Car insurance is vital for parents that could cash in on thousands of pounds if they started charging their children for lifts, claims an insurance provider.
According to the insurance company esure.com, if parents charge their offspring at standard taxi rates until they reached the age of 17, they could make up to £170,000.
With mums being the chief taxi drivers, this works out as £8,000 a year for mothers, with dads missing out on £2,000 in unpaid fares.
Cheap car insurance could help safeguard against any problems parents might have with their cars after driving an average of 3,500 miles every year, ferrying their children to school, parties or leisure activities.
The research also found that almost 50 per cent of trips include transporting other people's children around, which apparently annoys at least one in five parents.
However, most parents don't ask for contributions to petrol costs, with at least three-quarters saying they would "never consider" asking for money.
Mike Pickard from esure.com suggests that parents often don't realise the full costs of transporting around their children and other people's offspring.
He says that asking for contributions to petrol costs would have no effect on quotes for car insurance.
"Parents may not ask other parents for money towards petrol costs as they have a reciprocal agreement or are embarrassed to ask for cash.
"There are no issues - insurance wise - for asking for money toward petrol costs as you can carry passengers in return for a mileage payment as long as there is no element of profit," he said.




