Top Gear - car / insurance for a 17 year old boy!

[SexyDomesticatedDad]

Our DS 1 turns 17 in a few weeks and we deffo want him to learn asap so we can stop being a taxi.

The programme prompted to start to look at insurance costs after seeing the programme - have a 1.0 Micra. DW would still use it as a main car for work but DS1 can use for weekend work / travelling to sports stuff.

The costs vary so much into several thousand . I looked at Direct Line too as I know they elt you build up your own no claims - still quite high BUT if I change DS to a 'DD' the cost halves with no other changes!!

I think most teen boys are actually quite sensible its the few that put up the costs but even on TG they were expecting them to crash car etc so the industry must perceive they are all going to crash as soon as they are allowed on their own.

Guess need to tell him if he crashes the car he will be paying for it out of his hard earned cash - one way to keep the speed down and to not take risks. Need to get looking around for other cheap deals too - best seems around £800 - an expensive birthday present then.

[CMOTdibbler]

Alas, teen boys are vastly more likely to have a serious accident, and also to have one with injuries to others in their car. The profile of their accidents is different to older drivers too - a lot more roll overs for a start.

If your DS successfully completes the Pass Plus course, you'll get a good discount on premium too

[mumblechum]

Sorry for hijack

CMotDibbler, what the $*?! does your name mean?

I always wonder.

[smudgethepuppydog]

We're with Tesco and recently added our 17 yr old DS. The orginal quote we had from them was quite high but they matched Swiftcover almost £ for £ when we said we were moving insurers. Tesco also allow DS to build his own NCD but only if he remains with them.

We're paying £830 for myself, DH (both clean licences and no claims), DD who is 19 and DS who is 17 on a 1.4l 8 year old Skoda Fabia.

We've been told Pass Plus only affects insurance if the cover is in DS's name and not ours.

[SexyDomesticatedDad]

Thanks CMOT! Hadn't heard of Pass Plus but always thought the test should have an extra part to cover at least motorway driving after you pass. Find it very odd that you can pass your test and not had any practise on roads which are very different (OK statistically per mile travel are safer - but when it goes wrong......).

It would be a good idea if the pass plus type thing was compulsory part of the test - so you get to drive on P plates and then get full license once you complete the course.

Have 4 DS to go through so plenty of experiences to go through with driving!

[optimisticmumma]

Interesting thread...am in same position. Can anyone recommend a cheap (!) young driver insurer? Does anyone understand when you can/can't add teenager to your own policy?

[CMOTdibbler]

Mumblechum - it's a Terry Pratchett character called Cutting-me-own-throat Dibbler who sells sausages inna bun, plus many other money making schemes.

Optimistic- you can add your teenager to your policy if you will be the main driver of the car. If the car is only driven by them, or mostly, it must be in their name

[Drayford]

My 17 yr old DD is learning to drive and is on my insurance as she is away at school. My insurance company advised that if she were a he it would be better to buy a "£50 quid fiesta" and insure it in his name whilst he was learning to drive as he is unlikely to have an accident during the learning period (with a resonsible adult alonside!!!) and will start to build up a no claims bonus. This wouldn't be the case with DD as insurance for female 17 year olds is much much lower! Food for thought......

However ---- on annectodal evidence from my friends, Quinn may be worth a try for teenage boys (www.quinn-direct.com)

[SexyDomesticatedDad]

Some insurers though won't accept a young driver - or may just charge a huge premium. So you may end up changing 'your' main insurer to one that will accept these high risk drivers. We can't add by DS to our current policy for the Micra so need to find a new insurer.

So far found Admiral the cheapest via comparison websites, direct line are a bit more but I know they can be named on the policy and so get a no-claims build up when they take out a direct line policy in the future. Worth thinking about building up the no-claims asap as this is what brings down the cost so much.

[Milliways]

Admiral give the named drivers a No-Claims discount as well. We use them for DD.

There have been a few similar threads where Admiral have proved the best all round.

[optimisticmumma]

Thanks all! Think I'll get DS to do the research!!

[mummyluvsme]

I completely sympathise, my own 17 ds is determined that he's gonna pass and get a car and insure it within the year! (delusional?) Yes he works bloody hard and is earning good money but I do feel that it's a waste of money paying insurance at their age. Especially at their age as the premiums are soooo reduculous! Even if Ds does get a car it will be parked in a carpark either at work, or college, all day so he may as well get a bus! It's cheeper!and if he uses it to go out at night the chances are that he'll be too drunk to drive home! The premiums do go down with every year that passes even though they're not earning a no claims bonus. I would try and wait a year at least!
p.s. what an awful age 17 is, too old to be a child but too young to be an adult! It sucks bless them!!

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

MLM

Re your comment:-

"Yes he works bloody hard and is earning good money but I do feel that it's a waste of money paying insurance at their age"

I would disagree with you there. But he will have to pay, driving is a privilege and not a right. If he wants to be on the road then he will have to pay out for doing so. Driving is not cheap and it will never be. Petrol costs for instance are high. Apart from anything else it is a criminal offence to be driving around without any form of car insurance. Honest drivers end up paying for the ones without any form of car insurance when they have accidents.

Actually the cost of car insurance can be higher for older cars than for newer models. So that "cheap old banger" over 5 years old could contribute a lot to increasing the overall cost of insuring it.

Teen boys as a whole are more likely to have accidents within their first year of driving.
Also driving at night is particularly hazardous for young people as a whole.

The one accident that I have been witness to involved a 17 year old boy who had passed his test two weeks previously. He was driving a car with bald tyres, he was on his way to the car dump to obtain some new ones!. He basically rammed the rear of another vehicle because he could not stop at the junction in time. It was just as well that no one got seriously hurt because it was a sunny and dry afternoon. A combination of over confidence and carelessness cost him very dearly. I sincerely hope he learnt his lesson.

The police did not prosecute him as it was "not in the public interest" to do so. It certainly affected his insurance premium markedly.