best way to insure new 18 year old driver?

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

So I got a shock to discover that when DS1 passed his driving test last week that I couldn't simply add him to my insurance as a named driver, as my parents had done years ago with me. They said it could be the size of the engine or value of the car or age, but the computer just said no.

After the investment in his lessons, I really don't want him to lose all that practice and sense of achievement by just not driving for a year, which is when LV said he might be able to be added to my insurance.

One option is to pay just over 20 quid to Veygo every couple of weeks for him to drive my car for an hour, just to keep his hand in.

Other option is for us to buy a cheap Group 1 car and make him the main driver and he can at least start his No claims going and go out and get confident at driving on his own. Downside is that he's going to uni in October and wouldn't be taking the car with him. However, only a few months later, DS2 will be 17 and we would want him to have lessons. So my thinking is that they could then share the car, with DS2 having learner driver insurance on it maybe, but certainly being added to it once he's passed?

Basically what is the best/cheapest way to let young siblings share a car, insurance-wise?

Parents down as named drivers.
Excess - don't put it ridiculously high to get the premium down as it will have to be paid.
Mileage - realistically what's be going to do, lower mileage helps keep premium down.

I'm really surprised you can't add him on yours though, did you ring your insurance company?

If both kids will be driving at some point a car to share seems a good option.

Mileage would be barely anything.

Yes, I did ring my insurance company to ask about adding to mine. And asking around friends it seems it's fairly common to knock back 18 year old new drivers (boys, anyway). LV said that after a year of passing his test he would able to be added to mine but that seems nuts to me because if he didn't drive at all in the year after his test surely he'd be more of a risk than driving now when he's had very recent driving practice? The woman on the phone kind of agreed with me that it was a bit daft but that's the way it was, the system just wouldn't quote.

My car is fairly decent, only 4 year old, extremely low mileage, 1.5l, worth about 18-19k. She said that could be the reason too apart from he's an 18 year old boy who's just passed.

Have you looked at Marmalade pay as you go insurance?

www.wearemarmalade.co.uk/pay-as-you-go-insurance

Yes, Marmalade wouldn't insure my car for him PAYG. It's not a bloody Lamborhini or anything. It's group 15. He's such a good sensible lad too, makes me mad that young people like him have to pay more to make up for the behaviour of show-off scallies.

I don't think buying a car will be very cost-effective if he's off to uni soon. Probably Veygo PAYG for an hour every 10 days or so will have to do. They WILL insure my car for about 23 quid for an hour at a time. It means he won't have the pick of when he uses my car, but at least he'll keep his driving up somewhat.

DS(17) has a policy with Wise Driving, he has a black box and gets a refund every quarter (I think) if he's been driving sensibly.

Was under £900 for the first year which I thought was exceptionally cheap 🙄

My insurance (specialist provider through work) flatly refused to cover him until he was 25yo.

I have written about four replies to this but it will NOT allow me to post on the app after the upgrade, despite me deleting the app, reinstalling, changing my password etc...!

We ended up buying a small secondhand car (VW Up) as DD will turn 17 in July so she will be able to practice - not the most cost effective solution, I grant you! He is a named driver so I think will be building up his no claims....

We bought a small car for DC1, they drove to school for a year, then DC2 learned and in fact has been the principle driver ever since .DC3 is learning but not really motivated so we will probably leave it as DC2 being main driver.

Parent as main driver 17 Yr old as named driver but be honest about who does most of the driving. I know several people who have had high end cars for their children but misled ins company about who was main driver. Insurance didn't cover any of the damages in the resulting fender benders. Very expensive lessons learned

Have you looked at comparison sites to see if any other insurance companies would allow DS to be added as a named driver on your policy? LV are notoriously risk averse when it comes to young, inexperienced drivers, but there are other insurers that are less so. It may be cheaper to pay the cancellation fee (usually equivalent to a month's premium) on your current policy and move than any of the other options you're looking at.

Firstly, congratulations to your Ds. Definitely look at a comparison site to see what everyone is offering for both you and your Ds on your car. There are lots of newly passed drivers so they must be getting insurance from somewhere and they don't have their own cars.

If it's dc's car then they need to be the main driver, unless you're planning on driving the car more than them.

Just shop around and insure your car with someone else, then cancel your existing policy. It's what we did, we were with Halifax - they were happy enough to put DS on the policy when he was learning, but refused once he'd passed his test. We moved to Admiral, cancelled the Halifax policy and got a refund (there was no cancellation penalty as it was them who wouldn't insure DS, i.e. their fault not ours!).

I thought I posted but it’s disappeared. I passed my test at 19 and didn’t drive until I could afford a loan to buy my own car at 20. I didn’t forget how to drive, it’s like riding a bike. He can always have a refresher lesson if he loses confidence.

I couldn’t add Dd to my car after she passed. Insurance company refused to quote.

we bought a small car for her and took out her own insurance policy as main driver with us as named drivers on her policy. I’d do that with your second son also about to start driving.

He will only build up an NCB if he is the policyholder, not just the named driver

We got a group 1 car and got her insured with black box and us both as extra drivers but dd as main. It's a lot of money the first year but it does go down very quickly. Next child also got insured as a learner with Marmalade (that's very cheap for a learner) so you save money on lessons if you are brave enough.

@anniegun oh, perhaps I misunderstood the lady on the phone. We have to renew in August as we just added the car onto our existing LV policy from this week, so maybe we will have to look at that again then....and maybe switch insurers (although LV have been really good).

Dc1 is due to do his test in a couple of weeks.
Ive used Marmalade and it was really good value for money.

ive just tried to see how much it would cost us to get an insurance for him like this. It’s still very cheap (less than £60 per month) and that would allow him to build his no claim bonus.

DD passed in January. We haven’t bought her a car as she’s going to uni in September . School is a walk away and the odd occasion she needs my car we use Veygo temporary insurance.