Young Drivers' Car Insurance Discussion

koru

If you are want to cover a newly qualified teenager on a parent's car, try taking out the cover in the name of the teenager instead of the parent (if it doesn't matter to you who gets the NCB).

The best quote on Go Compare for my wife's car, for her and our 18 yo son, who has newly passed, is Admiral (telematics) at £900, but this is only if the car is insured in his name. If I search for cover in my wife's name with son as additional driver, Admiral does not quote, so the cheapest quote is £1100 with Privilege (telematics).

That seems strange, because the risk is identical. For both searches, I disclosed that the car is owned by my wife and that she will be the main driver (as he will only use it during uni holidays). (The quotes were the same if I said he was the main driver, anyway.)

koru

Another couple of tips for getting the premium down:

1 Don't buy cover to start immediately

A couple of weeks before my son was due to take his test, I got Go Compare quotes for cover to start the day of his test. I found Admiral was cheapest at £900. The day he passed, I went back to the quote, which Go Compare said had expired, so I reran the search. This time it was quoting £1500, with the only change being that I wanted cover to start immediately. So, I went back to the expired quote and tried to buy it anyway. It gave me the quote reference to phone Admiral so I phoned them and was chuffed to find that they would still honour the price from 2 weeks ago.

I was curious about why there was such a price difference, so I went back to Go Compare and reran the search, but changed the cover start date to 2 weeks' time. The premium for Admiral dropped from £1500 to £950! (Other companies also got cheaper.)

So, plan ahead and get quotes before you want the cover to start.

2 Wait a month after the youngster passes their test

I was so surprised about the difference in price mentioned above that I started to wonder what difference it would make if the youngster had passed a month ago or the same day. So I reran the search, but changed it to say that my son had held his full licence just one month. Again, prices fell. The cheapest quote on Go Compare was £827! (This with Bell, which is Admiral group.) So, if I could have persuaded my son not to drive for a month after passing his test, I could have saved another £120. (Sadly, he was having none of it!)

forgotmyname

I found that getting insurance soon after they passed was actually cheaper than putting down they passed last year or the year before. Maybe it was just the market and prices had increased?

But my daughters insurance was just over £900 where her cousins insurance is £1800+. Although he does have 3 points.

Her insurance is with Diamond, but needs must until she builds up a decent amount of no claims and she wont be claiming for her own car from them anyway.

koru

Debbie_Cave wrote: »

...because the engine size is 2 ltr, Admiral (my current insurer) won't even consider adding her to the policy, and the ones that would consider her were all quoting £6,000 - £8,000. This is just bonkers. We live in London and don't want nor need a second car, but it seems cheaper to buy a cheap run around and insure her on her own car than to add her to my policy. ...Anyone have any suggestions?

If you are in London, there are lots of car clubs. Some allow teenage drivers. Might be worth checking out.

Marmalade insurance for students might be another possibility.

koru

Emmasatschool wrote: »

My daughter will be 17 next month, we have purchased a cheapish Toyota Aygo which will hopefully mean an affordable premium.
We will be collecting the car this week and so need to insure it if my husband and I want to use it before our daughters birthday.
Does this mean that we will need three policies in total over the next few months; The first under mine or my husbands name; the second for my daughter as a provisional driver; and the third for her as a full driver?
We'd like her to have her own insurance policy to build no claims. Im not sure who to register the car to, I understand that some policies are cheaper if the insured is also the registered keeper, but she is still under 17?
I would be really interested to hear of other peoples experiences, and any helpful hints.
Thank you!!

Yes, you will need 3 policies, or 1 policy with 2 revisions. If you want to add a learner or newly qualified to an existing policy, I've found that they tend not to quote competitively for the revised cover. I suppose they think you are unlikely to switch, so they can rip you off. But even if you cancel the old policy and switch, you lose out, because of cancellation charges.

Perhaps it would be smart to try to choose a policy that you won't need to switch? To illustrate what I mean, assume there are only three insurance companies in the market: A, B and C. Let's assume their premiums are:
stage 1, cover for just you and spouse, £240, 220, 250
stage 2 (daughter added on provisional licence) £400, 450, 440
stage 3 (newly qualified) £1250, 1350, 1040

So, initially, B is slightly cheaper. But once your daughter has qualified, B is awful, because they are £310 more expensive. You could start with B, then cancel and switch to C, but B will charge cancellation fees, probably at least £50, which is more than the saving you thought you would get from B initially. You would have been better to go with C from the start.

Similarly, although A might be a bit cheaper at provisional licence stage, it is probably not worth switching to A, because that's another lot of cancellation fees if you switch to C after she gets her licence.

So, start with a search for the cheapest at stage 3, then work backwards and you might decide to start with someone different.

Might also be worth looking at add-on cover for daughter (eg, Marmalade), so you keep your stage 1 policy. Marmalade isn't cheap, but it might mean you avoid two lots of cancellation charges, which might make it competitive.

In many cases, I reckon it would be cheaper not to insure for the learner driver. Just pay for them to do more lessons with an instructor instead.

ElGrangewood

Hi all.

17 yr old son is learning to drive and should be taking the test soon. I have purchased a car from a family member. It a small 1.1 Mitsubishi Colt, 012. I haven't had any insurance quotes yet, I'm trying to find as much info here first.

He could* be using the car for practice, pre-test? Presuming he passes, he probably wouldn't do more than 3k miles pa.

A query I have is about the registration of the car. I wonder if it is beneficial to register the car in my name and as the owner, or his name and as the owner? I can actually fulfill the requirement of 'main driver' if need be, as I could use the car daily.

Is there any savings to be made if he owns\insures it and adds me as a driver, or I own insure it and add him as a driver? Any other suggestions before I fill in\send off the log book?

koru

@ElGrangewood

Based on my experience, if the parent is the policy holder and main driver, with teenager as named driver, this does not get cheaper quotes. In fact, some quotes are the same and some companies don't quote at all. In my case, I found the company with the cheapest quote only quoted if my son was the policy holder and main driver.

I told them on the phone that I will in fact be driving more than him and I own the car, but they said it was safest to say he is the policy holder and main driver. With the parent as the policy holder and main driver, if there's a claim they would investigate whether the parent was fronting. Best not to run the risk of a claim being turned down.

But experiment with the different alternatives on the price comparison sites and see what works out cheapest for you.

luxuryopl

Hi can you help me

I have bought my 17 yr old a car which is an 03 Clio.
If I try and look on the Admiral learner driver policy it assumes we have a policy already
I have a company car so haven't insurance hence the challenge but had loads of no claim years
Basically if I do a comparison it gives me a year quote for her but that's with a provisional licence
Assuming she passes a test in the next 3/4 months then that policy is invalid as it will then be a full licence hence we would have to cancel (and pay cancellation costs) and then re quote on full licence

All I have found is temporary cover when car already owned and insured but this isn't
Is there a way to get provisional insurance for the time it takes to learn and then stop it and find full insurance with a full licence

Sorry but its driving me mad (excuse the pun) as all I want is a cost for a few months whilst she learns and then set up an annual policy as cant see the point of committing to 12 months of provisional when it wont be that long
Any advise is welcome please plus where to get best quotes !

Steve

forgotmyname

Yes simple get learner insurance now and when they pass their test cancel it and get a new policy. Expect the cost of the new policy to increase though.
Learner insurance = their car registered in their name with JUST THEM to drive it. Does not cover any other driver. Its quite cheap then.

Cost for a few months = how long is a piece of string? Too many variables to affect the final price. Last year sub 1000cc engined cars were cheaper to insure than anything else. This year 1300 - 1400cc engines were cheaper?


You have bought it? Have you SORNd it? You need to tax and insure it or park it off the road and SORN it.

Short term cover can cost far more for 3 or 4 months than a full 12 month policy.

jstallan

Daughter passed her test today. I'd purchased a car a few months back and she'd been getting some extra practice in that. Cancelled that insurance (terms of the policy) and took out a policy with Ingenie for £1084. She's 17 .

Looked on the web for reviews about Ingenie prior to purchase - some good a few bad.