Help! Horrendous quotes for car insurance for 17 yr old!

flanok

My son has just gone through this also.
His experience was that the companies who advertised cheaper insurance for young drivers were amongst the dearest.

In fact he got his through Norwich and pays monthly.

But now Direct Line offer to honour no claims bonus for named drivers on someone elses policy. they say they are the first to do this. That should mean they can take the policy out in say a parents name. (you would need to change ownership of the car). And whist driving still earn the no claims bonus that will bring the policy down in future years, for when he takes out his own policy. (providing no accidents).
I presume this means staying with Direct Line for the next year.
Just a suggestion

lisyloo

Yes you are right that direct line offer this and you are also right that not all other companies won't recognise the names driver no claims.

However this doesn't change the fact that if you are the MAIN driver then you must say so, otherwise it's fraud (which is an offence), so you can only use this if you are genuinely a named drive e.g. borrowing the car now and again, not the main driver commuting with it every day.

silvercar

So how is MAIN DRIVER defined, is it number of journeys or number of miles?

I have visions of making a few trips a year up and down a motorway to get the mileage in so that my teenager can drive around locally.

raskazz

silvercar wrote: »

So how is MAIN DRIVER defined, is it number of journeys or number of miles?

I have visions of making a few trips a year up and down a motorway to get the mileage in so that my teenager can drive around locally.

There are no hard and fast rules.

Mileage will of course be a major factor; day-to-day use is also considered.

If a young driver used the car to commute everyday but with slightly less annual mileage than the parent purely because of one or two longer journeys by the parent, then the younger driver is still the main user.

Depends entirely on a decision by the insurer, so if you are unsure call the insurer, tell them how the car is used and then let them make the decision as to who they would class the main user as.

mattymoo

silvercar wrote: »

So how is MAIN DRIVER defined, is it number of journeys or number of miles?

I have visions of making a few trips a year up and down a motorway to get the mileage in so that my teenager can drive around locally.

It pretty easy for the insurers to spot who the main driver is.

Easy ones include theft of the vehicle or accidents from university towns when the parents live elsewhere. The location of the loss and asssociated police report are easy giveaways.

Young drivers like to personalise their cars. The big speakers, chrome gear shifts etc all indicate a yong driver and the engineer will spot these.

Presence of other cars in the family. Typcial example (using major stereotypes but hey)
BMW - dad's car.
Citroen Picasso - mums shopping car
Citroen Saxo / Vauxhall Corsa - sons / daughters car.

It is also surprising how many people slip up on the phone. Say for instance Silvercar you decide to go down this route and you pull it off at policy inception stage. 6 months down the line, your child has an accident and rings the insurer and asks "Where do I get MY car repaired?". Thats the thing with lies, you have to be consistent, all the time.

lisyloo

I would agree with raskazz that there are no definitions.
In most cases it will be obvious if one person if using the car twice a day for commuting.

If the situation is less well defined then you need to ask the insurance company/broker and describe the expected usuage of each driver.
If that changes drastically through a change of circumstances then you need to inform them.
Personally I would ask for confirmation in writing if the situation is very marginal.

raskazz

mattymoo wrote: »

It is also surprising how many people slip up on the phone. Say for instance Silvercar you decide to go down this route and you pull it off at policy inception stage. 6 months down the line, your child has an accident and rings the insurer and asks "Where do I get MY car repaired?". Thats the thing with lies, you have to be consistent, all the time.

The classic is asking the parent (who is listed as the main user) if he/she smokes. If they answer in the affirmative then you ask them where the ashtray is located in the vehicle - and some quite severe ummng and aaahing ensues!

silvercar

Not reached the point yet, still learning:eek: . Just planning what we will do.

Insurance in our area is so expensive that we may determine the use of the car by the insurance costs. With limited parking at college another consideration, I may actually end up accompanying him driving to school and then drive the car home and drive the car back to school in the afternoon. So we would have equal driving for that part. It wouldn't then take much more effort to keep my use of our joint car up. If it saves hundreds in insurance it will be worthwhile - at least before he goes to college.

The fact that I also have my "shopping car" may well look suspicious, but I would genuinely be the sole driver on one and the main driver on another.

All theoretical at the moment!

lisyloo

Have you considered having one car and paying for taxis on the few occassions that you both need it?

I'm sure you are familiar with th costs but they are

depreciation
insurance
tax
MOT
servicing/repairs/consumables
recovery policy
parking fees etc.

There comes a point when it's worth paying for taxis instead OR if possible bus/train/cycle/walk or if suitable a small scooter.

It seems to be taken for granted that everyone MUST have a car but looking at it logically it can cost a small fortune.
My nephew is 18 and he pays about 70% of his income on motoring.
I'm 39 and I pay about 4% of my income on my car so I'm quite shocked by the lengths people seem to be prepared to go to when sometimes there are other options.

I have considered going without a car myself but my current depreciation and insurance is very cheap and I'm subsidised on car journeys by my employer, so it's a no brainer to have one.

silvercar

If we don't buy a car, then he will need more (expensive) lessons to practice as I drive automatic at the moment.

We may live with that, depending on his plans for next year.

As I say all theoretical at the moment.