If you're a woman, car insurance can be found at some unbelievably good value. However, for some young female drivers cheap car insurance is beginning to seem like an urban myth.
There are almost half the 17 to 20-year-olds with driving licences as there were 12 years ago. This is thought to be the result of increasing costs such as driving lessons, fuel and motor insurance.
Many motor insurance companies raise car insurance rates for young drivers as new drivers aged 17 to 21 are six times more likely to have an accident in their first year of driving than at any other time in their driving career.
With car insurance quotes for a 17-year-old female with 1.2 litre 2003 VW Polo ranging from £331.13 to a whopping £6,429.11, it is hardly surprising that many young women are opting to rely on their parents for lifts.
However, there may still be hope for girls who are eager to take to the roads. Lee-Anne Bass from CoverGirl, the car insurance for women specialists, suggests the following:
'If you're an independent young woman, car insurance needn't cost you an arm and a leg. All you need to do is drive responsibly, keeping up the reputation of women drivers as the safer gender and simultaneously building up your no claims bonus.
'There are plenty of great deals to be found online for female motor insurance, especially from specialist providers such as ourselves.'