Insurance for 17 year old

beavere38

My son is 16 and starting to think about his first car. I know insurance is very expensive these days when you are starting to drive.

Should we look for insurance group 1 cars only or maybe up to a maximum group e.g. 5 or 10? Would a cheaper car make the insurance less expensive and a better choice in case he damages it? Not too worried about mechanical repairs as I do most of my own maintenance.

Would it be worth looking at a classic car even?

Thanks in advance - it has been over 30 years since I went through this myself so I have no idea what it is like nowadays.

tacpot12

It is tough now days. Insurance is very expensive for young drivers. There are actually very few Group 1 cars around and the effect on premiums is not especially significant. My step children are learning to drive, and I've been looking at Group 1-3 cars for them. Classic Car Insurance is rarely an option for young drivers. 
The best option is to shop around (including checking with a good insurance broker) and consider having a "black-box" installed in the car.

Learner insurance is much cheaper. I was quoted £460 for a 22 yo learner on a Ford Mondeo 1.8 for a year's cover. This represents the lower risk that a supervised driver has over an unsupervised young driver. The black-box is a form of supervision, so lowers the premium.

foxy-stoat

Depending on your area, there shouldn't be much change out of £2,000 for a low group small engine car, try Fully Comp with a £1000 excess and add you as an additional driver, assuming your record is good.  I wouldn't try to look for an odd ball Volvo thinking as not many young drivers use and crash them.  Also value of the car has very little to do with the premiums.

If he manages a year or 2 driving with no incidents then he should be able to half the premium.

Good luck.

macman

It's not the group no. that is the major factor when insuring young drivers. The big risk to the insurer is 3rd party injury. If they have the misfortune to run over a high-worth individual, it makes little difference if they do it in a Fiesta or a Ferrari.

RobM99

Yes, the risk is the possible damage it can do to others that's the problem.

MinuteNoodles

My son found it a third cheaper to insure a 2 litre Ford Mondeo Estate than a 1.3L Ford Fiesta. He blew the engine on the Fiesta and wanted something larger as he did a lot of fishing. Getting quotes the Mondeo came in at £750, his Fiesta was £1250. A bonus was that all of a sudden once he got it he became invisible to the police.

Just because it's a smaller car and engine doesn't mean it's cheaper to insure. Ford Fiestas are involved in more accidents with young drivers than Mondeo estates so the risk is higher and therefore the premiums.

JohnDorian

MinuteNoodles said:

My son found it a third cheaper to insure a 2 litre Ford Mondeo Estate than a 1.3L Ford Fiesta. He blew the engine on the Fiesta and wanted something larger as he did a lot of fishing. Getting quotes the Mondeo came in at £750, his Fiesta was £1250. A bonus was that all of a sudden once he got it he became invisible to the police.

Just because it's a smaller car and engine doesn't mean it's cheaper to insure. Ford Fiestas are involved in more accidents with young drivers than Mondeo estates so the risk is higher and therefore the premiums.

I found the same when I first learnt to drive too. I bought a Vectra and it was boring compared to the cars my friends drove but I only paid £750 at 17 years old compared to my friends who all paid at least twice that.

tacpot12

The Skoda Fabia Estate is a favourite of mine for low insurance as it tends to be bought and driven by careful older folk, who value the space it offers and are not put off by its looks. 

foxy-stoat

MinuteNoodles said:

My son found it a third cheaper to insure a 2 litre Ford Mondeo Estate than a 1.3L Ford Fiesta. He blew the engine on the Fiesta and wanted something larger as he did a lot of fishing. Getting quotes the Mondeo came in at £750, his Fiesta was £1250. A bonus was that all of a sudden once he got it he became invisible to the police.

Just because it's a smaller car and engine doesn't mean it's cheaper to insure. Ford Fiestas are involved in more accidents with young drivers than Mondeo estates so the risk is higher and therefore the premiums.

These days are long gone.
17 year old in a Corsa 1.3 diesel, no ncd, licence for less than a year, unemployed, £1700
Same details on a 2.0 Ford Mondeo diesel auto = £4700

I am pretty sure you can drive a 2.0 Mondeo faster than a 1.3 Corsa so the risk would be higher,  not because more young first timers tend to buy Fiestas than Mondeos.

Gsaver1

I would see what the young person thinks of a VW Fox. Reasonable to pick-up with FSH. Not as common as the Fiesta and Corsa. 

beavere38

Thank you for all the replies and suggestions. I just tried a comparison site and a VW Fox 1.2 came in at around £1,300. I also tried a Fiat 500 1.2 and that came in at £1,179. Both were with £500 excess and no named drivers. That is interesting as the Fiat 500 should be quite a higher group I would have thought.