17 year old looking for insurance

happyandcontented

We got insurance for our youngest son via Admiral last year for £1200, this year it dropped to £700 but I sourced it elsewhere (Esure) for just over £500. He has just his Dad on as it made it slightly dearer to have 2 parents on even though we both have blameless driving records for over 30 and 40 years respectively.

I did slip up though by waiting too close to renewal rather than taking the quote I obtained three weeks out and it did go up to over £500 when it was around £465 at the earlier point.

It is just a case of shopping around and getting online quotes.

Steve_KK

The best way to lower your insurance premium is to do further driver training and pass the associated qualifications. Your driving instructor should be am to make suggestions.

Having said that a premium of around £2k is about the normal for a 17 year old who has passed their test.

Regards,
Steve

Ant555

Matt0503 wrote: »

Is the smartwheels insurance any good? I dont mind being monitored or paying more if i do something wrong like brake too hard. The thing is that i dont want to be driving for 8 months on the policy and then all of a sudden having my insurance being cancelled, because that would lose me my 1 year no claims bonus. I do live in am area where cars and motorbikes get stolen alot, infact my moped was stolen a few months ago and we have been robbed 2 other times in the past half a year. Its not too late for me to change my car but if was to pay £1600 for a Yaris and £1900 for a corsa then i would much rather drive the corsa

Ref your request for opinions on SmartWheels black box.

14 months ago we got a 1.0 Aygo for my 17 year old son who had passed his test 3 weeks prior so similar situation to you. Our sole intention was to get something that was mobile - we didnt care about engine size. Quotes for Corsas were horrendously expensive by comparison for some reason. Aygo and C1s etc might cheaper as they only have 4 seats.
Cost was £1200 -(same as we paid for the car) I took out a 0% credit card, paid smart wheels the whole lot on the CC, and paid CC back at £100/month interest free. I realise this may not be an option for you but mention it here just in case.

I was terrified of the stories on insurance being cancelled at 1 weeks notice, thinking that would affect my sons insurance history in his first year (IF they threaten to cancel then you probably need to get in first and cancel yourself so the answer to the question 'have you ever had insurance cancelled?' is legitimately a NO, take the financial hit and find other insurance)

+ points - the app tells you quite a lot - you can get cahsback - we ended up in total with around £80 repaid onto a debit card they send you. It tells you where the car is - as a responsible parent with the app on my phone this was useful, as a young driver, maybe not so!

They score every journey in three ways - creating an overall score for the journey, a score for the day, an overall score for the month, period etc.

Usage score we got LOADS of minus scores for driving too many times in 24 hours and for driving late etc but I was completely unfussed by this score as we bought the car to drive and not to be parked up! SmartWheels isnt a curfew policy so drive it when you like - they create a driving score which dents your cashback amount but again, we didnt get the policy to create cachbask - it was just a bonus IF we did get any. Usage scores with smartwheels wont get it cancelled - NOTE-at least it didnt when we took one out.
Smoothness score - very occasionally minus scores. My son would typically know exactly where a minus score came from - such as " that idiot pulled out on the roundabout and I had to break hard etc - what was I sup[posed to do - hit him?"
Speed - this is the big one for SmartWheels, I think and I was constantly checking - a young driver will, of course, be tempted to push things a bit. The black box simply keeps a lid on this for good reason.
My sons girlfriend has minus scores for speed pretty much every journey (she was with smart wheels too) and she didnt get cancelled - probably because it was just a bit over. I think they hammer you if its a lot over. My son worked out he could do 5-8 mps over and not get penalised on the app (probably the first thing he worked out!)

If you go down this route then when its fitted make sure you watch where it goes. The fitter will try and ask you to leave him to it but hang around. I say this as if you know where it is then you can disconnect it AFTER you insurance has expired in 12 months and you go with someone else. Disconnecting during your insurance is not allowed (they WILL know) but after they will either charge you for taking it out or you can remove the little fuse yourself and isolate it. I think if you leave it in then they will still be able to actively monitor the cars movements - I disconnected it the day after the policy expired.

Note that the fitter takes pictures of all round your car and sends to the insurers to make sure it is exactly as you describe and no 'extras' make it more attractive to thieves, wheels tyres, spoilers etc.

Regarding adding a secondary driver to bring premiums down - it is NOT against the rules to add a second driver (or third, or fourth) such as a parent, other relative, 55 year old neighbour etc even if it brings the premium down a lot, but you cannot add them as the main driver if they are not. Try some combinations in the comparison sites.
My son aged 17 was MAIN driver, daughter aged 20 was a second driver (she used occasionally when home from Uni), I was a named driver and so was my wife so we had 4 people on there and it was £1200. Son on his own was far higher.

PS - year 2 with one year no claims was half the price WITH a black box at SmartWheels but also half the price without at Admiral.

Lots of words here but hopefully useful as I feel your pain on the cost and the apprehension on the black box.

If you are after advice rather than opinion??... get the black box for year 1, drive safely, learn how to drive (yes the cliche of now you passed your test, you start to learn how to drive does apply - you are learning how bad and unpredictable other peoples driving can be!), become a better driver, keep your parents happy as they WILL almost certainly worry, get that no claims bonus and look forward to it being far cheaper in year 2 with NO black box.

Oh, any by the way, my son still thinks there is an active black box in the car... please dont tell him!! :rotfl:

Hope it helps

gord115

Try lots of different cars.
When my son was 18 he found a Toyota Corolla with a 1.4 engine was a lot cheaper to insure than a Corsa or a Fiesta 1.2 or even 1.0 engine.

Probably because not as many Corollas are crashed with young drivers.
Almost all the young 'uns round here drive Corsas or Fiestas.

GunJack

Best way I found to do it (for son) is:-

create account on confused.com (other comp sites available)
enter all your details first time with first car reg

then, trawl autotrader for various cars and their registrations to try for comparison between makes & models, you only need to change the car reg then for each new quote.

You'll soon see what cars are more affordable to insure. In my son's case, corsa/saxo/106/206/etc. were all min £1900 (he was 18 at the time), he ended up with Suzuki WagonR for £1350 with no black box (and he hasn't had one since, either) but he still has the car, 2 yrs NCD, insurance has gone from £1350 to £1000 in yr2 to £500 on his last renewal.

So whilst young and building up ncd, buy the car that'll save you money, not buy car then find it's costly to insure.....

bengalknights

As above once your past the first 2 years you will see a large drop in insurance costs as long as you dont have any claims.

phill99

Problem is you have bought the wrong car. Corsas are the car of choice for many new teenage drivers. Therefore, statistically, there will be an awful lot of claims involving them. So when the underwriters do their algorithms, Corsa will come out badly and be seen as a risky car. Add that to the fact that you are a new inexperienced driver and (statistically speaking) likely to have a claim within the next 2 years means the odds are stacked against you.


You would be better with a model of car which is not popular with young drivers - one of the small Kias, Toyotas or Nissans.


Additionally, I think your approach and attitude are a lot to be desired. Black boxes are there to monitor your driving and to help you drive in a safer manner. It seems that you don't want to be restricted by your driving style, which means that you will end up paying a heavy premium for your attitude.

Matt0503

The thing is when i was comparing cars in my area the corsa was one of the cheapest cars. Around £150 a year more than a yaris so i decided to go with this car. Its not too late for me to change the car but i would rather stay with this one if i were to only save lets say £200 by getting a different one.


Im not the type of person to be sitting in their car on a sunday with their mates in the back going 100 miles an hour on a motorway, i just simply dont want to be restricted where if i know i need to go somewhere at night... then I dont have to worry about a box controlling me. Also i dont want to have to worry about not braking too hard and not accelerating too hard because in the 17 and a bit years that i lived on this earth i have seen that its sometimes unavoidable and if i were too focused on not braking hard than avoiding a hazard then to me thats even more dangerous


Iam a careful driver, even the instructor that i was with said that i learn very quickly and drive very safely, afterall i did pass my test after 8 hours in 2 weeks with him and 2 months of driving with my own car which im really proud of, but one thing which is really annoying is the fact that i have to be restricted and pay tons of money for my insurance just because other idiots my age who got the chance and lost it for us all

Matt0503

Dont get me wrong i will get a black box policy but if there was anything i could do to get a policy without a black box then i would definitely want to take that over not being able to 'get toilet paper at 11pm' which is a joke because if i buy a car then i should be able to use it whenever and however i like and not have someone telling me how hard i can press on the brake pedal.

Apart from that thank you to everyone for the answers, if you have any more tips or can help me out then that would be really useful

warby68

It really isn't THAT restrictive. My son was fairly cautious but he did go out at night, did do some heavier braking etc. It measures every journey, the occasional 'higher risk' move should average out.

It sounds more like you are rebelling against the idea of being controlled, not untypical at 17 (please note my sons' ages for direct experience lol), than the actual reality. Its more like IF you drive well you will get a better premium next year and some rewards - see the incentive not the control.

Almost everyone thinks they're a better driver than their peers, you clearly do even after only a couple of months. My son certainly does, 1 week after passing his test and getting lots of reassurance from his non driving mates who suddenly ike the lifts ! That may be so but its not what insurance companies make judgements on - their stance isn't personal. Also, if it IS true, then the Black Box tracking shouldn't be an issue for you.

Honestly, time to start to play the long game, not the immediate gratification one. Behaviours that will build you a good record and let you get the car of your dreams in few years.

Truthfully, I was more worried about me and their dad driving their cars with Black Boxes as I suspect with 70 years combined driving experience we have picked up few bad habits. Well, their dad has anyway, I'm still perfect - like you.

Good luck