines to reveal the annual motoring costs for each city.

Liverpool was found by researchers to be the most expensive place in the UK to be a driver, with motorists there spending a staggering £4,009.89 a year to be behind the wheel compared to the least expensive place to drive, Brighton, where drivers spend £2,028.26 a year; a difference of 97 per cent.

Liverpool is followed by London (£3,862.61 a year) and Manchester (£3,517.41 a year), with the average annual cost of motoring across the UK coming in at £2,733.63.
 

Most Expensive Towns to Drive In – Ranked by Average Annual Cost*

Source: Privilege Car Insurance
 

Fuel

With fuel prices very much in the news at the moment, the research looked at average fuel spend, as well as price at the pumps.

It found that drivers across the UK spend an average of £884.88 a year on petrol or diesel, with drivers in Edinburgh holding the top spot, splashing out £997.78, followed by Liverpool (£983.06) and London (£962.53).

The lowest spend was in Bristol, with drivers claiming to spend £708.93 – 29 per cent less than in Edinburgh.

Based on current prices (28th June 2018), the most expensive place to fill up with petrol is Winchester, with 50 litres of petrol costing £66.27, followed by Lancaster (£66.06) and Carlisle (£65.71).

There’s no relief for diesel drivers in these areas either, as they’ve also taken three of the four top spots for diesel costs per litre. Lancaster tops the table (£68.31, followed by Winchester (£67.90), with Carlisle coming in fourth (£67.15).

Repairs

The study also looked at the cost of car repairs, finding that Southampton is the most expensive town (£178.29 per year), followed by Edinburgh and Glasgow at £157.51 and £145.07 respectively.

The most affordable town for repairs is Norwich (£99.75 per year), with drivers paying almost half of what they would need to spend in Southampton.
 

Car Finance

Finance is generally the third-highest cost of being behind the wheel in most of the UK, with fuel and insurance coming in the top two. Cardiff, however, bucks that trend, with finance being the single largest cost of driving, at an average annual cost of £1022.59, much higher than the national average of £639.60. Motorists in Brighton save considerably, with an average annual payment of £265.67.
 

Vehicle Tax

Drivers in Cardiff get a reprieve though when it came to tax, paying the least in the country, £77.46 - well below the national average of £107.57. Plymouth however face £124.12 of payments for vehicle tax per year.
 

Insurance

When it comes to car insurance, drivers in Liverpool have the highest premiums, paying an average of £2,072.37 annually. This compares to an annual payment of £1,030.76 for the average UK driver.

Norwich residents are saving a considerable amount, with an annual average payment of £513.02 – half of the national average.
 

Fines, Parking and MOTs

Those planning a trip in the North of England soon should watch out on the roads in Manchester, with drivers there the most likely to be fined for speeding. In the northern city, 14 per cent have faced fines in the past year, followed by Leeds (13 per cent), London (12 per cent) and Birmingham (12 per cent).

Those who have received a ticket for speeding in the last year (eight per cent) have spent an average of £116 paying off the fine; only slightly less than the country is spending on parking fines (11 per cent, £121 per year).

London is the most expensive place to park, costing on average of £246 a year. This may be a contributing factor to why 18 per cent of residents received a parking fine in the last year, the highest amount of fines in the country.

Londoners may also be better off seeking MOT tests in a different city, with the highest average annual payment across the UK at £63.44. Cardiff’s drivers are able to save their pennies, with an average cost of £37.37 – well below the national average of £59.99.

Charlotte Fielding, Head of Privilege car insurance comments: “We know that motoring can put a real squeeze on household finances, so we wanted to take a closer look at the average costs in order to help drivers see where they might be able to make savings.

Fielding continues: “The cost of car insurance was recently at an all-time high and while prices are now falling for the first time in two years, people are still rightly cost-conscious when purchasing their cover. However, it’s important to look at not just the price but the cover and service on offer. Cheap policies with hollow cover or that add to your stress levels when it comes to making a claim don’t represent value for money. It’s worth investing time upfront doing some research before buying car insurance.”

Source: Privilege Car Insurance

Top 5 Most Expensive Petrol Price Locations Across the UK***

Source: Privilege Car Insurance

Top Five Most Expensive Diesel Price Locations Across the UK****

Source: Privilege Car Insurance
 

Most Fine-Prone Cities

Source: Privilege Car Insurance

ENDS

For more information, please contact: Georgia Andrewes at Richmond & Towers: 

georgia@rtc.london / hannah@rtc.london 020 3179 0720

Notes to editors:

Research carried out amongst a nationally representative sample of 2,005 UK adults by Opinium Research between 25 & 29 May.

*Includes cost of repairs, parking (pay & display and resident permits), parking and speeding fines, congestion charges, toll payments, car finance, vehicle tax, MOT tests, insurance and fuel

**Small sample sizes

***Petrol prices obtained from PetrolPrices.com on Thursday 28 June 2018

****Diesel prices obtained from PetrolPrices.com on Thursday 28 June 2018

Privilege

Privilege Insurance specialises in car insurance for safe drivers. It also offers home insurance and breakdown cover by phone or on-line.

Privilege general insurance policies are underwritten by U K Insurance Limited, Registered office: The Wharf, Neville Street, Leeds LS1 4AZ. Registered in England and Wales No 1179980. U K Insurance Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

Privilege and UK Insurance Limited are both part of Direct Line Insurance Group plc.  

Customers can find out more about Privilege’s products or get a quote by calling 0345 246 0515 or visiting www.privilege.co.uk