teenage car insurance beware drivesmart

[DrDJC]

So daughter passed her test, insurance quotes around £5000 for a Ford Ka!. Got pestered to go for a drivesmart deal with a telematics box from drivesmart -'Only £2000 as long as she drives safely. Daughter religiously keeps to speed limit , never drives late at night etc but they find she does too many short journeys on unfamiliar roads ..well yes she drives to school that is near but she uses the same roads so why they are unfamiliar by no she has no idea..So we can only presume this is a means to make sure people end up paying much more than expected.

Our advice beware this company

[RuddyDuck]

Not sure why your insurance is so high. Do you live in London or another big city? My ds, aged 17, has a telematics box and insurance through Tesco for a 1.2 litre car. It costs £850 per year. We got quite a lot of quotes, but none of them came out at more than £1500.

Can you shop around for more quotes and then switch to another insurer? Even if you are charged an admin fee for ending the policy early it might still be cheaper.

[cheznal]

Sorry - I know it's an old thread!

I passed my driving test on 10th December 2014 and Drivesmart came out cheapest on insurance for me. I've got a 1.4l Renault Scenic Megane and it's costing me £1200 to insure it, which was the same price for a 1.2l Corsa and a 1.2l Ford Ka - so went for the more spacious car for my family.

Whilst awaiting my black box fitting date, they sent me my terms and conditions and what they 'advise' you to do and not to do.

I'm advised to not drive between the hours of 11pm and 5am - despite one of my occupation on my policy stating 'barmaid' which clearly means that I'm going to be out of the house after 11pm! When questioned, they said they would advise me not to drive that time as it's not a curfew as such, but may affect my score as lots of 'young drivers' have accidents between these hours - I'm nearly 30 - hardly a young driver.

I'm advised to not make lots of familiar trips and short journeys - right I drive to work (in a school) to work (in a bar) to my son's school when necessary, to the shops and to my parents house. I'm quite nervous so don't really want to be driving unfamiliar routes or longer journeys unnecessarily. Unfortunately - this may affect my score and affect my premium

I'm a 29 and a bit year old female, passed driving test in December 2014 and it appears that I'm forced to have such a policy (black box) due to the cost of insurance being over £3k without a telematics device fitted. Nothing like penalising someone!

[chocoluvva]

Beware the excess premium too. £650 in the case of my DD. And no refund if you claim then cancel the policy.

[wesleyc4t]

BEWARE OF USING DRIVESMART FOR TEENAGERS CAR INSURANCE - Just advised Drivesmart that my daughter is to come off my insurance now she has passed her test and has her own car. They won't refund me for the 7 months of policy left, even though it's just 5 months old and cost me £700!! Apparently they use 90% of the annual premium you pay to cover the first 6 months.....???? BEWARE of using Drivesmart!! And just to add insult to injury they are demanding £25 admin fee to remove her too :-( If I don't pay up, my policy will be cancelled in 7 days. Disgusting.