'Mum and Dad cabs' clock up £32 billion of unpaid fares a year
Mums and dads in Britain provide over £32 billion worth of free taxi services to their children every year, according to new research from Sainsbury's car insurance. The findings reveal that parents collectively clock up over 230 million miles a week, the equivalent distance of driving from Earth to Mars at their furthest points apart, transporting their children to social, sporting and recreational events outside of school. If charged at hackney carriage rates this would total over £621 million.
The study shows that over 9.3 million parents spend time driving their children around, covering an average of 24.7 miles a week worth £46.17. On top of this, parents spend an average of around one hour 14 minutes sitting in their cars waiting around for their children, worth another £20.49 a week. In total the average parent who drives their children around is worth £66.66 a week in taxi fares to his or her children.
Parents can't put a price on the time spent with their children but for those who have ever wondered what it would cost for someone to do it for them, Sainsbury's car insurance has created an online parental taxi calculator. The calculator shows the amount mums and dads around the country would have to spend to hire a taxi to cover the hours, minutes and miles they put in for their kids. Visitors to the new Sainsbury's car insurance Facebook page will also be able to view documentaries of two real life 'mum and dad cabs': facebook.com/sainsburysbank
The research from Sainsbury's car insurance reveals that dads bear the brunt of the taxi duties, with 4.8 million fathers regularly ferrying their kids around compared to 4.6 million mothers. "Dad cabs" cover an average of 28 miles a week on taxi duty compared to 21 miles for mums, waiting around in their cars for an average of one hour 23 minutes a week in comparison to one hour four minutes for mums.
Of those parents who drive their children around, eight per cent drive them over 50 miles a week, more than half of whom (5%) cover a time-sapping 100 miles a week or more driving their children to social and recreational events.
But far from being disgruntled at the amount of time they spend on parental taxi duty, almost two thirds of parents (61%) find this time provides some benefits to their relationships with their children. One in three (30%) say it is one of the few opportunities they have to talk to their children without them being distracted by gadgets like TV or mobile phones, and seven per cent say it is the only chance they get to talk to their kids at all.
One in four (27%) parents say that the time spent driving their children around strengthens their bond with them, 18% say it is one of the best times to raise difficult issues with them, and 17% say it provides some of the best quality time that they have with their kids.
Ben Tyte, Head of Sainsbury's car insurance said: "Parents spend a huge amount of time ensuring their children get to sports, classes and events and see their friends - time and effort which often goes unacknowledged. However, many parents take positives from the time spent driving their children around and find it offers them a good opportunity to talk to them and strengthen their bond.
"With the cost of motoring rising, ferrying the kids around can also be expensive. We'd urge these motoring parents to make sure they are considering all they can to reduce the cost of running their car by shopping around for competitively priced fuel, researching quality car insurance at the right price and looking for deals on MOTs and servicing. Our car insurance offers a preferential discount of up to 15%, as well as double Nectar points for two years, for example."
Parents in London have the highest average taxi value to their children, providing over £103 of taxi services to their offspring on average, partially because of higher taxi rates in the capital. Parents in Scotland are worth around £73 a week to their children in taxi value, and those in the South East are worth around £72 a week.
Sainsbury's car insurance customers can choose from two options of cover, both offering some of the widest range of cover and benefits available in the marketplace. New Sainsbury's car insurance customers could also benefit from double Nectar points on all Sainsbury's shopping in-store, online and in petrol filling stations for two years; the saving equates to the equivalent of 2% off their Sainsbury's purchases when paying along with their Nectar card. For example, those spending £49 a week in-store at Sainsbury's could, over a year, earn up to a week's free shopping. In addition, new customers taking out a policy before 9th April could benefit from free breakdown assistance for one year.
For further information on Sainsbury's car insurance, visit sainsburysbank.co.uk.