Can’t get car insurance for 18 year old son - anyone else having this issue?

[Picklemeyellow]

DS18 passed his test a year ago and has been driving his own car since then.

All year he has been insured with a black box. Has had no issues with his driving, no convictions, penalties etc and drives well.

However, his insurance is up for renewal and his current insurer has said he doesn’t meet their criteria and therefore can not insure him this year.

We are now struggling to find an insurer. We’ve tried a few comparison sites and they are quoting ridiculous amounts, at least £400 per month (currently paying £180 per month). Other companies we have called are repeating the same, that he doesn’t meet the criteria etc.
I’ve just called my insurer, Direct Line to see about getting him on my insurance but again he doesn’t meet the criteria, the guy I spoke to at Direct Line has said it’s because the insurance will be way more than the value of the car and it’s not worth them insuring him.

What on earth can he do? He is a very careful, competent driver and has had no issues with the black box. He drives a 16 year old, 1.4ltr Fiesta which has had no modifications etc. It’s book value is only £800.

He has just been offered an apprenticeship in an industry he has wanted to get into all year and needs his car to get to and from work (it’s 30 miles away and not on a public transport route). I don’t know what we can do.

Can anyone recommend any insurance companies that we may have missed?

Have you tried Tesco? They were good when my DD started driving.

We had this. We ended up insuring the car in one of our names with the DC as named driver.

It was that or get rid of the car.

Have you tried Marmalade Insurance ?

If the car value is an issue, I think your only option will be to upgrade to a newer one. Appreciate it's a huge cost initially but should save a lot in the long run.

If the current insurer doesn't want to renew then that does sound like there IS an issue with the data from the black box. What reason have they given for not keeping him as a customer?

Sounds like he is going to have to pay £400 a month this year and drive super carefully to build up no claims.

No, didn’t give them a thought, thanks I’ll try them.

Has he claimed/ been speeding?

This isn't legal if he's the main driver, but I see your problem.

LenaLamont Didn’t realise you could do that?
ItsReallyOnlyMe yes, sadly they were one of the companies who wouldn’t quote.
TheSpruce think we may have to consider this.
Choux when we asked they said they aren’t refusing to insure and that it’s simply because car insurances are going up in general and it’s not cost effective for them. He drives really carefully and his black box notifications are linked to my phone so I’d have been notified if there had ever been an issue.

Thants fronting and the equivalent of driving without insurance.

We ended up going with Churchill - no black box for a 2013 polo. It was £2600 but it would have been less if we’d not had to insure it that week. For a 17 year old boy. Just passed. Mum and older brother (with 8 years licence)

that was in November. I know some of his older friends who passed back in feb time paid much less but it has shot up since then. And I believe that one of them had a Hastings black box and have now been told they won’t renew it. I think Hastings are getting out of youth market

Dotchange no, not at all, his black box notifications are linked to my email/phone and nothing has ever been flagged up. The only thing I can think of his he initially insured for 8k miles per year but has been buying extra mileage allowance some months, wonder if that would go against him?

The guy at Direct Line gave me Churchill and Privilege numbers as he said they may be able to quote (part of the same group apparently).
Thanks, I’ll try them.
Car insurance has definitely show up, my dad was paying £250 last year and has just been quoted almost £500 with no changes to the policy at all.

Try Ticker. You also might need to consider changing the car to a 1 or 1.1 litre.

My insurance went up this year despite me rebuilding my no claims (not having a car for 5 Yrs river expensive) and being middle aged with two middle aged named drivers.

Have you checked the insurance group of his car?

Changing the car to a one with a very low insurance group (smaller engine and BHP) might be your only option until he gets a few years ncb with a clean license. Ds(19) has a 2014 fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost and it is £800/year to insure with most insurers.

I see why you did that but be aware if insurance co find it’s actually his car and you don’t drive it much it’ll be invalid. Thry are getting very hot on this apparently

He drives a 16 year old, 1.4ltr Fiesta which has had no modifications

You don't say what model fiesta, but uvr just checked all 1.4 fiestas and they all fall into insurance groups 9, 10 or 11.

That's your problem. Young males need insurance group 1, 2 or 3 for realistic costs.

If you go onto Autotrader to look for a new car, scroll down to the bottom of advanced search, you can limit your search to only cars with insurance group 03 or lower. These are the cars he needs, realistically.

Insurance has gone up drastically for everyone recently, I don't know what the answer is but a lot of changes are being made and him not being insured my his current insurance company may be linked to that rather then anything her has done.

Have you added you/his Dad as named drivers? As long as you have a clean license then that may help to get the pricing down.

Have you used a comparison website?

Have you tried Admiral multi car?

Sorry to add another negative but he will be commuting daily so that needs declaring if not already.
For daily transport could he have a scooter or moped?
I rode a motorbike for 3 years as a commuter. I was on parents insurance for the car but that was purely social not everyday use. That would be legal.

Fiestas are the most stolen cars at the moment. You might want to switch to a different car.

Have you tried a comparison website. I would expect them to weed out the ones that won't insure him then you can call them individually

Will they insure him third party, if the issue is the low value of his car?