What kind of insurance should I be getting at 20yrs old?

Flight3287462

Most experienced drivers pay somewhere in the region of £1,000.  But this is then mitigated by a 70% no claims discount.
As a young driver you will be paying somewhere in the region of £2-3k probably without the benefit of any NCD.

That is why your insurance will appear extortionate.  (All figures are just for illustrative purposes)

But other factors can have a big impact:-

Where you live
Where the car is parked
Your job

Your aim is to start building up your NCD on small cheap car (but not one favoured by the boy racers, strangely bigger staid type cars mondeos, volvos can also be  quite cheap)

eamon

Not forgetting the choice of car. Apparently an unpopular car (amongst your peer group) can impact postively on quoted prices. Not sure how you would research that though as putting it through the comparison sites would be a trudge.

Sandtree

eamon said:

Not forgetting the choice of car. Apparently an unpopular car (amongst your peer group) can impact postively on quoted prices. Not sure how you would research that though as putting it through the comparison sites would be a trudge.

And could get you triggering their counter fraud/price scrapping measures.

Not much research required though... what car would you never see a 19 year old lad drive? That’s the one to get. Don’t think of cost, performance etc, they’ve limited impact.

Even as a 35 year old adult with a lot of experience it was cheaper to insure a £70,000 SL500 than a £20,000 Mini Cooper Sport.

Dr_Crypto

Sandtree said:

RTA Only - you wont find for personal lines
TPO - Third party only - covers only damage you do to others
TPFT - third party fire and theft - covers TPO plus damage to your car due to fire or theft (inc attempted theft)
Comp - aka fully comprehensive - as TPFT but adds accidental damage to your own vehicle

Legal Expenses - an add on to any of the above that assists in recovering your uninsured losses from a third party in the event of a non-fault claim.

In theory TPO should be the cheapest and Comp the most expensive but in practice the reverse is often true due to a) the types of drivers that buy lower coverage are typically worse experience and so actually average claims are higher despite no own vehicle cover and b) not all insurers offer the lower grades of policies so less commercial pressure on premiums.

You will find similar things with Excess... on paper bigger should be cheaper but because of negative selection there is actually a sweet spot normally nearer the lower end after which premiums start going up again.

Sandtree - what is the difference between RTA only and TPO? 

Sandtree

Dr_Crypto said:

Sandtree said:

RTA Only - you wont find for personal lines
TPO - Third party only - covers only damage you do to others
TPFT - third party fire and theft - covers TPO plus damage to your car due to fire or theft (inc attempted theft)
Comp - aka fully comprehensive - as TPFT but adds accidental damage to your own vehicle

Legal Expenses - an add on to any of the above that assists in recovering your uninsured losses from a third party in the event of a non-fault claim.

In theory TPO should be the cheapest and Comp the most expensive but in practice the reverse is often true due to a) the types of drivers that buy lower coverage are typically worse experience and so actually average claims are higher despite no own vehicle cover and b) not all insurers offer the lower grades of policies so less commercial pressure on premiums.

You will find similar things with Excess... on paper bigger should be cheaper but because of negative selection there is actually a sweet spot normally nearer the lower end after which premiums start going up again.

Sandtree - what is the difference between RTA only and TPO? 

RTA Only is the absolute minimum required by law, and so the key difference is private land without vehicle public access. Think taking a SUV onto your mate’s farm field, TPO would cover you hitting a lost walker but RTA wouldn’t. 

Dont see it much, need particular circumstances where off road usage is sufficient to drive a price difference. For bigger companies captives or loss sensitive etc are better options given the inevitable baseline of RTA governed losses each year. 

Dr_Crypto

Ah ok that makes sense thanks. 

macman

Do you have any years NCD, or are you are a new driver?
Can you afford to replace the car at your own cost if it's not insured for loss, fire or theft?

daivid

eamon said:

Not forgetting the choice of car. Apparently an unpopular car (amongst your peer group) can impact postively on quoted prices. Not sure how you would research that though as putting it through the comparison sites would be a trudge.

Lists are available online e.g. https://www.admiral.com/magazine/guides/car-insurance/the-10-cheapest-cars-for-young-drivers-to-insure

That list seems to suggest mostly small cars with small engines. OP I'm not sure if you own a car yet, if not try getting quotes on cars that appeal to get an idea. If you need want a bigger car consider cars that have a following amongst middle aged to older people, again get quotes before you buy. If you do own your car and it is very expensive to insure you may want to consider selling and buying one that is cheaper, I've even known young drivers to buy a brand new car on monthly payments because the bundled "free" insurance made it so attractive. 

daivid

Reinventing myself as a 19yr old student, no no claims, no accidents, license for 1 year living at home (in a cheap area for insurance admittedly) insurance came out potentially cheaper than anticipated. I used gocompare -others are available! which wasn't too laborious to go back to change car details (using no. plates lifted from autotrader ads). My car - a 1.8 civic came up as £1400 with telematics or £1600 without (compared to the £185 that real me payed this year). The Rover Minis do indeed seem cheap to insure £598 for student me for the 1l, £725 for a 1.3 cooper  and no telematics to bother with for either. Seat Mii £742 with telematics.

OP if you are still following make sure you follow the advice in the link to the main site. Things like taking out insurance 21 days before renewal really make a difference, I only save about £20 by insuring 21 days ahead vs a few days (I think truely last minute is more dramatic still) but that is 10% of my premium, if savings are proportional a young driver would potentially save £100+.

[Deleted User]

TPFT is only worth it if you drive a £300 scrapper but even then the difference in premiums between TPFT and FC is pennies in my experience so much better going FC every time.