Add son to car insurance policy, or give him car and add mine to his policy?

Scooter_McGraw

Hi

My son has just got his provisional license and turns 18 in a week. I have a small mini that my mother let me transfer into my name when she could no longer drive due to ill health. The V5 shows it to be mine.
I have just got a quote from my existing insurer to add my son to my policy (fully comp in my name), and it is north of £700!!
Would it be easier and cheaper to transfer ownership of the mini to my son, him to get TPF&T insurance with me as an added named driver?
How have others done this as it can't just be me who have kids learning to drive and think the quotes are shocking!?

Many thanks.

Mildly_Miffed

Premiums for young drivers are high for one very good reason... they're responsible for a lot of claims...

And if you think the premium for him on L plates is high, wait until he passes his test.

Scooter_McGraw

Mildly_Miffed said:

Premiums for young drivers are high for one very good reason... they're responsible for a lot of claims...

And if you think the premium for him on L plates is high, wait until he passes his test.

Thanks for responding. The points you made I am already aware of. I was asking which is the best method to minimise the costs involved.

forgotmyname

I was thinking the same after he passes his test it's more likely to be £1700 not £700.  One of the reasons why we delayed buying the
car until they actually needed it.  College in the City so they would not drive to that anyway.

TPFT is likely to be more than Comprehensive, not always but more often than not.

With the right car you could probably cut the cost of insurance a lot but the Mini is probably not that car.

Cheapest car last time we looked was a Fiat 500 but they were wrecks, bought a car 3 years newer with half the miles and in a far better
condition for less money.

Scooter_McGraw

forgotmyname said:

I was thinking the same after he passes his test it's more likely to be £1700 not £700.  One of the reasons why we delayed buying the
car until they actually needed it.  College in the City so they would not drive to that anyway.

TPFT is likely to be more than Comprehensive, not always but more often than not.

With the right car you could probably cut the cost of insurance a lot but the Mini is probably not that car.

Cheapest car last time we looked was a Fiat 500 but they were wrecks, bought a car 3 years newer with half the miles and in a far better
condition for less money.

Yup - I'm thinking that maybe the Mini isn't the cheap runaround that is best for him to learn in. It will have to go to finance something similar.

Lorian

Search the forum for "marmalade insurance" for some previous relevant threads

Myci85

Having recently been through this with my son, the car you choose will make a huge impact on the premium (I spent months searching and despite insurance categories, a Fiat panda was the cheapest for my son when he passed), so whilst I appreciate you have a mini available, they're not so cheap on insurance. 
Definitely worth policy being in his own name from the get go as the quickest way to bring the premium down is to start building no claims bonus. Play around with who you add as named drivers on his policy, it will absolutely bring it down, and sometimes having both parents on brings it down again. It's a nightmare to navigate though, I literally spent hours trying different combinations of things in compare the market, and even just changing what day I started the policy made a huge difference in premium which felt ridiculous. 
Also, be aware of the pros and cons of black box policies, my son managed to avoid needing that with his panda, but I've heard of people being stung with them both for needing to drive late evening to/from work for example, or having to brake hard to prevent a collision. 

Scooter_McGraw

Myci85 said:

Having recently been through this with my son, the car you choose will make a huge impact on the premium (I spent months searching and despite insurance categories, a Fiat panda was the cheapest for my son when he passed), so whilst I appreciate you have a mini available, they're not so cheap on insurance. 
Definitely worth policy being in his own name from the get go as the quickest way to bring the premium down is to start building no claims bonus. Play around with who you add as named drivers on his policy, it will absolutely bring it down, and sometimes having both parents on brings it down again. It's a nightmare to navigate though, I literally spent hours trying different combinations of things in compare the market, and even just changing what day I started the policy made a huge difference in premium which felt ridiculous. 
Also, be aware of the pros and cons of black box policies, my son managed to avoid needing that with his panda, but I've heard of people being stung with them both for needing to drive late evening to/from work for example, or having to brake hard to prevent a collision. 

Terrific advice. Thank you.

Scooter_McGraw

Lorian said:

Search the forum for "marmalade insurance" for some previous relevant threads

They look like avoiding according to forum comments!

Aretnap

Myci85 said:

Definitely worth policy being in his own name from the get go as the quickest way to bring the premium down is to start building no claims bonus. 

That's not necessarily true. The quickest way to bring his premium down is to not be an 18 year old freshly qualified driver. In other words, his premium is going to come down over the next couple of years, with or without any no claims bonus. The premium that he pays the first year after he passes is likely to be the biggest that he ever pays and anything that he can do to bring that down is likely to be a sound decision. There's little point paying over the odds this year to get a small discount  off a premium that will be lower anyway next year.

In fact in purely financial terms by far the best thing that he can do when he passes his test is to put his licence in the back of a drawer and forget that it exists for a couple of years... though of course you have to balance avoiding the two most expensive years of insurance with the benefits of owning a car.

born_again

Scooter_McGraw said:

Lorian said:

Search the forum for "marmalade insurance" for some previous relevant threads

They look like avoiding according to forum comments!

Look at it like this with these L driver ins companies. 

He is taking out his own insurance on the car. Should he prang it, then it will not effect your NCD or having to declare a claim, as you would have to do with being a named driver on a policy.