The cost of car insurance for young men continues to go through the roof and 17-20 year olds are paying almost double what women drivers of the same age are paying, experts at Confused.com have revealed.

New statistics from the comparison site provider show that female drivers pay £1,771 LESS than the men UK-wide: it currently costs an average of £1,959 for women aged 17-20 to insure a car compared to £3,730 for men. These are the findings of the Confused.com/Towers Watson Car Insurance Price Index (Q4 2011), which is based on more than 4 million quotes.

Regionally the picture is even more surprising. Young men passing their driving tests in inner London can expect to be quoted an average of £5,523 to insure their car if they are aged 20 years or younger - more than 48% higher than the average for this group and 5.7% more than they paid in Q4 of 2010. Their counterparts in Manchester and Merseyside fare even worse, with average costs of £5,724.

A 17-20 year old female in inner London can expect to pay £3,261 on average: a rise of 4.4% year-on-year, and they are paying an average of £3,307 in Manchester/Merseyside – a 9.9% rise year-on year. A high cost, but this is still more than £2,000 LESS than men of the same age.

Comprehensive car insurance for women across all ages and regions fell marginally in quarter 4 of 2011 (-1.3%), but prices continued to rise for men, although by just 1% in quarter 4. Year-on-year, it was 61-65 year old men who saw the biggest jump in costs, with a 7.4% increase, bringing the average premium for men of that age group to £504. For women drivers it was the 26-30 year olds who saw the steepest jump in prices with 7.2% hikes, giving an average of £789.