To ask what car insurers your teens have?

[nokidshere]

My head is aching and my eyes are bleeding! Not to mention fingers aching from keying in details all day!

Who are your teens insured with? And do they have black boxes? I have quotes ranging from 900-1700 for a first time driver aged almost (in 4 weeks) 19 year old boy. I have no idea if the black box is a good thing or not - friends and family have mixed feelings on them.

Any info you fancy sharing for comparison gratefully received!

[Downyonder]

My son has had a black box for his first year. His insurance was £1800 initially but he had two fines during the course of the year for “red flagged” journeys, the first £150 and the second £250..... on his third red flag they emailed to say they were cancelling his insurance.... we rang up to enquire why as after his fines he had driven really cautiously.... they sent the box to be checked and it turned out the box was reading incorrectly and he was refunded for the fines. Since it’s been recalibrated he’s had no warning at all. I have mixed feelings as if the insurance had been cancelled he would have struggled to get insured again. If you can get away with not having a box I’d go for that option as they’re new drivers and will have a few errors and to be penalised financially on top of extortionate insurance premiums seems unfair and could be damaging for further premiums.
Hope that makes sense 😂

[StumpyScot92]

Check the type of black box. I have one and I'm 25 because it gave me an automatic 25% discount but they can't and don't penalise bad driving, they use it to offer a (pathetic amount of) discount at rental, higher the score bigger the supposed discount. Would never take one that could issue fines like previous poster...

[Downyonder]

It is marmalade that he is insured with. It’s for drivers between 17-25 and I think the car had to be less than 9-10 years old..... just so you know to avoid them.

[nokidshere]

I have heard a few stories like that downyonder so obviously not an isolated case. The difference in cost is only a couple of hundred a year so not convinced yet that it's worth it.

[VelvetSpoon]

We have one in our car - I am main driver, 19 yo DS is named driver. But both of us have only been driving since last yr.

In 2016 our insurance was £1300 with a black box. We're insured through Hastings Direct. On renewal insurance was less than 50%.

The only downside to the black box is getting loads of drivers tailgating us as we drive at the speed limit!

[poisonedbypen]

Admiral little box here. It's been great. They also do a scheme where you insure them for 10 months but get a year's no claims bonus.

[MrsFionaCharming]

Does he need the insurance now? You might find it he can be patient, it’ll drop a lot on his birthday.

[BubblesBuddy]

We also used Admiral. No problems with black box. We had a multi car policy and teens included for one car each. Seemed best value we could find.

[Scotlass]

We were 1200 for first year driving for 17/18yr old DD, comparethemarket, admiral insurance. We chose the black box option you plugged in for 3months and earned back some money. A whole 30 quid
Costs for teens are eyewatering

[nokidshere]

Mrsfionacharming we are picking the car up on Saturday morning. Been looking for one for ages so it's not an option to wait longer.

[BackforGood]

When dd was 17, and just passed, I put her on mine and it added about £600 to my insurance - we moved to Diamond
When she was 18 she bought her own little car and best quote she got (putting dh and me on) was just under £1000 - down from about £1700 she started with.
ds was 20 when he passed and to put him on mine added about £480. He hasn't tried to get his own yet.
We haven't used black boxes for a combination of 1) hearing the mistakes they made and 2) some of them restrict your hours of driving, and both mine do shift work so need to drive outside the 'daytime' hours plus I'm not sure how it tells who it is driving ?

[stargazer2030]

Dd is with More Than and has a black box. I thought it was good as it makes her drive at the speed limit.
The only problem is I have twice got her a minus score for speeding. She rang up to find out how as I honestly stuck to the limit. It turns ours road I thought was 30 is actually 20 (definitely no signs) and I was doing 24! I don't think she gets a fine but she gets a discount each quarter for good driving. Because if my error this quarter won't be as good.

[GetOutOfMYGarden]

A relative of mine is with Tesco bank box. Pay for your miles and get free miles for driving well, no curfew, cheapest there was at the time.

[Mrsknackered]

Carrot are pretty good, in our experience.

[Troubleinstore]

Tesco bank box for us too. DD 17 and £1053 with box includes 6000 miles and extra 100's of miles free if she drives well.

[BeALert]

Holy cow. Here in the US I pay $450 per car per year, including a newly-qualified 16 year old.

Not much use to you OP, I'm just reeling a bit seeing these prices!

[TittyGolightly]

The only downside to the black box is getting loads of drivers tailgating us as we drive at the speed limit!

The speed shown on your dashboard could be up to 10% over what you're actually doing. For example, you might think you're doing 70, but you're actually doing a bit under 64. To someone with a more accurate speedometer, you are driving below the speed limit.

[poisonedbypen]

Whoever asked, it can't tell who is driving, you all have to obey the rules. Dad's car was taken to the garage for a scrape to be fixed. The guy took it home every night without telling us & exceeded the speed limit. We knew exactly how far he had taken it & when...

[nokidshere]

Thanks all

We ended up with people's choice (via compare the market) It looks like a subsidiary of Hastings. Best price inclusive of personal accident cover, legal cover, windscreen cover and protection from uninsured drivers was £962

A bargain apparantly

[nokidshere]

Oh and that was without a black box

[biscuiteater]

Admiral and getting a black box fitted next week so can't comment yet on how good that is. Insurance is £870, it went down quite a bit just by putting myself and DH as named drivers on DS insurance. Hoping next year with the box it will go down more. My DS is 17 and currently a learner driver.

[tinytemper66]

My son is 22 , 21 when he passed last year. We bought him a cheap new car - Dacia Sandero and insurance was £900 with Direct Line and no black box.

[Magpiemagpie]

Biscuiteater
If your sons not passed his test yet that's why it's so cheap
It's because in order to drive he has to have another adult in the car with him .He can't drive on his own because he hasn't passed his test

I would check the price as if he has just passed his test
And then check It with 1 years no claims

My neighbour did the same for her daughter but when she actually passed it more than doubled the price

[tinytemper66]

My husband and I were both named as additional drivers on my son`s policy.

[biscuiteater]

Yes I wondered if it will go up once he's passed which I am hoping the box will help with. The car is a 1.2 Skoda, seems very cheap insurance for the size of car but is an old man's type car which may help?