Car Insurance when student leaves car at home with parents

anacouls

I'm at my wits end. My daughter who is 17 turning 18 in June is the registered keeper of her own car and hopefully will be passing her driving test in May. At the moment her insurance is for learner driver with me (mum) as named driver on her policy. In September she will be going away to Uni for 4 years and leaving her car with me to look after (only using it when she is home during holidays). I have had quotes of over £4,000 to insure the vehicle once she has her full licence to sit in my drive! Some wont even insure her after she passes because of her age (I dont get it???). What is the best solution? I've tried companies that use black boxes - been quoted over £2000. I find it extortionate having to pay that much for her vehicle to sit in my drive for her to use it occasionally when she is home and for me to use it occasionally as a named driver. I even tried getting a quote by putting the vehicle in my name and having her as a named driver only to be told they would insure me but not her. HELP!!

nyermen

Unfortunately they're looking at a particular risk profile, that doesn't take into account lack of use (or maybe does - assuming that there's a high chance of an incident since she wont have regular driving experience).
Couple of thoughts:
1) On your (private) drive, it doesn't have to be insured.  Maybe short term insurance would be a cheaper option when she's home?
2) Have you quoted for insuring it yourself, with her as a second named driver?  (note I'm unclear if this means if she had an incident, could it affect your (presumably) other insurance on your main car.  This isn't false - use the car while she's away...
Hopefully others will have thoughts.

TELLIT01

If the car is going to be stored off road e.g. driveway or garage it can be SORN'd so no insurance or tax is required on it.  I don't know if you will be able to find insurers who will provide cover just for the periods the car will be in use.

Aretnap

You can get "laid up" insurance or "fire and theft only" insurance for the periods the car is sitting on your driveway, if you don't want to leave it uninsured entirely. As the name suggests it covers fire, theft etc, but not anything to do with road accidents, and so is considerably cheaper than "normal" car insurance. It doesn't count as insurance for the purposes of the Road Traffic Act so the car has to be SORNed and kept off-road while it is in use.

If you can't get an affordable short term policy for the holidays one option is to take out an annual policy at the start of the holiday and cancel it at the end. There will be a cancellation fee to pay out of a roughly pro-rata refund, but still likely to be cheaper than insuring it all year. Also be aware that if she does need to make a claim there will be no refund on cancellation - so make sure she drives carefully! 

sheramber

Her age and the fact that once she passes her test she can drive unaccompanied  increase the risk ratings.
The type of  cr can also be a factor if it the type usually driven by young drivers and has a high claim statistic.

daveyjp

Drop the idea of her having a car whilst at Uni.  She's a new driver and a student, both red flags for insurance companies.

In 4 years her insurance will be much lower.