Press release -
£23 MILLION PARTY BILL: PARENTS LEFT COUNTING THE COST OF TEENAGE HOUSE
As the Christmas party season gets into full swing, new research reveals that teenage house parties cause £23 million1 worth of damage to Britain’s family homes.
With the average cost of repairs for teenage parties reaching £162 - up £45 on last year - insurance provider, Allianz Your Cover, is issuing a warning to parents to be on the look out for illicit parties or to budget for breakages in the event their teenagers do hold a house party.
Andy James of Allianz Your Cover said: “One in 10 teenagers have caused damage to their family homes by throwing a party, so parents have good reason to worry about celebrations getting out of control. By being vigilant to their teenager’s behaviour, parents can avoid being the unlucky owner of a home ravaged by a teen party that has caused thousands of pounds worth of damage.”
Unaware Parents
One in 10 parents polled are oblivious to whether their teenager has advertised a party via a social networking website, this is despite the vast majority (92%) having revealed that they do not think social networking websites are a good way for teenagers to organise their social lives. Parents’ apprehensions are well founded as a recent survey revealed that teenagers have an average of 243 friends on Facebook3, so by posting details of a party online teenagers are essentially opening the door of their family home to hundreds of people.
Further demonstrating this trend of unaware parents is a drop in the number of parents monitoring their teenager’s online social activity from a third (35%) in 2010 to just 17%, meaning that parents are left unaware as to whether their teenagers are organising parties online.
Dreaded Damage
Parents have named the top five types of problems most commonly caused by teenage parties:
- General rubbish and mess (52%)
- Broken furniture (45%)
- Trampled garden and plants (28%)
- Stains to carpets (24%)
- Burns to upholstery (23%)
The research also found that while parties hosted by boys are more likely to result in broken furniture, girls hosting parties are twice as likely to create more general rubbish and mess.
Andy James continues: “We would urge parents to talk to their teenage children and set boundaries for parties to ensure that any festive celebrations do not compromise the safety and security of their home. We recommend that parents check the levels of accidental damage cover on their home insurance policies. Less than half of our customers have opted for accidental damage cover which would ensure they are protected. ”
Your Cover Insurance, Allianz UK’s flexible insurance offering enables policy holders to purchase different levels of accidental damage cover on both contents and buildings policies to ensure homeowners get the cover they need.
For more information please visit: www.YourCoverInsurance.co.uk
- Ends-
Notes to Editors:
A survey of 2,000 UK parents with children ageed between 11-18 was carried out in October 2011 by 72 Point on behalf of Allianz Insurance.
1 £23,646,091 (13,910.8 teenagers in the UK http://www.statistics.gov.uk divided by 9.54% of teenagers that have caused damage at a party x £162.17 average amount of damage caused)
2 Average amount of damage caused at a house party in 2011 is £162.17 compared to £117.13 in 2010
3Yours magazine survey found that teenagers have an average of 243 friends on Facebook in August 2011.
Several parents have become the unfortunate owners of homes ravaged by their teenagers leaving them with significant damages to repair such as Mr and Mrs Ross who returned home to find their house trashed in February 2010 after a house party advertised by their daughter online became out of hand and Rebecca Javeleau, age 14, who had a near miss in September 20120 after over 21,000 people accepted her party invite after she mistakenly posted her address on a social networking site.
For further information contact:
Katie Donlan/Kate Mallett, Consolidated PR
Tel: 0207 781 2376/ 0207 781 2360
Email: katied@consolidatedpr.com/ katem@consolidatedpr.com
Mark Bishop, Group Communications Manager, Allianz Insurance
Tel: 01483 552731
Mob: 0779 2567449
Email: mark.bishop@allianz.co.uk
Topics
About Allianz
Allianz Insurance is one of the largest general insurers in the UK and part of the Allianz SE Group, the largest property and casualty insurer worldwide. Reassuringly in these uncertain financial times, in July 2011 the Standard and Poor's rating for Allianz Insurance was reaffirmed as AA-with a stable outlook and the rating of Allianz SE was also reaffirmed as AA with a stable outlook.
About Your Cover
Your Cover is a new breed of insurance product, offering cover that customers select to precisely match their own lifestyle and circumstances. Using an easy to use ‘Quote and Buy’ website, Your Cover makes it simple to design and, obtain a quote, and manage your insurance online. The result of two years' research involving thousands of insurance buyers, Your Cover is a product from Allianz Insurance plc, which is a part of the global Allianz Group.
Your Cover insurance quotes are available online at www.yourcoverinsurance.co.uk.
