Car insurance for teens now completely unaffordable?

Various across the country and not one teen has their own car. Even people my own age who live around the country not all have cars.

A polo is an expensive car with a reasonable engine. Mine got Aygos and were insured for £1.2k year 1, £600 year 2, 500 year 3

I take it you live in London or another large city?

I’m assuming those of you claiming no 18 year old needs a car, all live in London? Try living with public transport in many parts of the north which are starved of funding 😡

I would suggest learning to drive and passing a test whilst he is young. Learning to drive in your 30s is harder, and will be more expensive. Just because you can drive doesn't mean you have to!

Just seen a top 10 stolen cars last year article and ford fiesta and corsa featured so maybe look for cars not on that list.

Dd is 17 in March and we're starting to shop around for cars and insurance.
We're currently looking at damage/ repair 16 yr old minis for her and her dad to do up. These are still 2-3 grand to Insure.
She can't go on dhs insurance as he drives a 1.4 turbo'd corsa which would be a red rag to an insurer. Strangely enough it's cheaper to Insure her as a student than what she actually is, an apprentice mechanic.
As an apprentice mechanic she'll need her licence as soon as she can.

@Mademetoxic sometimes a 17 year old does need a car these days. My dc left school at 16 & went straight to college. Also managed to find part time jobs. Living as rurally as we do, with not many buses, taxis expensive they'd passed before their 18th birthdays. This was 10 years ago though & they still needed help with paying for insurance.

DDs is a bit cheaper with me as the owner of the car, even though she is listed as the main driver. I was going to give her the car, which was originally mine, but due to the insurance price difference I've kept ownership.

As others have said, DH and I are named drivers, which brings it down a bit.

My area gives discounted travel around the county as well to teens. Could see if there's anything like that in your area.

I’d not heard of free travel for teens until Glasgow uni tour mentioned it as a selling point.
It costs me £20 a week for teen to get public bus a few miles to sixth form so it’s a big saving in Scotland.
Mine has a 16/17 railcard but still needs a lift to station or can now drive there.
Lots are definitely driving to Uni and living at home, I pass a big line of teens in small cars waiting to turn right into uni on my office day in our closest city. If they are only on min loan a few thousand on insurance is still costing parents less than the £5000 a year top up they need to pay if teen lives away so it’s still a saving even if insurance is expensive.

Yes I had heard of the railcards but not free bus passes. I’m not in Scotland though so that will be why. Our rail services are awful, trains get cancelled all the time.

There are national rail cards for certain age groups which give discounted travel.

@Spacecowboys sorry I should have said we’re in Scotland, they get free travel with a Scot’s card under 22, not 25

will wait to see what the kids want to do whether that be uni or college or whatever before seeing if they need to learn to drive really with the free bus passes for under 25s

Out of interest whereabouts do you live? There aren’t free bus passes where we are for under 25’s.

I’m in my 30s the only help I got was my parents bought me £400 run about as my first car. All lessons, repairs, upkeep, fuel and insurance was mine to pay which I did by working. I had to learn to drive living rurally and buses only running once an hour from 8 till 6 and only to one or two places and my job at that time was home caring.

Where I live now is still rural but the buses run every half hour and to far more places than where I grew up. I will wait to see what the kids want to do whether that be uni or college or whatever before seeing if they need to learn to drive really with the free bus passes for under 25s

I wasn't 17 that long ago and I didn't know anyone who actually got a great financial help from their parents either for driving.

I run a car myself. It's expensive. I do know the costs, all the hidden costs I am fully well aware of. God knows how kids can run cars.

There’s definitely been an increase in companies like marmalade where yp can just be insured for a few weeks at a time or so many miles
We are in a fairly affluent area. Learning to drive at 17 is norm in dc’s sixth form but own car at 17 isn’t a thing. Most are insured on mum’s car, as is my dc. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as it’s a genuine share.
We were in a position to fund lessons but several of her friends have self funded - a McDonald’s shift = a driving lesson.
I definitely see it as a life skill. It’s much easier imo to learn at 17/18 when you have large chunks of time free - mine did it weds afternoon as no school then.
My cousin did a ‘crash course’ which used to be a thing and don’t seem to be anymore as he needed to pass for a job - that’s a whole heap of pressure.
My friend struggled to learn with two young children as she needed a babysitter each week.
The whole can’t book a driving test for months is another big hurdle that people often aren’t aware of.

I do have a clue. I run a car myself and quite frankly find it expensive to run on a decent wage.

@Mademetoxic You seem to have a massive chip on your shoulder about any parent who supports their child with learning to drive or own a car and your banging on and on and ON about it being a luxury, no 17 year old needs one, 'they are in for a nasty shock' etc is beyond tiresome. Frankly you haven't got a clue. Both my teenagers work, we do not live rurally, there are no reliable bus services any longer, twice in the last fortnight two separate taxis firms let us down and my son was late for work as he then had to cycle; it took him over an hour on busy A roads. Why do YOU get to decide what everyone else needs? The world is a very different place to the one you grew up in and I shall support both of my children in whatever way I can.

Wow that's eye watering expensive. 😱

It's only on mumsnet that kids seem have their own cars at 17/18. In reality I do not know anyone that age who has their own car.

They should refund you part of the premium if you don't make a claim! They do in effect. They charge you a higher premium once you have claimed.

Recognising the lack of public transport options in rural areas (and indeed many urban areas outside London), unfortunately those who will be priced out of learning to drive won't be those who should never have a licence if we had reasonable driving standards to begin with. Also that motoring crimes were dealt with properly by the courts (I use the word crimes intentionally) and no letting people off because it might inconvenience them.

My son passed his driving test at 17 - he is now 22 and his most recent insurance quote was £750 because he has built a driving history with no claims. We supported him financially in learning to drive and contributed to buying his first car. This is oddly a very angry thread. We live rurally and most young people we know learnt at 17/18 unless they were scuppered by covid. It's a life skill.