17 year old car insurance

jacdoy101

Hello, having read the advice on this forum and many others I am at a complete loss, although only 16 I am looking at cars for when I hopefully pass my test at the end of this year (playing around with age on price comparison sites), I have yet to find a premium less that £4300 on a one litre car. Can people please offer their best advice on getting a relatively low quote for a cheap car. I was looking at Ford fiestas and the like with one litre engines or less. I was looking at a budget of around 2 grand for the insurance, tpf+t and don't mind aP highish excess if it means the premium stays low. If anyone can give some quotes they have received for 17 year olds and where you got them I would be very grateful. The car value would be around 400 to 500 pounds. any help or suggestions would be extremely helpful.

Duncombe

You are looking at the right sort of cars - small engined ones - but unfortunatly there is no such thing as a cheap quote for 17yr olds.

As far as excesses are concerned, be careful about applying a really high voluntary excess. Because you are only 17, you will have a compulsary excess already which may be quite significant. I understand wanting to keep a premium to a minimum, but would you actually be able to pay a huge excess if you were ever required to? This is particularly pertinent as you say the car will only be worth £400.

Have you tried insuring your parents as named drivers on the policy? That may bring the premium down abit.

mummytofour

Hi.
Best tips are get a car that is a very low insurance group I dont know how you can find out the group of a car but I know my fiat scentento (sp) is very low and v cheap to run. For you it might be cheaper if you add a parent onto the policy, play with the quotes and see. Also parking on the drive will be cheaper than the road. Insurance is not just based on car, but postcode and drivers. When you are asked about mileage, lower mileage will be cheaper to insure. Dont use the car for communiting just social and domestic. You can also look at the level of cover, things like legal cover, hire car etc will bump up your premium.

Good luck, its nice to see a you person being so organised!

jacdoy101

Thank you both for the advice, believe it or not that quote was with both my parents (both 20+ years driving experience having not claimed once) and with the car parked on the drive. I can't see how I am going to be able to get an affordable policy. What's the cheapest other people get their insurance for at 17?

Duncombe

jacdoy101 wrote: »

Thank you both for the advice, believe it or not that quote was with both my parents (both 20+ years driving experience having not claimed once) and with the car parked on the drive. I can't see how I am going to be able to get an affordable policy. What's the cheapest other people get their insurance for at 17?

There are too many variables in insurance for other quotes to be relevent to you. My first quote (at 17) was for a 1996 Fiat Punto and it was £340. But that was several years back

Have you tried all the comparison sites? Compare the Market, Go Compare, Confused.com?

You say you're only 16, so you havn't even started learning yet. I can't see how a 17year old really needs their own car anyway. Maybe it would be worth asking mum or dad if you could be insured on their car as a name driver until such time as you can afford your own policy and car when premiums arn't so ridiculous.

bouncydog1

Suggest you go back and read all the threads on car insurance for young drivers - there are no cheap quotes I'm afraid. Insurance is based on the following:-

Age
Gender (young males attract higher premiums)
Postcodes (some insurers will no longer offer terms for postcodes where they have had many claims or they load them highly)
Time licence held
Accidents
Convictions
Type of car (try Parkers for guides to insurance groups).
Excess (young drivers have a compulsory excess on comp and the fire and theft element of TPF&T policies).

Tips to help bring cost down:-

Try a broker who knows their market to help you get the right cover for you - you could also try companies that do not use brokers/aggregators - Co-op and NFU spring to mind and I think Aviva;
Try including parents (provided they are claim/accident free on to the policy);
Take pass plus (may or maynot make a difference but some insurers will give a discount);
Get quotes for TPF&T and fully comp;
Get quotes for on and off drive.

Do not be tempted to try and get your parents to insure the vehicle for you - this is known as fronting and insurers are wise to this and will likely refuse to quote you at all.

Ultimately if you cannot afford the insurance you may have to save for longer - do not be tempted to drive with no insurance - you could end up being pursued personally for the cost of damages which could affect you for a long time to come.

It might help if you could provide more information e.g. Gender and general area where you reside and people might be able to give a bit more assistance.

jacdoy101

Thanks for all the suggestions, I am male and live in birmingham. I have tried all the insurance comparison sites and had direct quotes of different companies, haven't tried a broker yet though. The reason I wanted a car is that for me to get to college involves me getting 3 buses and a round trip of around 17 miles, with college not ending till half 4 I doubt I would be home before 6 every night. Does the quote of £4300 strike you as a bit expensive for a group 1, one litre car with both parents as named drivers?

Always_Harassed

Have you looked into getting a moped if you just want to be mobile. The 49cc engine should be cheaper to insure and they use very little petrol.

ganonman

If you haven't purchased a car yet try http://www.parkers.co.uk/insurance/ and on the 'find car insurance group' bit search by group starting at 1. If will tell you exact cars in each insurance group so you know what to buy. There may be a car you haven't thought of yet.

bouncydog1

£4300 for a Group 1 car could be about right. My daughter will be 19 when she goes to Uni next year with 2 years bonus. Fully comp on group 1 car quotes (for a remote area in Wales) varied between c£750 and c£8500!

You really need to talk to a broker, but I would suspect that Birmingham is a fairly high risk postcode. If you just want to be mobile then a moped may be the best choice for you - you also need to take into account how you will fund the running costs of a car - fuel, mot, repairs, parking fees etc. etc.

Sometimes you just have to do your homework very thoroughly and make the right choice, albeit that it might not be the choice you want! Absolutely no point at all in getting yourself into debt at 17 just so you can have a car.

Charity_Dalek

We have just taken out the lowest car insurance that we could find for our 17 year old son. It's with i-kube on a Corsa Club, £6000 in value, with £400 excess = Cost £2300. The car is now fitted with a tracker and can only be used between 11.00pm and 5.00am if you are prepared to pay £50 per journey.