Car insurance for teens now completely unaffordable?

My 19 years old DS passed his test last week. He paid for lessons himself, and we added him as a named driver to our insurance which only cost about £100 extra and took him out as much as possible so that he didn't have to pay as much for lessons.

He has the chance to drive a small VW 15 years old. We looked at insurance for him and the quotes are anywhere from £3.5k Upto £10k with a black box. We tried every permutation of adding us on as named drivers, different parking solutions, etc etc.

He's working full time, in a flat share and just cannot afford that kind of money. He's looking into using temporary insurance, where he can insure himself from 1 hour all the way up to 1month at a time on our car. He doesn't need a car all the time so this seems like a reasonable option.

Years ago you used to be able to buy 3rd party fire and theft insurance as a cheaper way of getting insurance and starting to build your no claim discount. I checked this out for DS and it was even more expensive than fully comp. The insurance companies seem to have you by the short and curlies. They should refund you part of the premium if you don't make a claim!

DS will just need to wait a couple of years to get his own car. By then he will be on better money and should be able to afford the insurance.

By delaying, it'll take longer to accumulate the no claims discount, reductions for numbers of years since passing the test, etc. So you basically start on higher premiums when they finally start driving/buy a car, at an older age, although there will be reductions for age without experience/NCD. It'll always be more expensive for the first time someone buys a car because of no driving history.

I'm afraid this has been the case for about 10 years. I had heard people being quoted £6k for a Renault Clio!

That’s assuming there is uber though. I wouldn’t think we are rural but there would be no chance of a taxi/uber at 5am daily.
A few years ago I was in hospital and needed a taxi to school for my dc with a relative who couldn’t drive - I eventually persuaded owner of a firm in a nearby town to do it herself (and obviously paid accordingly)

It will to some extent, because insurance comes down with age.

Though as someone said, if insurance is costing £1.30 per mile driven, uber is a cost effective alternative.

We got my son an old Corsa, with me and husband as named drivers and a black box - around £1100 first year.

My ds17 is working full time and had funded the whole thing himself, car, lessons (beyond the 10 he got for his birthday) and his insurance.

True, but won’t ever come down getting Ubers. Getting 10/10 for his driving so far so hoping his renewal or if we need to buy more miles it will have come down.

When you live in a town or a city, with a bus stop at the end of your road, or shops within walking distance life is totally different.

This is what people need to realise. In our village (a big village of 5000 people), you'd have more chance of seeing aliens on our Main Street than a bus. The last service bus ran up our main street nearly 20 years ago!

And no, our nearest city doesn't have Ubers, and the two main private hire taxi firms are constantly advertising for more drivers as they can't keep up with demand, so you can easily have to wait an hour or two for a taxi to turn up when you ring for one. And it's virtually impossible to pre-book one for "out of hours" such as getting to work first thing in the morning or getting one to take you home after a late night.

School kids are OK as both the main secondary schools in the next towns put on school buses (at a price, of course!).

So, in our village, which is only 5 miles from a city, driving is basically essential.

As the earlier poster says, people who live in big towns or cities and live near bus routes can't understand the reality of not living on a frequent bus route!

Definitely agree with this. Some posts on this thread have made me think about the necessity of rural driving and how it’s linked to poverty and hidden homelessness.

This merits a greater focus, especially within levelling up narratives and expanding opportunities for rural communities. Living in my urbancentric bubble, as I do, with transport and jobs readily available, I’m ashamed that it hasn’t ever occurred to me. My dd lives at home and has no housing costs. I live within a few minutes walk of three bus routes than run several times an hour seven days a week, and where Ubers are available at will. As I’ve already said, my decisions about DDs’ cars are motivated by convenience and them not having to wait in the rain for buses, not travel in Ubers alone, and just because they can.

Thank you for the posts highlighting the need to drive when living rurally, as that is knowledge that teens who drive ‘just cos they want to and can’ should appreciate and would benefit from knowing. I think that is more valuable than the points made about my dds not having to scrimp and save in order to pay for their cars themselves.

ALL the people saying 17 year olds don't need to drive have made the distinction between town and country. We all know roads are unsafe, unlit and there's no public transport, ubers or taxis'

However the reality is lots of kids even rural ones WON'T be able to learn to drive because the cost is prohibitive.

No they aren't, they are saying 17 year olds are too young to drive and that it is a luxury and that teens should make their own way to jobs.

One poster seems to think because only 1/5 of the 67 million population live rurally that we must all be lying (transport and opportunities in small towns is also rubbish)

Driving when living rurally is a necessity- and I completely agree with you that this factor makes rural poverty worse.

It is awful that in this day and age people do not have the necessities, hidden homelessness is also a real issue in rural areas.

I really don’t know what you’re issue is, but you clearly have a problem with my choices about my dc driving.

If 25 is the age that the brain is fully developed, it is not a marker of intellect. I take it you’re over 25?

My DD does appreciate the cost of cars actually, as she’s saving for one. When she’s saved enough, sell her current car to us, which will go to middle DD to practice in and/or drive when she passes her test. I imagine this will be at some point in the summer. Older DD will add her own savings to buy the car she wants.

As for the lessons, DD had to pay a fair whack herself as she was inconsistent with her availability for lessons and ended up taking way more lessons than she would have if she organised herself properly. Lessons were 35 a lesson, so not cheap as lessons ended up spread over 18 months. Middle DD will have block lessons or potentially intensive course + nighttime and motorway lessons separately, so should be far shorter time from lessons to passing the test.

Driving DD is nearly 20. She attends uni 3 days and works 8.30-4.30 2 days. She negotiated the combination into an apprenticeship and she earns £10k. She used to work in a local pub at the weekends, but gave that up so she had time for socialising, rest etc. So she could clearly afford to quit. Last week DD received results from her uni assessments and achieved 3 x firsts and 1 x 2:1, so her grades aren’t suffering due to working 2 days.

Just before Christmas one of the tyres had a puncture. I recall DH calling round garages, but I’ve just asked him who paid and he said he thought I’d given DD the money for it. I didn’t, so she must’ve paid herself.

Id understand your gripe if you had environmental concerns, or there’s a crisis of vehicles abandoned by teens who can’t afford them, or increase in car prices due to teens with cars who don’t need them… but it’s none of those is it? So just what IS your issue?

ALL the people saying 17 year olds don't need to drive have made the distinction between town and country. We all know roads are unsafe, unlit and there's no public transport, ubers or taxis'

However the reality is lots of kids even rural ones WON'T be able to learn to drive because the cost is prohibitive. I have no idea why so many posters seem to be disagreeing with that. Even the idea that you can teach them yourself relies on the parent being able to afford to run a car (mine passed his in my car because I didn't have £120 for a triple lesson plus £62 test).

Its one of the things that makes the impact of rural poverty so much worse. There are no alternatives.

Looking back to when you were 16/17 I'm sure you agree that you were a child and didn't really have a clue in life.

This thread honestly...... So you support your kids in what they need at any given time. Be that schooling, clubs, cars, university. Later we might give them a deposit for a house if we are able. We are all doing our best to set them up for life. That's what parents do. Cars are a big part of setting up skills and independence, regardless of who pays.

We only live 10 mins from a large town, but semi-rural ... DD worked in a small museum, country house, no transport links. Even if she had worked in town, the cost of our 5 mins train journey, yes we have a station, is £5, and it only runs twice an hour, and is always cancelled. So, yes city dwellers, they do need cars, funded by parents.

Everyone is in for a shock as insurance has risen these past few months.

Sorry - your first post said that your mum bought your car and she was the registered keeper. If the parent insures the car in their name but the child is the main user of the car, that’s fronting. If the car was actually your mums, she was the main user driving it to and from work every day and you only drove it once a week then that’s not fronting.

They're in for a nasty shock when they have to pay their insurance themselves when their first year runs out, alongside their MOT, car repairs etc....

I don’t think this is really true. Our dc knew how much insuring him cost for the first year and that he would pay for the second year himself. So he saved to pay for it and paid for the mot.

Well by that way of thinking 24 year old are kids and I was married had a child and a mortgage by then, should someone not have stopped me because I was a "kid. Similarly my 16 year old is in an apprenticeship working shifts and having a driving licence and a car will enable him to take on more duties at work, shall I tell them he cant as he's just a 'kid'?

I think different people have different perspectives in when a young person should just get on and stand on their own two feet and I think it best to agree to disagree.

A bit like earning over 100k in niche roles 🤣

DS may need to bus or train it into uni at a nearby city when his time comes as he's not in a position to afford driving to and from uni until after he finishes his degree.

Better than him having it handed on a plate that it's self funded.

Your DD does not appreciate how expensive cars are to buy if her mum and dad actually pay for it.
She would not be able to afford to purchase her own car if it was not for bank of mum and dad.
A decent wage at 18 in a part time job.. sure it is.

Sorry but your daughter's will not have a clue how to fund a car, and will not appreciate how hard it is to fund yourself. The lessons, the actual car. If she had to find it all herself it would be a different story b