Why are my car insurance quotes so high?!

[Lila99]

I’m 25 yo female living in a nice town with low crime rate, passed test in May this year, car would be kept in underground parking over night etc. I obviously have no years no claims so understand it will be high. My issue is, no matter if I look at quotes for a 2 litre golf or a 1.4 Peugeot they are all around £180 per month? Why does it not make a difference with different cars? I should also add, when I first started looking for quotes months ago, they were coming out a LOT cheaper (£100 less) I just can’t see why they are so much since I turned 25? Can anyone shed some light?

TIA

It could be that it's your first year of driving. Premiums tend to drop after 25 so hopefully next year will be cheaper. I have a feeling engine size plays a part too but may be wrong on that!

It’s just strange as when I looked before, when I was 24, they were coming out at £80/£90 per month. It’s gone up since 25! And I’m looking at different litres and they’re all the same. Very stranfe

Oh gosh I'm not sure then. I don't know if time of year affects things or anything. I've always just done my through price comparison but didn't know they could fluctuate so much

Might depend on your job? Some professions score as much higher risks and the premium reflects that. A friend worked in an archive dept at the BBC, if she chose librarian as a description it would have been much lower but 'BBC researcher' was counted as a journalist and therefore more risky.

25 or not, you're a brand new driver, and therefore risky

Recently passed. I have to put DH on my insurance to get my quotes down after 3 years.

Underground parking/garages are high risk for insurers. If you are able to park on the road at all, this should definitely reduce the cost.

Have you tried adding a named driver? For example if you h e a partner or a parent who might drive it then you can add them as a named driver. It can make it cheaper. They can't be the main driver though - that's fraud.

Can you add a more experienced driver as a named driver?

DD lives in a dodgy part of Leeds and pays around 700 a year. The key is to pick an 'old people's' car. She has a 1.3 litre Sirion. If she'd gone for the usual fiesta/focus/golf/polo it would have been over a grand.

How far in advance are you getting the quotes? Are you getting the policy to start tomorrow or in 3 weeks time? Play about with the start date, it makes a huge difference. Push it off to about 3 weeks away.

Are you the sole driver? Add a sensible parent to the policy as named (second) driver and see if it helps. My dad was my second driver for years. He used the car a few times a year when he came to visit.

If you're putting through multiple quotes on policies for cars you don't have a numberplate for as well, they are obvious you aren't a serious buyer which isn't as favourable.

Finally, use a cashback site like Quidco to purchase. I get about £100 (or more) back a year that way buying car and motorbike insurance for our household. Well worth it.

Or try a black box. My DS has 4 years no claims and has gone back to a black box to reduce his premiums.

It will be because it's your first year driving but also prices seem to change at different times of year. I find prices are higher around this time (due to lots of people having lessons/tests over summer, I assume).

It will be because it's your first year driving but also prices seem to change at different times of year. I find prices are higher around this time (due to lots of people having lessons/tests over summer, I assume).

I'm in my mid 40s and its only recently that I've taken my dad off my policy to reduce the premium even further (even though he lives about 100miles away and has never driven my car)!

DH and I just saved £££ on our policies by delaying the cover by one day. In my case as an experienced, clean driver etc my insurance is £2** anyway, so an extra £50 for 24 hours was a whopping percentage difference!

We didn't drive for 24 hours and just had to hope they weren't stolen from the drive overnight!

You'll save at least £100 if you make the insurance start 3 days later than immediately.

Get a black box, this will get your insurance down - maybe not this year so much but next year

I'd try deleting cookies first and private browsing.
Saying that, we avoid au pairs with less than 3 years driving experience as it puts premiums up so much.

Uninsured drivers.
The unwillingness to ban about 25% of people who should not have a licence in my opinion.
The technical complexities of modern cars that increase repair costs.

Black box may be best for the OP.

I passed my test last July, and for a 1.4 peugeot it was 180 a month with a black box. That was parked on the road and in a not so nice area. This year it's gone down to £90 a month keeping a black box. It's just expensive, I'm not sure there is a way around it.

Yes to having an old persons car or a mum car. I got a 1.4 mazda2 on passing (old frumpy shape not the nice new shape popular with the young uns!) and it was cheaper than smaller engine micras. Don't go for the typical 'just passed' car. And having a named driver really helps too.

Not sure how they calculate insurance groups tbh as our estate is a 2.6l turbo engine and crazy quick. £220 per year to insure for me and DH
Crap 1.4l Peugeot 308 is £345 and can’t get up hills fully loaded.
Winner is our series 2 Landy though. £52 per year with no tax to pay

Try going direct to the company too. Bell were coming out as my cheapest on the comparison sites so I tried a quote on their website and instead of paying £1600 for my first years insurance I paid £800 for 10 months. I'm still with them for my 2nd year of driving too as noone else's quotes even came close to theirs.

DHs car insurance has been going up every year for the past few years, he has max no claims (9+ years) and when we got our new car a couple of weeks ago they tried to put the insurance up by another £300! It was just ridiculous, good no claims and premiums of over £1,200 per year, have no idea why. He'd been with the RAC for 15 years too!

Went onto price comparison websites and most other companies would give the same cover for about £700 cheaper (not just one fly-by-night, can't trust them as far as you can throw them company, but big well-known insurance companies). RAC couldn't match it so we changed. Insurance companies can be a law unto themselves at times.

On the other hand, when he got his first car at about age 28 all the insurance companies were charging similar prices, about £1,500 a year. We had to suck it up at the time, but 16 years later we were not willing to accept an insurance quote that was creeping up towards his first quotes years ago. Not sure why you're being quoted so high after lower quotes a few months ago, it can get ridiculous.

(Our last car was only worth about £500 and we paid more than that for the one year's insurance we had the car for. Current car worth £6,000 and paying £450 for the insurance! Much better value.)

Car insurance can be ridiculous, but as we have to have it in this country if we drive a car we are a bit stuck and are at the mercy of the insurance companies sometimes.