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?

All fine & well but new drivers need to start building up their no claims - this won't happen if they aren't the named/primary driver on the policy.
Insurance will forever be expensive with 0 no claims, so worth bearing in mind OP.

Sorry, mis read Lena's post 😩 - I thought they put adult as named driver & 18year old as additional driver - which is why I said they don't build up their no claims that way

That’s fraud. Stop advising people to do it.

It can lead to prosecution as well as the insurance being cancelled (that’ll be tricky if they find out because of a claim and you have to pay the claims costs out of your own pocket) and having to declare in future that an insurance company cancelled your policy.

We went with Hastings, they were the most reasonable. Some wouldn't even offer a quote. We were going with Ticker but the quote went up £600 overnight. It's a bloody big scam!

It certainly saved a fortune, from just over 4k down to £750.
Then when they hit 30, they took out insurance in their own name, which due to their age and lack of claims, was a reasonable amount.
However, we then moved back to my home country where any driver over the age of 25 can drive my car on my insurance as long as they have my permission.
Which is a better way of doing it than the robbing UK insurance.
On the legal side that you mentioned, there's nothing illegal about it, because the car and insurance was in my name with them as named driver, just the same if I'd put them on my insurance to drive my car.
The only difference is that they actually bought the car, but I was the legal owner.

On the legal side that you mentioned, there's nothing illegal about it, because the car and insurance was in my name with them as named driver, just the same if I'd put them on my insurance to drive my car.
The only difference is that they actually bought the car, but I was the legal owner.
The legal point is regarding who is the main driver. If it's you, there is nothing illegal. If it's them, it's fronting. Insurance companies do not want to pay out if they can help it & (anecdotally) have been known to quiz neighbours about who drives the car.
Did you have another car insured in your name? That would be a red flag.
Edited for typos.

On the legal side that you mentioned, there's nothing illegal about it, because the car and insurance was in my name with them as named driver, just the same if I'd put them on my insurance to drive my car.
The only difference is that they actually bought the car, but I was the legal owner.

It most certainly was illegal if you told the insurers you were the main driver of the vehicles and you weren’t.

@OneMoreTime23 it's up to them to prove I weren't, and that's impossible.

Would only have taken an accident whilst commuting.

@DipsAndSplits who did you tell the insurers was the main driver?

If you said you were the main driver, and you weren't then it can be classed as insurance fraud.
I really wouldn't like to have been trying to explain an accident away if your son was using it for college or work.

Remember the insurers know where you live and work, every accident they want to know where you were going and the purpose of the journey.

It's 100% illegal and it's people like you who are pushing premiums up for everyone else. I can't believe you think this is ok. It is FRAUD!

@OneMoreTime23 he was allowed to use it for commuting, as per the policy.

Yes he can use it to commute occasionally thats why they bother asking who is the main driver as it makes a difference. Quite easy to prove who the main driver was especially if you have another car.

Recommend Adrian Flux.
Get a different car with a low insurance group. A 16 year old car is more likely to breakdown if you are doing a fair bit of commuting.

Except they never could. They never know who is driving on what day or where to / from.
I could have driven it to work and back one day, and he might have driven it to his mates that night etc.
There's 101 reasons why someone may be driving a car.

@DipsAndSplits

Then when they hit 30, they took out insurance in their own name

30?!?

Yeah that's just embarrassing

Not really, because that's when the insurance premiums dropped right down.
Nothing embarrassing about it when it comes to saving money.
It's more embarrassing to be the fool who throws money away.

I'm assuming they lived at home until they were 30 then otherwise the whole lie about the main driver thing would be very easy for the insurance people to prove.

No, although the car remained registered to me at my address.

Oh, for goodness sake. You also have to say where the car is kept over night. It would have been incredibly easy for them to catch you out. As it is, you got away with it & put the costs up for the rest of us!

@DipsAndSplits

I'm happy to pay what I'm due rather then break the law 🤷🏻‍♀️

So you lied about where the car was kept overnight as well. I'm not sure you realise you are not making yourself look clever for getting one over on the nasty insurance people here.

They can. They can interview all the drivers, look at the journey, look at motoring databases, look at the mileage of the car and any other cars you own, look at when you bought the car -eg, you didn’t need another car until strangely, DC was 18 - look at CCTV. They don’t need to “prove” it. It’s a balance of probabilities.

This just goes to show that some people think insurance companies are fair game and it's fine to lie to them and commit fraud because they're big bad nasty people. I really hope this poster is on a wind up because if they're not, they're phenomenally stupid.

@DipsAndSplits a little bit of dishonesty harms no one and as there was no accident, you haven't put the price up for anybody. However, each post shows your complete lack of respect for rules and law. You weren't even living in the same address but thought it ok to have a car insured at your house and in your name?

There are many ways this would have been caught out by the insurance co if you did have an accident. Many people think they are very clever and won't get caught out but there is nothing they haven't seen and nothing tbey aren't trained to spot.