Any wisdom re 17 year olds and car insurance

[Satisfiedwithanapple]

I know about fronting to start and how much dd is allowed to use the car will depend on the insurance. Aka she won’t ever drive it to school if I make her a named driver. I’m very careful about that type of thing and would have life 360 proof of how much she is driving it!

Dd is taking her test in 8 weeks. Fingers crossed she passes and she really should, she’s pretty good. The car is ‘mine’, I’ve owned it 3 years and both DH and I drive it and will continue to do so (we have a big car/ little car car pool so both drive both, this is obviously the little car). My insurance runs out in 3 weeks (helpful). Learner insurance is through collingwood so is no longer valid after passing.

So problems are:
If I renew my car insurance then add dd as a named driver later then they could well charge me in the region of 3k looking at the differences between quotes. Anyone got any tips on doing this/ experience/ insurers they’ve used who are sensible?

If I get her a black box policy in her name then it wouldn’t be able to be set up until a month after my insurance runs out. This would allow her to drive the car to school once or twice a week, which she is desperate to do mainly because she otherwise has to stay all day and get the school bus (but I’m not the sort of parent who won’t if needed tell her she needs to suck this up). But she’s probably going to university where she won’t take the car with her before a year is up anyway. And if she is unlucky and fails her test the time will be even shorter.

It’s a minefield and is very difficult to decipher looking at websites! Any pearls of wisdom anyone?

ive also been looking into this. I’d always assumed id insure dd on my car but a quote tells me it’ll be £3k a year! I did an insurance quote for a fiat 500 and it came back £1k a year. We’ve therefore decided we will buy Dd her own car for £2k. The outlay is the same although then there will be tax, not etc but she’ll have her own car and own insurance not affecting my 20 year NCD and also….. I worry the black box won’t approve of my driving (not that I’m bad or dangerous but I’m also not a v new v cautious driver)

On my car I can get a sensible quote for dd 1400 with black box as her main driver. Or 900 as named, without box but the difference in quotes is wild. I think maybe I need to try a broker for advice.

Black box only seems to apply to policy holder, usually not named drivers.

My 17 year old passed a few months ago. It was cheaper to buy a 2nd hand car and insure it himself than it would have been to add him to mine. Well actually I couldn't add him to mine, it's a 1.8l and no insurer would even quote.
He got a great little car for 1.5k, Insurance with admiral black box was 1.2k. You just have to be very careful with the make/model with regards to insurance bands. So no Corsa's, fiesta's etc.
He uses it a lot though as he drives to uni locally.
In you situation you might be better with temporary insurance as and when although that can be very expensive, like 10 x that of learner insurance.
Basically there is no cheap way for teenagers to get behind the wheel!

Mine seems okay, it’s a Yaris. It’s more how to manage it, she intends to go to uni at the other end of the country where having a car would be completely impractical.

As yours is coming up for renewal I’d get quotes with her on as passed and pick the cheapest of those to renew with. Then you know you can add her when she passes. Not all insurance companies will accept young drivers.

Unfortunately, it is going to be very expensive to begin with wherever you go. With black box policies make sure you over estimate the mileage they’ll do as they charge you extra once you reach that limit. I think it ended up being just as expensive as a non black box for us as my son was working as a chef so driving late.

Maybe try admiral. That’s what we have and there’s an app which you use that differentiates between who is driving depending on whose phone is in the car. If both phones are in the car you can tell the app who is actually driving.

What Insurance group does your model fall in to? That can make a big difference. Is it a newer model?

Admittedly it was a couple of years ago, so no idea how much insurance costs have increased for new drivers since then, but as others have said already, we found the cheapest way all round was buying a small group one car (Aygo), insuring them as main driver with black box, and then adding us as named drivers. They couldn’t have driven our cars anyway, totally unsuitable for new drivers. We actually got the insurance for a not insane amount in the end, certainly way below what I had been led to believe it would be. I guess our postcode and parking off road might have made a difference but doubt it would be that much. We also paid in a lump sum rather than monthly which shaved off a chunk, if that’s possible.

eta: we insured with Post Office, Tesco and Adrian Flux, but as I said was a couple of years ago so they may not be competitive enough now.

Direct line is cheapest with her as named driver. I just don’t trust that they will add her sensibly when it comes down to it 😂🫣 cos then they have me over a barrel.

I might get a temp policy until her test and then decide what to do. I know it isn’t going to be cheap, but I don’t want to be completely ripped off either.

I’m okay with the actual quotes I’ve managed to get it’s how to manage it and not get ripped off.

Thats not actually true, we bought DD a Corsa. It is the 1L eco and her insurance was only £650 for the first year with a black box. I would definitely avoid a fiesta though.

We also ended up buying a cheap secondhand car and letting DD be the main driver. The black box isn't an issue as it's linked to her phone and she tells it when she's driving. Both me and DH are named drivers on her policy that helped bring the price down.

If its your car though surly she can just be added as a named driver. Unless she is driving it all of the time that shouldn't be a problem her driving it once or twice a week.

@Judashascomeintosomemoney

Oh yes I forgot about that, I also added myself as a named driver, we have private parking and a 'good' postcode. Also paid upfront for the insurance. These things will all affect premiums.

What do mean you mean by manage it OP? If you're happy with the quotes you just pick one and buy the policy.
You obviously can't have her as the main driver on your car if she is not the main driver, you'll just have to add her as a named driver.

My son has just passed his test. We had learner insurance with Veygo on my car and he has one month free at the same rate (£38pm) but after that goes up to £122 pm. Apparently he will soon receive an email telling him he has to track his trips, but he hasn't had that yet. He's going to uni next week anyway so he won't be driving then.

Just go into this with your eyes wide open about the potential issues of having either a black box or sharing your location with the insurance company. If the black box detects sharp braking or accelerating too quickly in their opinion you can be penalised. It doesn't use any other data, it cannot see why the driving was this way, just works on the data which can also be faulty.

You are right that getting her own car would be mad because she is off to uni and there will probably be nowhere to park it. I would have her as a named driver and just make sure she is not the main driver of the car.

The best advice I can give you is to buy a good quality front and rear dash cam for the car. That way you can check her driving and she knows you can check her driving. My car had a dash cam anyway but mine also tracks the car via the brand's app. Ds was more keen on getting the most MPG he could than racing. He is incredibly sensible, always has been. Maybe he saw me watching 24 hours in A&E so can see what can happen if you mess up.

The other bit of advice I would give is to start watching Youtube videos of dash cam ie Ruby Dash Cam because it shows what does go wrong with people who have passed their tests. Also Big Jobber's channel, he used to work for insurance claims so tells you exactly who is at fault and why. It is incredibly educational for new drivers to see it.

Great advice from Marlowcrossing

Agreed. Thanks all

Can I ask what car brand you bought please?

My son is 17 next month and I’m looking for a car for him but what to avoid any brand that automatically puts the insurance up!

This sounds interesting, what's the policy called, please? Ours is due for renewal and looking to move our DC off rolling monthly on Veygo.

Have you checked school lets them drive in? Ours didn’t, parking being one of the issues.
Remember the learner insurance expires the second they pass so can’t drive home from the test if taking it in your own car not the instructors.
Black boxes can be an issue if others also drive it not so cautiously!
We have a fleet insurance for all our family cars and added ours to a couple of small vehicles that they can both drive, still expensive but not quite as bad as I expected!

Renault Clio 1.2l.
We were lucky as a friend's son who is a mechanic was selling it so we knew it was in good condition, very low milage too for an older car.
You can check the insurance band of any car online. Generally the least popular cars with teenagers are the cheapest as they have statistically been in fewer accidents.

Can I ask how much you pay for rolling with Veygo for a new driver? That’s quite hard to decipher too.

We are paying about £85 @Satisfiedwithanapple, we've got a 1.6l car and they are a bit older, 21, passed at the beginning of the year.

We have similar. 1 big car 1 little car and both husband and I drive both. I’m the registered owner of the little car. We had to put twins on so very expensive. Ended up it was cheaper putting one of the kids as the main driver and the rest of us as named on that policy. It was still ridiculous but has come down quite a bit for the 2nd year.

I can’t because she doesn’t have her test until after my insurance renewal. So I can only get fake quotes based on the wrong test pass date. I was kinda hoping someone had done this with direct line and could tell me it would be fine.

I think we’re going to have to redivide the cars so DH is the main driver of the small car because he uses it more than me and I’ll stop driving it regularly. It’ll be easier to make sure she isn’t the main driver that way.