Young Driver Insurance - Everyone has been there!

ryan86uk

Hi,

I just thought I would write a quick post about young driver insurance. Albeit the cost of insurance has gone up in recent years (for everyone, not just young drivers) but everyone has been in the situation of paying high premiums being a young, newly qualified driver.

When I first passed my test and got my little Polo 1.0 it cost me £1350 (in 2004) for 3rd party cover and it financially was costing me a fortune. After the first year though this dropped by nearly £600 to a more manageable level at least.

My advice would be to just accept that young drivers (male - unfortunately) are the highest risk on the roads therefore a higher insurance cost is necessary. However, if you are a safe, sensible driver then it will soon drop. My car insurance now is only £380 a year and that's for a 2.0 Gti.

I wouldn't try and cheat the system too much as you may find you come unstuck should you need to make a claim.

:mad: :eek:

lisyloo

but everyone has been in the situation of paying high premiums being a young, newly qualified driver.

I'm not sure how old you are ryan86, but those of us who are much older do remeber when it wasn't like this.
Having said that when I was young, 17 year olds couldn't afford cars.
I was 22 when I got my first car after uni and that was not unusual at that time.
I used to live in a quiet village without public transport (I'm going back to 1984).
Most of my friends got a moped when they were 16 and many went on to get a 125 at 17.
We couldn't afford cars then and we had no access to credit.
Most of my friends at uni didn't have cars. We either walked or got the bus.

It might not be a popular view but I think one reasons the premiums have gone up is because the initial age has gone down and that has meant more accidents, because 17 year olds with 15 and 16 year old friends are less mature than those in their early twenties.
I know that won't be popular becuase people want the freedom to travel and independence and I totally understand that having felt "trapped" in a quiet village.

So if you were really born in 86 then I can certainly tell it hasn't always been like this.
One of the BIG difference in the 80s, was no widespread access to credit.
We just had to manage without cars.

In the 70s when I was growing up it was very unusual to ahev more than one car per family and most people did not drive their kids to school. Again we either walked or got the bus.

Widespread access to credit and hence cars at 17 is a relatively new phenomena as previous generations simply could not afford it.
By the time we could afford to drive a car we were generally a lot more mature.

Alison_B

Things have changed since I was learning to drive (over 25 years ago). I was the driver and my mum had the insurance policy which made it more affordable for me. I didn't get my own insurance policy until I got married and moved away from home.

lisyloo

I was the driver and my mum had the insurance policy which made it more affordable for me.

You can still do this providing the main driver is correctly specified.

queline

I got quotes through all the usual comparison sites for my 20 year old daughter to drive my car on occasions when she is home from University. She wouldn't be driving it very often however as I need it and would be the main driver of course. Direct Line came back with a reasonable quote considering her age, she has been driving for 3 years, but with a total excess for her of £550! I phoned Direct Line to arrange the insurance but was refused point blank to do it in my name even though I would DEFINITELY be the main driver and I own the car! I was told it was because of this 'fronting' business because people have been dishonest in the past about who actually is the main driver and insurance companies are now refusing to pay out if the young driver has an accident. I didnt proceed as was told that the premium would be very high but people like us are being penalised because there are dishonest people out there. However, I did question why I had been able to get a reasonable quote online and was told they would have changed the policy holder anyway when they discovered the age of my daughter as named driver, also that the web prices are just a way of getting you to take out a policy and more often than not things will have to be changed when you get down to the nitty gritty. So beware, comparison sites are not all they are cracked up to be and be prepared for further changes to your premium. My daughter did have her own car until recently but so expensive to run for the little use it got we decided to get rid of it and thought she would be able to drive my car, ha ha! Result: my daughter cannot be insured as we can't afford it! Any advice would be welcome if there is any way to get over this (legal and honest of course)

worried_jim

My first insurance was £500 in 1991 on a Talbot Sunbeam which cost me £500 when I was 17. I then soon changed to a 1.1 escort and again paid about £500 and then at aged 21 I spent £5k on a Rover 214si which was, yes you've guessed it £500. This was followed 3 years later with a Toyota Celica and I paid £500 insurance.
I now pay about £200 and have for the last 7-8 years. I have full ncb and have never made a claim or been in an accident and since hitting my thirties the cost has settled down.
At my school when you turned 17 everyone got driving lessons for their birthday and six months later you would buy a mini (1275 cc with big exhaust), everyone did it, everyone had weekend jobs and everyone insured them - probably on mum and dads insurance. Happy times.

coog93

hi,

just to add, i am currently 17 and passed last year. the prices for young drivers today is much.. much worse....

for me to insure a 1.4 rover 25.. is £6500

even for a 1ltr corsa is £5000

its just stupid

mikey72

I can't remember the prices, but it was certainly affordable in the 70's and 80's.
I had a marina van, a couple of 1750cc twin carb hillman hunters, a chrysler alpine 1.4 with a weber twin barrel carb, then a supercharged 1600cc beach buggy, all by the age of 20.
The dearest was the beach buggy, I remember that as it was over double the others, at over £300. Less than two weeks wages, if I hadn't been a student, and paid it out of my student grant. They paid me to go to uni. (still less than £1000 now with inflation, and that's being generous, £300 is about £800 now, £400 is £1000)
Then I moved onto a V8 SD1, then a straight 6 daimler, and I must have been under 25 for them.
I don't remember a horrific price for them either.
Must have been tpf&t in those days, I was too tight to pay for fully comp.
Nowadays it's the cheaper option, so I am fully comp now though.

(And when I was 17, most could afford cars or bikes, and to insure them in their own name, with no problems at all. Mind you most of us had weekend jobs though, and looked after the cars ourselves.)

coog93

even third party fire and theft is expensive. doesn't really change the price . putting mum on lowed it by about 1000. but its still basically daylight robbery,

mikey72

coog93 wrote: »

even third party fire and theft is expensive. doesn't really change the price . putting mum on lowed it by about 1000. but its still basically daylight robbery,

It used to be much cheaper than fully comp. I don't think I ever put parents on my insurance, we all drove each others cars on the "other cars not owned etc" extension, that was on every policy then.
(I may have put my dad on, thinking about it, he may have had a company car, it made no difference to the price though)

bouncydog1

First insurance policy for car at 17 in my own name was £37.50 third party, fire and theft in 1974! Morris 1100. I earned £78 per month gross!