Young Drivers' Car Insurance Discussion

Derivative

miamoo wrote: »

How can he be a safer driver and not likely to have an accident by not driving for 2yrs!

All based on statistics.

I would tend to think that someone who gets their license as a pre-emptive thing is going to be a more sensible driver. They've realised the fact that at some point in the future they may need to drive and that driving lessons can be hard to fit around other commitments.

By contrast, someone who gets their license and gets excited about buying the first car they see might be the sort of impulsive person likely to take risks while driving.

True in your son's case? Perhaps not. But could be something to think about on average - and if it's not that, there will be some reason.

maroon_jelly

Just though I'd let you know my views of the Co-op Young Driver insurance...

I'm 23, been driving 5 years and have 1.2 corsa. I went with Co-op young driver insurance beginging of december 2011. I was a named driver on my mums co-op insurance last year. Decided to go on my own policy with my mum as anamed driver.

Two weeks into the policy the 'smart box' fitted to my car stopped working. I reported this and was told it would be sort in 10 days. twoo weeks later, nothing had been sorted. Reported it again as I didn't want them to try claiming i'd broke it. Still nothing.

One month into my policy i received an email saying the policy was ending with 5 days notice and I owed them the admin fee's for ending early. I phoned to ask why it was ending, they said I hadn't sent the a copy of my log book. The copy had been uploaded via they're site the day after i got the policy. I had proof on my co-op online 'dashboard' account. Took a while but they accepted I had provided the log book and my policy would carry on as normal (still with out a working smart box).

I recieved an email this weekend, the premiums have gone up from £49 a month to £130 a month!!! again, phoned to ask why, was told the proof of no claims could not be accepted because they were from a different insurance company? i told them we were with co-op the previous year but they said because we went through a compare site it didnt count, it wasnt proved by co-op, despite the NCD proof being on co-op headed paper??? I was put through to the team leader who just repeated they can only accept co-op NCD, no other insurance company.

I put over £200 deposit for the insurance when i took it out 3 months ago to cover the cost of the smart box being fitted and now have to pay £120 for it to be removed plus the usual admin fees for ending a policy early, AND find a deposit for a new policy (it would be much cheaper per month for me with most other insurers without the smart box compared to the £130 a month they now want).

I have emailed one of their team leaders about this and have had no response yet

i doubt im the first person they've done this to and wont be the last. They have made a fortune out of me due to this!!!

I would avoid them at all costs from now on!!!!:mad:

stewb

Another option my broker found for me is temporary other driver cover. my daughter recently passed her test, but realistically she won't have much chance to drive the family car, so tripling the cost of my insurance from £220 to £750 didn't make sense, especially as she will be off to college in the Autumn. Some companies (Ageas, Aviva) have a temporary other driver provision where you pay a premium on a daily/weekly basis which can be used for up to 90 days a year. So, if you have a young driver using the car occasionally this might work out a lot cheaper than a full policy.

stewb

All new young drivers are being punished by the very high premiums that make the cost prohibitive for most and lead directly to many choosing to drive uninsured. Surely it would make more sense to offer an average driver premium for new drivers, given that they haven't any no claims bonus anyway BUT make it clear this is a probationary policy, and that any accident related claim where you at fault will then result in a huge hike in the premium.
That would clearly incentivise careful driving and hit the boy racers in the pocket when guilty of bad driving.

Insurance is supposed to be about pooled risk, but it isn't working for young people. we were all young once!

By the way, why do we allow protected NCDs? It is another way of incentivising poor driving!

bouncydog1

You pay extra to protect your bonus so once you have driven carefully to try and avoid accidents, why shouldn't you have the option of paying a little more to keep your bonus.

If you have two accidents within a set period you lose the lot anyway - you can't protect it for ever. And even with protected if you have an accident and don't lose your bonus, insurers are still likely to apply an experience rating.

It's optional - why shouldn't it be allowed?

PJB

Son is 21 and just passed his test today.

We have given him our old 1.6 Megane Coupe, not good I know but it doesn't end there, the car is black and it was a Cat C write off - OUCH!

Any tips on getting quotes, best so far is £5,500!

Not sure if best bet is to get something temporary and then sell the car, so he can get something more reasonable to insure, be a shame as the Megane only has 40k odd mileage and is lovely to drive!

annie12

I posted this in the other young driver's thread on Wednesday.

I have just paid £4000 for 17 year old son with the Coop youn drivers policy. He is restricted to 2000 miles, no driving between 11pm & 6am, 11-20 hours per week & no passengers after 6pm. It's the only way we could afford it, every other policy was over £8000!

He does get discounts for good driving & as I will be driving the car too, I'd better drive very carefully!

mikey72

stewb wrote: »

................By the way, why do we allow protected NCDs? It is another way of incentivising poor driving!

It's insurance for your insurance.
Who do you think it costs more, the customer, or the insurance company?

stewb

bouncyd!!! wrote: »

You pay extra to protect your bonus so once you have driven carefully to try and avoid accidents, why shouldn't you have the option of paying a little more to keep your bonus.

If you have two accidents within a set period you lose the lot anyway - you can't protect it for ever. And even with protected if you have an accident and don't lose your bonus, insurers are still likely to apply an experience rating.

It's optional - why shouldn't it be allowed?

As Mikey above points out it is a money maker for the insurance companies. Personally I have never protected my NCB, as I don't believe in it, and it boosts the premium. If I have an accident I will lose SOME of my NCB, which is how it should be.

josie1256

I am looking for insurance for my son 17 to be insured for our Corsa 2008 the cheapest I have found is Direct Line £1269.88 fully comp but would have to pay over £120 to protect my husbands NCD.