Children's car insurance

11fernsroad

Hi
My daughter would turn 21 very soon and we are planning to get her a car.She had passed driving test 2 years ago.
What would be the best and cheapest way of getting car insurance for her?
Me and my wife both have cars and they are coming up for renewal soon.
Many thanks

System

Does she live independently, and would want a car entirely for her own use?
She'll need her own insurance policy, but will be cheaper if you are both down as named drivers, assuming you have good driving records yourselves.
Do some research on premiums for different cars. Small and popular is not necessarily the cheapest. We found that large, old and very unfashionable was far cheaper.

11fernsroad

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

Does she live independently, and would want a car entirely for her own use?
She'll need her own insurance policy, but will be cheaper if you are both down as named drivers, assuming you have good driving records yourselves.
Do some research on premiums for different cars. Small and popular is not necessarily the cheapest. We found that large, old and very unfashionable was far cheaper.

Thanks.
Do you mean including her as a named driver in one of our car insurance policy or including our name as named driver in her policy?
And yes,she will be living independently and use car for her own purpose

Stuart107

11fernsroad wrote: »

And yes,she will be living independently and use car for her own purpose

In which case she should be declared as the main driver with yourselves as named drivers. To do otherwise might well constitute "fronting" where the main driver - and hence the main element in the risk calculations - is declared as only a named driver with the intention of reducing the premium.

System

Stuart107 wrote: »

In which case she should be declared as the main driver with yourselves as named drivers. .

Yes that's what I meant.
It is amazing but true that naming a safe driver on a policy usually reduces the premium, even if that driver never actually drives the car.

muz3562

As she lives independently and by the sounds of it is going to be the main person who uses the car then she will have to be the main driver on the insurance . However when I insured my first car at the age of 23 having had my license a year I found that adding named drivers with substantial driving experience but not my parents brought the cost down . I got more of a discount adding 2 unrelated people with extensive driving history to my policy . One was a friends mother and another was a work colleague .

It might also be worth looking at policies that require a telematics box being fitted either by yourself or by their mechanic . Insurers often offer a decent discount if one of these is fitted . And unlike when these telematics policies first appeared on the market there are many now which dont have any restrictions on when the car can be used .A lot of people are funny about these policies but IMO there is nothing to lose by fitting a telematics box but there is the possibility of a reduced premium the following year .

My first policy was with Bell and that was a telematics one . If their black box policy is the same then all you need to do is use the telematics box for 3 months before returning it to them . Then after 3 months if you get a good driving score then they will refund you a proportion of your premium . I got about £100 back from them through this scheme . The policy I took was also one that allowed you to gain an accelerated no claims bonus . Basically the policy was only 10 months long but at the end of it they awarded a full year no claims bonus . At the time I thought this would be difficult to get another insurer to recognize . But after 20months with them I switched to another insurer(cheaper premium) and they recognized my 2 years NCB no issue .
The only thing worth mentioning with the 10 month policy is that you need to do your sums to compare the cost of it properly . And also weigh off what might be a slightly increased cost with quicker NCB accrual .

Another thing that I will mention which I saw many friends do which led to them paying more premium than they needed was overestimate their mileage . Make sure you calculate the mileage to be as close to what it really will be . A lot of people I know just assume that they will do 12,000 because that sounds about average . But if in reality you only end up doing 8000 then you are paying for a third more mileage then you need . It wont drop the premium cost by a third . But it should lead to some reduction . Factor in the weeks when the car wont be driven .

Imo it pays to be really forensic about this . For instance I currently have a policy for 10,000 annual miles . This works out at 192 miles a week .
My daily commute is 25 miles 6 days some weeks so that's 150 miles a week worst case scenario . 5 miles round trip to the supermarket if i dont do it on the way home from work is 155 leaving , 5 miles round trip to the gym 3 days a week is 22 miles left over . That 22 miles a week then equals 95 miles a month left over , this more than covers days out and other trips like visiting friends etc . My 450 mile Christmas commute down south to see family is covered by the 4 weeks of the year I am on holiday so do not drive .Last year I was insured for 10,000 miles and I actually drove 9790 . I have friends who insure themselves for 15,000 and dont even drive 12,000 . Just money wasted .

Also dont bother buying your breakdown cover through your insurance . I find chopping and changing between RAC, AA and Greenflag and enjoying their various new member offers or getting some cashback through quidco gives me cheaper access to a breakdown policy than any insurance bundled offer .

The best thing to do is slap the details in a comparison website and do a bit of chopping and changing . Namely of the car . I personally picked a car that was in insurance group one given it was my first car I knew that a 2.0l golf TDI was not going to give me insurance I could afford . My first car was a 1.1 fiat panda . And I found that one of the cheapest things to insure bar an 800cc Daewoo matiz and having seen and test driven the Daewoo I decided that id rather not have a car than have that . The insurance groups are not just to do with the power and speed of the thing , but also how difficult they are to steal which is obviously another thing that the insurance companies factor into the equation .

11fernsroad

muz3562 wrote: »

As she lives independently and by the sounds of it is going to be the main person who uses the car then she will have to be the main driver on the insurance . However when I insured my first car at the age of 23 having had my license a year I found that adding named drivers with substantial driving experience but not my parents brought the cost down . I got more of a discount adding 2 unrelated people with extensive driving history to my policy . One was a friends mother and another was a work colleague .

It might also be worth looking at policies that require a telematics box being fitted either by yourself or by their mechanic . Insurers often offer a decent discount if one of these is fitted . And unlike when these telematics policies first appeared on the market there are many now which dont have any restrictions on when the car can be used .A lot of people are funny about these policies but IMO there is nothing to lose by fitting a telematics box but there is the possibility of a reduced premium the following year .

My first policy was with Bell and that was a telematics one . If their black box policy is the same then all you need to do is use the telematics box for 3 months before returning it to them . Then after 3 months if you get a good driving score then they will refund you a proportion of your premium . I got about £100 back from them through this scheme . The policy I took was also one that allowed you to gain an accelerated no claims bonus . Basically the policy was only 10 months long but at the end of it they awarded a full year no claims bonus . At the time I thought this would be difficult to get another insurer to recognize . But after 20months with them I switched to another insurer(cheaper premium) and they recognized my 2 years NCB no issue .
The only thing worth mentioning with the 10 month policy is that you need to do your sums to compare the cost of it properly . And also weigh off what might be a slightly increased cost with quicker NCB accrual .

Another thing that I will mention which I saw many friends do which led to them paying more premium than they needed was overestimate their mileage . Make sure you calculate the mileage to be as close to what it really will be . A lot of people I know just assume that they will do 12,000 because that sounds about average . But if in reality you only end up doing 8000 then you are paying for a third more mileage then you need . It wont drop the premium cost by a third . But it should lead to some reduction . Factor in the weeks when the car wont be driven .

Imo it pays to be really forensic about this . For instance I currently have a policy for 10,000 annual miles . This works out at 192 miles a week .
My daily commute is 25 miles 6 days some weeks so that's 150 miles a week worst case scenario . 5 miles round trip to the supermarket if i dont do it on the way home from work is 155 leaving , 5 miles round trip to the gym 3 days a week is 22 miles left over . That 22 miles a week then equals 95 miles a month left over , this more than covers days out and other trips like visiting friends etc . My 450 mile Christmas commute down south to see family is covered by the 4 weeks of the year I am on holiday so do not drive .Last year I was insured for 10,000 miles and I actually drove 9790 . I have friends who insure themselves for 15,000 and dont even drive 12,000 . Just money wasted .

Also dont bother buying your breakdown cover through your insurance . I find chopping and changing between RAC, AA and Greenflag and enjoying their various new member offers or getting some cashback through quidco gives me cheaper access to a breakdown policy than any insurance bundled offer .

The best thing to do is slap the details in a comparison website and do a bit of chopping and changing . Namely of the car . I personally picked a car that was in insurance group one given it was my first car I knew that a 2.0l golf TDI was not going to give me insurance I could afford . My first car was a 1.1 fiat panda . And I found that one of the cheapest things to insure bar an 800cc Daewoo matiz and having seen and test driven the Daewoo I decided that id rather not have a car than have that . The insurance groups are not just to do with the power and speed of the thing , but also how difficult they are to steal which is obviously another thing that the insurance companies factor into the equation .

Hi
thanks for such a detailed explanation.
one more thing-what is major difference and implications of me being main driver and my daughter as named driver versus me being named driver in her policy.
I have more than 10 years NCD and no motoring convictions.

muz3562

11fernsroad wrote: »

Hi
thanks for such a detailed explanation.
one more thing-what is major difference and implications of me being main driver and my daughter as named driver versus me being named driver in her policy.
I have more than 10 years NCD and no motoring convictions.

Hi There , firstly you are welcome .

Secondly obviously if you are insured as the main driver and your daughter is a named driver then the insurance premium is going to be lower .

However unless that reflects the reality of the situation I would advise in the strongest possible terms against doing this .

In the insurance industry this is what is called fronting , basically misrepresenting what the risk that is being insured is .

The problem with fronting is a lot of people do it and suffer no negative consequences . But if something did go wrong and there was an accident whilst your daughter was driving the car the insurance companies are very good at being forensic with the circumstances of the accident and the insurance policy and looking for something that indicates that your daughter is actually the main user of the car .

If you daughter does not live with you and the car is going to be kept at her address most of the time then IMO there is clear evidence that an insurance company would rely on to say she is the main driver

If they did decide that your daughter was actually the main user of the vehicle then the effects could be wide ranging . They could attempt to recover any costs from you that a third party claims from an accident . They could refuse to repair your vehicle if you have fully comp insurance . They would almost certainly also cancel your policy immediately with no refund , and as the main driver it is you that would then suffer the future costs of having to declare having an insurance policy cancelled . Then there is the fact that fronting is legally considered as insurance fraud and can carry a criminal penalty . And with the rising cost of insurance this is something that the CPS and criminal courts would take a very dim view of .

This is why once again I would advise in the strongest possible terms against fronting the insurance because if it all goes wrong it could get very costly . This is why people are advised to check and check again when they get insurance documentation to ensure that everything is correct . Because even getting something wrong by mistake could lead to insurance companies pursuing you .

As for you being a named driver on her policy . I have found that having named drivers with more experience on my policy has brought it down in the past . I guess the logic is that if the driving is shared then the costly risk of the inexperienced main driver is reduced because there is a chance she will not be driving .There is no real issue with this because as long as you are not using the car as if it is your own it would all be above board . If you check the terms of your own car insurance they may need you to tell them if you are a named driver on another policy .As there is no minimum driving requirement for named driver status it would not even matter if you did not actually drive her car at all

I have got two people on my insurance . One of them is a friends mother . She drivers my car probably 2 or 3 times a year , she looks after my house when I am on holiday as my parents live some distance away . She drops me&my partner off at the airport and picks us up again at the end of the holiday in my car because her car is only a small city car . The other person who is insured is a workmate . Again he drives my car once or twice a year . I go on camping trips with some of my workmates 3 or 4 times a year and we all share the driving and take turns to use our cars .

11fernsroad

muz3562 wrote: »

Hi There , firstly you are welcome .

Secondly obviously if you are insured as the main driver and your daughter is a named driver then the insurance premium is going to be lower .

However unless that reflects the reality of the situation I would advise in the strongest possible terms against doing this .

In the insurance industry this is what is called fronting , basically misrepresenting what the risk that is being insured is .

The problem with fronting is a lot of people do it and suffer no negative consequences . But if something did go wrong and there was an accident whilst your daughter was driving the car the insurance companies are very good at being forensic with the circumstances of the accident and the insurance policy and looking for something that indicates that your daughter is actually the main user of the car .

If you daughter does not live with you and the car is going to be kept at her address most of the time then IMO there is clear evidence that an insurance company would rely on to say she is the main driver

If they did decide that your daughter was actually the main user of the vehicle then the effects could be wide ranging . They could attempt to recover any costs from you that a third party claims from an accident . They could refuse to repair your vehicle if you have fully comp insurance . They would almost certainly also cancel your policy immediately with no refund , and as the main driver it is you that would then suffer the future costs of having to declare having an insurance policy cancelled . Then there is the fact that fronting is legally considered as insurance fraud and can carry a criminal penalty . And with the rising cost of insurance this is something that the CPS and criminal courts would take a very dim view of .

This is why once again I would advise in the strongest possible terms against fronting the insurance because if it all goes wrong it could get very costly . This is why people are advised to check and check again when they get insurance documentation to ensure that everything is correct . Because even getting something wrong by mistake could lead to insurance companies pursuing you .

As for you being a named driver on her policy . I have found that having named drivers with more experience on my policy has brought it down in the past . I guess the logic is that if the driving is shared then the costly risk of the inexperienced main driver is reduced because there is a chance she will not be driving .There is no real issue with this because as long as you are not using the car as if it is your own it would all be above board . If you check the terms of your own car insurance they may need you to tell them if you are a named driver on another policy .As there is no minimum driving requirement for named driver status it would not even matter if you did not actually drive her car at all

I have got two people on my insurance . One of them is a friends mother . She drivers my car probably 2 or 3 times a year , she looks after my house when I am on holiday as my parents live some distance away . She drops me&my partner off at the airport and picks us up again at the end of the holiday in my car because her car is only a small city car . The other person who is insured is a workmate . Again he drives my car once or twice a year . I go on camping trips with some of my workmates 3 or 4 times a year and we all share the driving and take turns to use our cars .

Hi
we have two cars at home.We got insurance with my daughter as main driver for the second car,and me and my wife as named drivers.This has made the premium bit more affordable.My daughter would be driving the car only when she comes home during weekends.
I normally drives a different car and have more than 13 years no claims discount protection.But my wife who occasionaly drives the car which now has my daughter as main driver-what would happen to her 10 years no claims discount accrued?Will they get frozen or does she have to start from scratch if she goes for car insurance in her name next year?