Young driver's car insurance?

[AD-15]

Hello,

I passed my driving test back in December, and soon after began hunting for car insurance to drive my mother's car (beefy 4x4).

The insurance company we used was Aviva, and they quoted me £80 for one month of insurance, and about £550 for one year. I took them up on the offer for one month only, as I (at the time) was making plans for buying a car of my own.

After the month was up, I decided to extend the insurance so that I could continue driving my mother's car. Unfortunately however, the insurance company was unable to offer me the same price, claiming the previous offer was something to do with being a 'temporary driver', and the new quote was to the tune of £300 for one month. Definitely not something I could afford as a poor student.

Looking online, most companies are quoting around the same obscene prices. With some, it would be cheaper to dump the car and get a new one than to pay out for a year's worth of insurance.

A lot will not even quote me a price, stating they do not insure young drivers at all.

Is there any solution out there for drivers in my position? Or is the case that if I want to drive now I'll just have to stomach the insane premiums?

It does feel highly unfair that I am lumped in with the stereotypical teenage, reckless driver (am still 20 myself). I did well (I think) on my test, with 3 minor faults. My driving is fine, especially compared to the vast majority of other drivers I've observed on the road, including friends and family members, cab drivers etc. I've never come remotely close to speeding, am confident with my driving and navigating, follow the rules (many of which are tossed out the window by drivers with time), am always mindful of giving myself margin in case something goes wrong (the number of drivers that leave braking to the very last minute when seeing some sort of stop signal is astonishing), I never drive when stressed/tired/on meds, don't let myself become distracted, perform checks on the car and its maintenance (as per the driver's manual...) that other motorists have never bothered with.

The way I see it, I simply cost the insurance company (theoretically) far less per trip than the average driver (from what I've seen of the average driver anyway).

Any ideas?

[jackobyte]

i guess you may have tried all the compare sites always found these 2 the cheapest on quotes
http://www.moneysupermarket.com/car-...120128054643:s

http://www.comparethemarket.com/car-...young-drivers/

also this one gives me a good quote every year
http://www.endsleigh.co.uk/Motor/Pag...insurance.aspx

also this tips etc from moneysaving expert is good
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ins...-young-drivers

being a old fossil (as my daughter tells me) i do sympathise with you the insurance companies do have very high premiums until you are 25 as by that age the so called boy racer image is classed as burnt out of you (not so in a lot of cases) so they reckon, also they work on average stastistics from where you live ,what car you are driving eg robin reliant upto a muscle type car and the general age and expierence off the driver.
As you have only passed your test, and are by the sound off it a responsible driver the insurance companies have no way of knowing this, also overall learning curve on anticipation of other road users comes only with expierence on the road over many years of driving (even then you are still learning other drivers numbnuts phycho
driving) so young drivers are slightly more prone to accidents.Thats why the no claims bonus works, you have to try and build that as quickly as possible to getter a better quote, as now you have zero percent ncd,but i have always said your should have at least a few percent when you pass your test as a little bonus.
Ive been driving for 30 years (no not all the time i do go to sleep,normally at the wheel !!!) and still have problems getting a good quote from insurance companies.
Have you tried getting your parents to put you on their insurance as this sometimes not always can work cheaper,also get the lowest cc car you can get research the internet for the lowest car type group and if you buy a car make sure its not classed as a high risk to insurance companies, also check, if you live at home your area is not classed as high risk.
Have you tried your student union for info as they may have some.
hope some of this helps oh and congrats on passing your test (daughter going for 3 test,blaming examiner at moment ah bless her)

[jackobyte]

ps
standard google search link for you
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...38l2-5.1.3l9l0

some other info around net re young drivers insurance
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=how...aq=f&aqi=&aql=

[Larkspeed]

firstly interesting how you can say you are such a conscientious driver and always perforn maintenance and such when you have had your licence maximum of about 6 weeks. I doubt you had a provisional for very long before that and certainly not long enough to establish the habits you speak of.

That reads to me like you are just trying to paint a good picture of yourself so you look like the poor victim.

Young peoples insurance is high for a reason, young people are generally involved in more accidents it's that simple.

If you want to drive young you are going to have to bite the bullet and pay the premiums, we all had to do it.

I will give you one word of advice though, before you buy a car make sure the insurance companies will cover you in it first.

We sold an Alfa Romeo about 3 years ago and the young kid that came and looked at it loved it and wanted it but was very gutted when he rang his insurance company and they would not cover him in that car as they deemed it too high performance.

We spent about 2 hours with him scouring quote sites ( http://www.insurancepanda.com/car-insurance-calculator/ ) before we finally had to give up and take him to the train station to get home.

And I have heard of the same thing happening in the UK so I would hate to see you waste money on a car only to discover either nobody will insure you in it or if they do they want more than the car cost to cover it.

[peterb]

Somew insurance companies offer discounts to young drivers that have taken the pass+ course.

Statistically, young (male) drivers have a much higher chance of having an accident, partly because of inexperience and unable to deal with potential hazards as quickly as a more experienced driver, and partly through less risk awareness.

Ager for age, females have a lower risk of serious accidents than males, and thir insurance premiums used to reflect that, until the EU interfered.

[jim]

Your quotes are better than mine (we're in roughly the same position).

[Stoo]

Insurance prices these days have very little to do with the level of risk from the driving of the person involved, and an awful lot more to do with the accident claim culture which has been cultivated over the last few years along with the increasing levels of uninsured drivers..

Sadly a lot of insurance companies are simply pricing themselves out of reality - I've seen quotes of £3-7000+ for a year for an 18 year old in a bog standard fiesta worth around £2000.

I believe there is some investigation going on into insurance prices at the moment - time will tell if it has any effect.

Luckily I'm over the issue for insurance these days being over 30 with 10+ years of driving experience with no claims.

[Hoonigan]

Some insurance companies offer discounts to young drivers that have taken the pass+ course.

A friend from Sixth form completed the Pass+ course and I think she was quoted £8 less on her insurance, per year, than if she hadn't been on the course. Absolutely ridiculous tbh.

[jim]

A friend from Sixth form completed the Pass+ course and I think she was quoted £8 less on her insurance, per year, than if she hadn't been on the course. Absolutely ridiculous tbh.

I was checking quotes a while back and tried adding pass plus. It may have been better, but it was still utterly ridiculous.

[Barakka]

It always has been expensive... my insurance at 17 on an entry model 1.4 fiat tipo was £1750 and that was 19 years ago.

[Flibb]

It always has been expensive... my insurance at 17 on an entry model 1.4 fiat tipo was £1750 and that was 19 years ago.

In the past there was the option of having an old banger to keep the insurance down, not sure that saves much now. My first car (about 15 years ago) was a 20 year old 1.6 chrysler avenger. the insurance was around £300.

[chris_argyle]

What I don't get is why the EU should rule that the drivers sex should not affect the premium (presumably classed as sexism), and yet they can discriminate based on age (ageism).

The hugely inflated premiums (justified or not) are causing more and more young people to drive without insurance. They feel its worth the risk of being caught and fined, compared to the certainty of having to pay thousands of pounds per year. This then causes everyone's premiums to rise, including the young, and the cycle starts again.

There are a few schemes now which install a monitoring box on the car and you can receive a discount based on your driving (it usually measures and records g force I think). The Co-op is one such company. Would you consider this?

My other tip would be to find the cheapest price (it used to be elephant/bell for me) then contact a few brokers and see if they can beat it.

good luck!

[kalniel]

The way I see it, I simply cost the insurance company (theoretically) far less per trip than the average driver (from what I've seen of the average driver anyway).

9 out of 10 drivers think they are better than average

Feel for you - as mentioned, in my day we'd get a banger to bring the premiums down - my first car was a golf GTI!.. but an 18 year old one with 230k miles on the clock

The solution these days seems to be to only drive a car if you absolutely have to - try and get by until 25 at least without needing to, if you do, getting temporary insurance only for the occasions you need it works out far cheaper. Don't worry about building up no claims bonus - age will reduce the premium far more dramatically.

[jim]

What I don't get is why the EU should rule that the drivers sex should not affect the premium (presumably classed as sexism), and yet they can discriminate based on age (ageism).

I feel as though it has to happen sooner or later. When I stops, I don't know. I'm sure type of car will remain a factor, but area you live in might become a sticky one as I'm sure the poorer the area, the higher your insurance is. As for certain jobs being riskier than others, I suspect that could be canned at some point as well.

As for the boxes, that's what I've considered a few times in the past. A lot of it is agreeing at what times to drive as well - promise not to drive beyond 10pm, and assuming the box doesn't detect movement later than that, you'll save some cash.

[Macman]

Was paying £1,200 on my Corsa; changed over to the Fiesta ST; somehow my insurance dropped to £670.

There is alot of insonsistencies with Insurance Companies at times. Heard a friend of a friend getting a Subaru, insurance turned out to be cheaper than his previous car and only had been driving for 2 years [was 21 when he got his scooby] and his previous car was a 1.6 astra life.

[finlay666]

There is alot of insonsistencies with Insurance Companies at times. Heard a friend of a friend getting a Subaru, insurance turned out to be cheaper than his previous car and only had been driving for 2 years [was 21 when he got his scooby] and his previous car was a 1.6 astra life.

It's all about the risk for that statistic.

It might be uncommon for a 21 year old to have a scooby and do damage with it (depending on spec) in that area, where the astra could be a boy racer car or involved in a lot of accidents

My premium dropped going from a 97 Honda Accord (bog standard 1.8l boat) to an Audi A4 1.8 T Sport (faster, more powerful, higher top speed)