17 year old daughter getting quotes of £6k+ WITH a blackbox !

sky_rat

My daughter is currently learning to drive, she is insured on my car through Marmalde.  She has had lsome essons with a driving instructor too, who said she is doing well.

The soonest she can get a test is in January next year due to the long waiting list, but thats the least of her problems.

She wants to look at buying a car but the insurance quotes have been £6k+ and thats WITH a black box fitted and limited mileage of 10k and myself as a named driver.

This particular quotation was with Tesco for a 1.2 Seat Ibiza priced at £2800 with 87k miles.

I added myself to the policy as a named driver hoping the cost would be more affordable and I have a full NCB, been driving for the last 30 years with no convictions etc

I live on a decent estate (in Milton Keynes) and the car would be parked on a drive way.

I managed to reduce the quotation but only by a few hundred pounds by increasing the voluntary excess to £1000 (I think the compuilsory excess was £400).

She does have a medical condition which the DVLA has been notified of (anorexia nervosa which she has almost recovered from) and the DVLA has not implemented any restrictions.

I have also heard bad things about black boxes, because they rely on a GPS signal which can be sporadic and cause false triggers for heavy braking or speeding etc.  If this happens the insurer increases the premium by hundreds of pounds, which if not paid results in the policy being cancelled.  This causes further problems because it increases future quotations because of having insurance cancelled - it sounds like a money making scam to me.

I've tried gocompare and money supermarket websites, but still get obsurdly high quotations.

I've tried other cars such as a Ford Fieasta 1.2 and a Fiat 500 1.0 (all priced under £3k and with 60k to 80k miles)

The premiums should reduce as she builds up her NCB (providing she doesnt have an accident) BUT then again insurance increases every year, so I dont expect her premiuim would reduce by much, not at least until she is 21 and has 4 years NCB.

But paying £6k a year for 4 years (i.e. £24k) is obsurd and unaffordable, especially during a cost of living crisis.

It might be the case that a newer, more expensive car would be cheaper to insure, in which case she would be better putting more money towards the car rather than the insurance ?

Theres also the issue that getting quotations goes on her credit record, which is looked at negatively and can cause the quotations to increase.

How on earth is she supposed to afford insurance at these prices ?

Its like a no win situaton !

Aretnap

The bottom line is that insurance for a newly qualified 17 year old is always going to be expensive - though £6K does sound very expensive. However it will come down more quickly than you think with or without NCD simply by virtue of her being older, (allegedly) wiser, and having held her licence for a year or two. Those factors will outweigh general inflation by a good margin, certainly for the first few years.

TBH from a purely financial perspective by far the best thing she could do would be to pass her test then put her licence in the back of a drawer and forget that it exists for a couple of years... though obviously that has to be balanced against the advantages of being able to drive.

Getting quite will not affect her credit record unless she actually gets as far as applying for credit (ie actually buying a pay monthly policy).

https:www.comparethemarket.com/car-insurance/content/do-car-insurance-providers-do-credit-checks

Though getting lots of quotes with different details could start to trigger anti-fraud or anti-data mining measures.

Not much specific advice I can offer besides what you've already done but yes consider different cars. Very cheap cars are not necessarily cheaper to insure - you can do as much damage with a 15 year old car as a new car, and the 15 year old car is more likely to be in poor mechanical condition or driven by someone who isn't too bothered about taking care of it.

Also try to think of cars that are not stereotypical young people's cars. Some people have reported surprisingly cheap premiums for something like a Volvo estate. Basically you want something with no street cred whatsoever that no boy racer would be seen dead in.

MattMattMattUK

It is less about NCD and more about having a few years driving under her belt, without crashes. Even just having held a licence for a year and having been on your car as a named driver and allowed to drive it sometimes would mean a significantly reduced insurance cost when she tried to take out her own policy after a year, getting better the longer she wants even without accounting for the NCD. 

She might want her own car and to be able to drive it, but as you can see that is very costly. It is fsr better she gets her license, but waits a few years to get her own car.

MidlandsGlory

Something going wrong there, I know prices have risen a fair bit lately but my 17 year old daughter passed her test late last year and we got insurance with my wife and I as named drivers for £1187 without a Blackbox.
Car is a 2018 Hyundai I10. worth £8000

I suspect Fiestas won't be cheap to insure as its the most (or 2nd most) stolen car in the country.
Actually my son only had his first Fiesta 3 months before it was stolen and although insurance paid out, he now has a losss against him and lost all no claims so its going to cost us thousands long term due to these low lifes. Lots more security measures used on his replacement one, bitter lesson learned!

My son passed at 17  2 and half years ago and we paid just under £1000 for a 2013 Kia Picanto (£3000) at the time, again my wife and I as named drivers.

Both cars parked on drive, low crime area.

It might be worth speaking to an actual broker to see what is triggering such high quotes but as your daughter hasn't passed yet it may be difficult but something is making the system nervous.

By the way, we have never 'waited' for driving tests, there is an app (the small fee ones works best) that when your instructor says you are getting nearly ready can constantly scan the test centre website for cancellation slots or new slots added on the schedule and automatically grab them and apply to move your existing booking to an earlier one.
For both my kids and many of their friends we have shaved months off the test date.

("Driving Test Cancellations NOW" app worked very well for us)

MidlandsGlory

MattMattMattUK said:

It is less about NCD and more about having a few years driving under her belt, without crashes. Even just having held a licence for a year and having been on your car as a named driver and allowed to drive it sometimes would mean a significantly reduced insurance cost when she tried to take out her own policy after a year, getting better the longer she wants even without accounting for the NCD. 

She might want her own car and to be able to drive it, but as you can see that is very costly. It is fsr better she gets her license, but waits a few years to get her own car.

Generally I agree, and we largely consider running a car for a teen in the 'luxuries' category but its not always the case. In my daughters case she had to go to another school for 6th form, only one possible was a nightmare to get to, no public transport route, too far to cycle/walk. It put a massive strain on my wife and mine jobs trying to fit around getting her there and back, lift sharing didn't work well due to geography of other students. She also has a job and a sport requiring regular attendance, the constant 'taxi driving' we did was very disruptive to all our lives so it was essential to get her mobile ASAP

sky_rat

MidlandsGlory said:

MattMattMattUK said:

It is less about NCD and more about having a few years driving under her belt, without crashes. Even just having held a licence for a year and having been on your car as a named driver and allowed to drive it sometimes would mean a significantly reduced insurance cost when she tried to take out her own policy after a year, getting better the longer she wants even without accounting for the NCD. 

She might want her own car and to be able to drive it, but as you can see that is very costly. It is fsr better she gets her license, but waits a few years to get her own car.

Generally I agree, and we largely consider running a car for a teen in the 'luxuries' category but its not always the case. In my daughters case she had to go to another school for 6th form, only one possible was a nightmare to get to, no public transport route, too far to cycle/walk. It put a massive strain on my wife and mine jobs trying to fit around getting her there and back, lift sharing didn't work well due to geography of other students. She also has a job and a sport requiring regular attendance, the constant 'taxi driving' we did was very disruptive to all our lives so it was essential to get her mobile ASAP

I completely agree with you and I have the same issue, I'm constantly having to be Dads taxi and it has taken its toll on me. My daughter has been living with me for the last 12 months since her mum moved 100 miles away.  I dont have family or friends in the area, so I am the only one taking care of my daughter.  Her college is 20 miles away and her boyfriend is 20 miles away too, so both of those journeys are a 40 mile (1 hour) round trip.  I'm tired and fedup of driving her around all the time.   She usually gets the bus to college, but the station is 5 miles away so I still have to drop and collect her from the station when she gets the bus to college. The bus can be unreliable at times and either turns up late of doesnt turn up at all.  She sometimes gets the bus to her boyfriend, but due to the route it takes and all the stops it takes 1 hour, whereas it would be 30 min by car.  Then theres all the shorter regular trips like to the shopping centre where she works, going out with friends, the train station when she visits her mum, her hobby etc. Its all constantly back and forth and my car does not have much life left in it so will need replacing soon.  Most places in Milton Keynes aren't within walking distance, its a city designed for cars.  Then theres the worry of a teenage girl using public transport in terms of safety, especially in the darker winter months.

On the other hand, if she had her own car there would then be the issue in the cost of fuel and wear and tear from high mileage she would put on her car.  If she used her car for college and work, theres also the additional cost of expensive parking charges. As she only has £3k to spend on a car, the mileage is usually around 80k.  If she used her car for all her journeys it would soon take its toll on a car that already has high mileage.  High mileage cars soon become beyond enconmical repair (I know from many experiences) 

The quotation from Tesco had a 10,000 mile limit, so she might have to restrict her usage so as not to exceed this limit.