Car insurance for newly qualified DS.

[tasteslikechicken]

Afternoon, TIA for any help. My 17 yr old is (hopefully) due to pass his test in three months or so. I’ve found a 2006 Renault Clio 1.1 which I think is reasonably priced. Checked out a quote today, limiting him to 9,000 miles a year. It will be parked on the driveway. Cheapest quote was £3,700!
anyone have experience in this and able to share some tips?

Thanks

Put some adults on the policy, get a black box

Try adding yourself (and/or other parent) to the insurance as named drivers - that sometimes works a bit of discount if you have decent ncb.
Also try quotes for different cars before you commit to buying the Clio. Try a Toyota Aygo for example. Try a slightly newer car. Etc etc

Who was it with? Do you have other family cars, might there be a better deal for a multi car policy?

Get a black box policy.
Have a fiddle with the job section. My dd paid less if she was a retail worker rather than barista which I found odd as people in retail can work nights while baristas generally work days.

Have you tried reducing the mileage to see if that makes a difference? DD was capped at 6000 miles for the first year. She drove an awful lot just after she got her license but it settled down and she finished the year close to the 6K. Of course, it depends on where you live and what the care will be used for.

No idea if it will help but unfortunately there are only a few things you can legally play with such as mileage, black box and adding experienced drivers to the policy.

Ah also prime time to get insurance is 23 days ahead of your start date apparently - according to Martin Lewis

We had to reduce to 3000 miles, black box, two adult named drivers and it was still £1800.

Choose a higher excess if you can afford it?

Fully comp can often be cheaper than third party

I did fully comp for my twins with marmalade, they both had a black box and I was a named driver on their policy - about £1000 each

Thanks for all the input, we live very rurally, his school his 15 miles away and job about 6 miles away so I think 6000 miles would be a push I think, he’s also 6’5” so anything smaller than a Clio is pointless I think. I did put in that his part time job was a barman so maybe that had an impact. I don’t think I can put us all on a household policy as my wife and I both have business use on our policies. I’m worried that might put his premium up. Maybe I could register the car as mine and him as a named driver.

If your son is going to be the main driver then car should be in his name. Fronting is illegal.

You can still be a named driver on the insurance, though. Also worth trying those who don't appear on comparison sites.

Many people recommend Marmalade but they quoted £4.5K for DD's insurance with a box where others quoted under £2K.

Definitely get the quote as early in advance as possible (think 30 days is max) as it can make a significant difference to the price

The quotes jump around all the time. When DS bought his car he had checked the likely insurance costs and was expecting to pay around £1600.

Once he'd passed his test he tried to get insurance and the only quote we could get was for over £20k for the year!

We let him drive my car for a few weeks while we decided what to do and he kept checking back to see if he could get a quote.

He eventually got a quote for £2300 with me and DH as named drivers and a black box which he accepted ( it was that or sell the car )

After a year of no claims and no accidents we had the same problem - he couldn't get insurance for less than £4k

He drove my car again for a few months and then he managed to get a quote for £1500 which he snapped up.

One of the things that made his quotes cheaper was using a VPN while searching for quotes. No idea personally how that works but it is a known way to get cheaper deals.

Sometimes oddly larger cars are cheaper, think 1.6 larger family hatchback. Also anything that doesn't look cool!

I got loads of online quotes and tweaked until I got the best price for my newly-qualified DS insurance. £1600 with Admiral with DH and I both on as named drivers for social and commuting only (we wouldn't use his car for business as we have our own policies.) It's only 3rd party, fire and theft but on the other hand that means no excess. Fully comp put the price completely out of reach. It's only for the first year and then the price will come down a lot (assuming no claims) with a year's no claims bonus and not being newly qualified any more.

Some of my relatives are taller than your DC and they were very surprised with the room in an Aygo.

Blimey, it’s bleak isn’t it. What the hell was your son insuring, Angel!? I’ve had a mooch about using some of your tips. I’ve managed to get a quote of £2200. I hate the presumption that all insurers view youngsters as huge risks. They have to appreciate that these youngsters will be their customer base for at least 50 years.

Statistically they are a huge risk, though.

Fronting is illegal, so don’t do that. You and/or the mother can be added as named drivers, your own cars business use is not relevant. It will be expensive as they start to build up their first few years no claim bonuses.

We went with Tesco, upfront £1100 with black box, and 6000 miles but the ability to earn an additional 100 miles a month ( she gets a score out of 100 per mth so this month it was 89, so she earned 89 extra miles if that makes sense)

Monthly Tesco was around 1400, but one off payment was cheaper. It's definitely going up a wee bit this year, everyone's is! So going to be more like 1300-1400 upfront similar car to your son's by the way!

Just to add what others have said, It was cheaper with my husband and I on as named driver's

@tasteslikechicken it is a combination of car statistics and the age of the driver. Certain cars are often chosen by teenage boys ie VW Golf/Polo, Citroen Clio, Fiesta etc. So statistically they crash and that data is on their database. Ds passed 2 years ago and we had this problem. However your son is a student so you put that unless it then also asks if they work.

You might find if you change the car you can get the quote down and it doesn't matter that you and your wife use your cars for business use, if you were using his it would probably be for social etc. I was insured on Dh's cars for over 20 years before I actually drove one of them, as a young male it reduced his premiums to have me on there. It reduces your son's perceived risk as he isn't the only driver of the car.

Dh 6'3" and he can fit in lots of cars like Hyundai, Kia and Toyota and these cars are likely cheaper for insurance as they don't scream boy racer but instead are reliable well made cars. Go to a car supermarket and get your son to sit in lots of cars, this is how we find cars for Dh as his left leg gets jammed between the steering wheel and centre console of a car when he takes his foot off the clutch. It is an awful experience trying to find cars for him. If he fits in the front there is no room behind him so small cars were only for when it was just us two.

On Autotrader you can select by car insurance category, choose a car on there and use that reg and run it through a comparison site like comparethemarket, you can keep changing out the reg without changing out any other details and keep running the comparisons. I did this so many times for Ds.

Both my dd are with Ticker with black boxes, they were the cheapest by far and their insurance went down by several hundred pound after the first year, also there is no mileage or time restrictions.

Ticker quoted me £1200 for 18 year old DS recently passed in a mini fully comp with a black box and me as a named driver

Morning, really appreciate everyone’s input. I’ve been driving for 35 yrs, but this is the first time insuring a DC. I’m starting to think a skateboard might be the best way forward. I’m sure I could find one with Bluetooth and air con!