Northern Ireland cheapest in the UK for young van drivers

For the 17-24-year-old age category, average van insurance premiums are down to £1,215 from £1,406 – 16% lower than the year before.

For the 35-44 age category, NI van insurance is the second cheapest at £627 – the only other region in the CompareNI van insurance index showing a cheaper cost is Scotland at £619.

This comes as a recent FOI request revealed that Northern Ireland made the top 10 list of safest UK regions for tool theft – with just 13 incidents per 100,000 people annually. London and West Yorkshire have the highest number of reported cases at 592 and 130 respectively, per 100,000 people.

In terms of the 10 safest regions for tool theft, Northern Ireland is fifth in the UK, the safest is North Wales with just three incidents per 100,000 people.

The most expensive UK regions for young driver van insurance aged 17-24 are North East England at £3,233 and East of England with £2,996, on average.

Despite the fall in price for young van drivers, premiums still remain high and climbing across the board. The cost of van insurance throughout the UK has increased by five per cent year on year – with an average premium across all age groups of £549 in 2023, rising to £575 in 2024.

Northern Ireland reflects a similar although steeper trend with a 16% increase in general van insurance premiums across all ages, from £496 to £573, year on year.

All 11 district council areas show the same pattern bar Newry, the only area to see a decline in cost, from £573 to £559.

Belfast saw a dramatic increase from £669 to £1088 – a 63% increase.

Ian Wilson, Managing Director and van insurance expert at CompareNI, commented: “It’s great to see costs for our younger van drivers in Northern Ireland starting to come down and being the cheapest in the UK right now is really positive.

“However, van insurance in general still remains high and climbing, when we take each council area in turn we can see the prices surge.

“Like all insurance, there are things van drivers of any age can do to find savings, such as finding a safer place to park overnight, fitting additional safety measures such as trackers and keeping a clean driving record.

“There are quite a few additional rules for driving a van compared to a car so anyone starting a new business and taking to a van for the first time needs to be wary of the differences such as lower speed limits and increased stopping distances when carrying heavy loads. Some offences such as exceeding the manufacturer’s load limit can even invalidate the insurance cover.”

CompareNI.com helps van drivers across NI compare and find savings on all sorts of van products such as commercial vans, food vans and even temporary vans.