car insurance for a 19 yr old

alext_3

Currently driving an old Ford Fiesta 1.1, and as i'm going to University in September, i want to change my car and get something thats going to be more reliable etc.

Basically ive had a long look around and chatted to some very knowledgable people about my possibilities for cars and one of my options which i want to try and follow through is a 1.9JTD Fiat Stilo.. This will do over 20 more mpg than my current car, give miles more power and importantly is only group 5 insurance.

For the past year i've been driving my Fiesta under my mum's name. The Fiesta is actually a group 4 insurance, and considering the Fiat is 5, i wouldn't expect any massive differences in insurance quotes - at least not the ones i've been getting so far!

When i hopefully get the new car in Sept, the policy details will be as followed...
Main Driver - My mum - housewife / 58 yrs old / 1 yrs no claims / over 10 yrs driving experience
Me - 19 yrs old / male / 1 yrs driving experience / no convictions etc

When i started my original policy on the Fiesta i was actually 17 but with none of the driving experience as above and my mum didn't have the 1 yrs no claims, but with Frizzell we got a quote which when paying monthly worked out at about £1000 for the year - not too bad when you consider some of the prices these days!

Basically after using money supermarket / confused etc i have never, ever been impressed. Last year the cheapest quote i got from them was something like £1900, yet from one search on Frizzell i had a quote £900 cheaper. Not only that, other members of my family have tried them and all been very dissatisfied at the results.

I'm just wondering what my best option would be. I reckon the annual mileage will be 7000-8000 miles... And after looking at Barclays insurance i noticed one of the options for an additional driver was "student living away for part of the year", which could be an option for me. It does seem to give quite a good discount if thats an option taken, and i may indeed be living away in Sept and could tell the insurer this?

Also, what options do you think i should take when paying for it? I am going to try and save up about £800-1000 from working in the next month and was thinking about paying it all off at once.. Is getting a low interest credit card and paying it all off a decent option? I will be getting student finance etc to help me out also...

Basically the cheapest quote ive had so far from using the money supermarket is £1600 for a year... Which is too much for my liking, as you can imagine. I would settle for something between £1000-1200 to be honest, considering the quotes ive had so far. Barclays quoted me £5000 on my own policy! Absolute joke!

Any help is really appreciated - thanks a lot guys,

Alex

jem16

It sounds very much like you are the main driver and not your mum as you talk about your car and you goind to uni and wanting something more reliable.

If so you have to get your own policy as what you are doing is known as "fronting". In the event of a claim you could very easily find yourself not covered as the insurance companies are very well aware of those trying to keep the cost down by getting insurance in their parent's name.

**woody123**

alext wrote: »

When i hopefully get the new car in Sept, the policy details will be as followed...
Main Driver - My mum - housewife / 58 yrs old / 1 yrs no claims / over 10 yrs driving experience
Me - 19 yrs old / male / 1 yrs driving experience / no convictions etc

I don't think you should put your mum as the main driver mate, if you are going to be doing most of the driving that is...

I wonder if you've tried quotes in your own name, When i was 19 without any no claims i paid £700 on an XR2 Fiesta, O.k this was 5 years ago but if i just get straight to the point i think you are best trying to build up your own no claims rather than to continue in your mothers name. I was on my dad's policy for one year and then went on my own and 5 years later i have 5 years no claims it brings your insurance down a hell of alot. I know that there are companies who do allow you to carry over your no claims from another policy by the way.

And i suppose it depends on your financial circumstances to whether you pay monthly or not, i personally would pay the whole lot in one go because some companies do charge more if you pay monthly..

Just a note on the car mate i've seen the Fiat Stilo it is a tasty number, i don't know how old it is but the cost of parts to a Fiat are expensive.. And fords i must say are cheaper on parts and the parts are easier to find. Try a Ford Focus mate,,

alext_3

**woody123** wrote: »

I don't think you should put your mum as the main driver mate, if you are going to be doing most of the driving that is...

I wonder if you've tried quotes in your own name, When i was 19 without any no claims i paid £700 on an XR2 Fiesta, O.k this was 5 years ago but if i just get straight to the point i think you are best trying to build up your own no claims rather than to continue in your mothers name. I was on my dad's policy for one year and then went on my own and 5 years later i have 5 years no claims it brings your insurance down a hell of alot. I know that there are companies who do allow you to carry over your no claims from another policy by the way.

And i suppose it depends on your financial circumstances to whether you pay monthly or not, i personally would pay the whole lot in one go because some companies do charge more if you pay monthly..

Just a note on the car mate i've seen the Fiat Stilo it is a tasty number, i don't know how old it is but the cost of parts to a Fiat are expensive.. And fords i must say are cheaper on parts and the parts are easier to find. Try a Ford Focus mate,,

Cheers for the input m8... The stilo's are newer than the Focus, but i have had a look at the Focus TD's... Thing is they are typically group 6-7 insurance, so i'd be looking at even more money..

Jem16 - you are right, i am using my name on my mums policy, and although she would drive the car, yes i would probably be using it more often. But although its very easy to say what i'm doing is wrong etc, its not as easy forking out an extra grand to have my own policy... Realistically, thousands and thousands of people use this method of getting a cheaper premium... and unless you were caught in very dodgy circumstances i highly doubt the insurance company wouldn't cover you... Since they can't really prove indefinitely how much you've been using the car & you are after all a named driver...

The frizzell company i'm insured with now is with me as a named driver, but i am covered fully comp as is the policy holder - my excess is just slightly higher.

Back to your point woody... I'll try and get some quotes on cars on my own policy - it is miles better having your own policy but unless i get a good quote i can't see myself affording it. £700 on an Xr2 is a very good quote - and the Xr2 was meant to be a performance car with a much higher insurance group than this Stilo... what i can't get over the most is why i'm getting ridiculous quotes on a car that isn't even a performance car! Its not meant to be the "sporty" one of the Stilo range and the insurance group of 5 is low!

The 1 yrs no claims is currently on my mums policy, is there a way of using it for a policy in my name? I didn't think it was possible, but we'll see.

I'm gonna have to do a lot of looking around and haggling to see where i end up...

Cheers for your help so far!

**woody123**

Good luck on the quote hunting mate, i will just say that i'm glad i'm not 19/20 again with the insurance prices as they are. Its going to be your age thats the main problem and maybe the postcode depending on where you live. That quote for my XR2 was with Tesco Insurance.. But another thing the car was 13 years old at the time.

You say that the Stilo's are newer than the Focus's.. The TDCI focus's are out now but i don't know what year/reg you would be looking at..

beckiem

try ecar ive been driving 2 years and three years no claims i pay £14.01 a month deposit was about £65.00 3rd party fire and theft cheapest i found its gotta be worth a quote!

jem16

alext wrote: »

Jem16 - you are right, i am using my name on my mums policy, and although she would drive the car, yes i would probably be using it more often. But although its very easy to say what i'm doing is wrong etc, its not as easy forking out an extra grand to have my own policy... Realistically, thousands and thousands of people use this method of getting a cheaper premium... and unless you were caught in very dodgy circumstances i highly doubt the insurance company wouldn't cover you... Since they can't really prove indefinitely how much you've been using the car & you are after all a named driver...

If the insurance company has any suspicions they will find out, especially if you go away to university. If they can find a reason to turn down your claim they will.

I know exactly what you are going through. My two sons are 23 and 20 and for the last 5 years I have been involved in finding them insurance. With the elder son I did exactly what you are doing to begin with. However we soon realised that getting his own policy and starting building up his own no-claims bonus was going to be cheaper in the long run. With my younger one I organised his own policy within 6 months of passing his test.

What did help with lower quotes was the Pass Plus. My younger son also did the Institute of Advanced Motorists course and passed this when he was still 17. His first policy was through Norwich Union and was just under £1600 for an Astra SXI 1600 - this was my old car. Last September he got a policy with More Than for just under £570 with 2 years no-claims bonus.

So yes it is dear to begin with. However as long as you are still under 25 with no no-claims bonus you will pay this high amount eventually. Far better, if possible, to get started with your own policy as soon as you can.

The 1 yrs no claims is currently on my mums policy, is there a way of using it for a policy in my name? I didn't think it was possible, but we'll see.

No it's your mum's NCB. However a lot of companies will give an introductory bonus. Quite a few give a discount for Pass Plus and some give a discount for the IAM test.

raskazz

alext wrote: »

i am using my name on my mums policy, and although she would drive the car, yes i would probably be using it more often. But although its very easy to say what i'm doing is wrong etc, its not as easy forking out an extra grand to have my own policy... Realistically, thousands and thousands of people use this method of getting a cheaper premium... and unless you were caught in very dodgy circumstances i highly doubt the insurance company wouldn't cover you... Since they can't really prove indefinitely how much you've been using the car & you are after all a named driver...

Don't even think about carrying on misrepresenting who the main user of the vehicle is if you're going to take it to University. 'Fronting', as it is known as, is usually easy for insurers to spot - and will be even simpler to spot in your case when the address shown on the policy is your mum's address but the location where the car will be kept for most of the year is your student accomodation. They will void your policy without batting an eyelid, trust me.

Try getting insurance at any decent price ever again if you get caught.

As if that wasn't reason enough, in the long run building up your own NCD will work out cheaper anyway.

milkydrink

Try Quinn Direct (they are in Norther Ireland).
Really good for young or not much NCD.
I used them when I started but more importantly my nephew uses them nowe & they were a lot cheaper than the nearest quote.

Hadrian

Insurance companies take on 'risk'. They know the statistics for accidents backwards. It is a fact that young males under (now) 27 are seven times as accident prone than more experienced drivers, females some three times. The very idea that youngsters consider paying over a thousand £'s a year simply to impress their friends is madness. The premium reflects the risk. Premiums of £1000 plus are simply to put these drivers off owning a car, as well as taking the risk for when they 'total' it.
There is one way that the premiums can be reduced and that is to make the driving test much more difficult to pass. It's now around a pass rate of 50%, bringing this down to 20% would mean that only the better drivers were allowed a license, premiums could then be lowered and we'd all be much safer on our roads.
PS The reason why females have a lower accident rate is simply that they drive less.

jem16

Female drivers are less of a risk because they cost the insurance companies less. Their claims tend to be from smaller bumps and scrapes as opposed to write-offs and major damage caused by young male drivers and their need for speed.