The £100m cost of car insurance laziness

British motorists are paying £100 million more than they need to for their car insurance, because they do not use their garage.

Regularly parking your car in a garage, and informing your car insurance provider of this fact, can bring about hefty reductions in the cost of cover - but millions of Britons do not bother to lock up their cars at night, Saga Motor Insurance reveals.

While some drivers have good reason to not park in their garage, for many it is simply a case of laziness.

Saga reveals that less than half of those with a garage regularly use it to house their vehicle, with two out of three of these saying they cannot park their car there because the garage is full of junk. In fact 71 per cent of people with garages say that it is used for storing unwanted goods.

"People are leaving their cars out on the streets at the mercy of opportunist thieves, vandals and the British weather. By clearing out their garage to make room for their car they could make a significant saving on their motor insurance," said Andrew Goodsell, Saga chief executive.

Others have more reasonable excuses - with one owner in five saying their garage is too small for their car.

This explanation gains weight when it is considered that the new VW Golf is 13cm wider than the Mark I; and the latest Ford Fiesta is 8cm wider than its 1995 incarnation.

Overall, the best selling UK cars are between 1.6 metres and 1.8 metres in width, while the recommended width for a new garage is just 2.6 metres, Saga reveals.