To wonder how any teenagers and young people manage to drive?

[connedbird]

It's so expensive to insure cars! Quotes of £300-600 a month! That's obviously before MOT, Tax, Petrol, and the cost of the car itself.

I don't know how any of them manage it.

Probably because a lot of young people are living at home, so don't have nearly as many overheads as older folk with mortgages etc.

Plus, if they put their parents on their insurance as named drivers, it can make a significant difference to the insurance costs.

Most are living at home and the only cost they have is board, some lucky sods don't even have to pay any board! So any money they earn is simply for themselves to spend- car, clothes, nights out galore. Ahh to be young again... Others are paid for by their parents! I knew a girl like this, her parents passed down their old car to her when they upgraded and paid for the whole years insurance on it to boot. All she had to pay for was petrol.

My DD who's nearly 19 would wholeheartedly agree with you. It's crap - we looked at the 'black box'/drive like a girl hate that slogan options but as far as I can see, they all require the driver to be the only driver. I'm happy to buy a car for DD and I to share but I'm damned if I'll buy one that I can't drive!

However... when I turned 17 back in the dark ages I didn't know anyone who was driving before they were in their early 20s. It's always been kinda expensive to insure young people - and my parents had no intention of insuring me on their car and then arguing about when I could use it. They paid for lessons, we were insured whilst on provisional licenses and then expected to work/save for our own car, insurance, tax etc.

DD unfortunately has friends who were given Mini Coopers/Fiat 500s for their 17th birthday (HOW? Seriously??) so feels incredibly hard done by.

Affording a car (clapped out Micra) for us both to share in next years savings goal

I've tried that bailey - it doesn't really make any difference. It's a shame because driving opens a lot of doors to work, but they can't have a hope in hell of driving if they don't have a good job.

Ah that's sad re your DD Elle. But I guess if a lot of them are in the same boat.

I was given a car, and 2 years insurance paid all I had to do was tax/mot/petrol

Connedbird, look at cars that are seriously "not cool", even if they have a larger engine. These are often cheaper to insure than 1.0 litre corsas and the like.

I'm talking old Volvos or Rovers.

Also, how old is your DC? It may be worth waiting until their next birthday, which should drop the premium quotes a bit.

I think you will find that most parents are covering the cost of the teenagers car insurance until they get some NCB under their belt or are in a position to finance their car themselves, after Uni for example.

Back in the day it was ok to put your parent as the main driver and have you on the policy as a secondary driver. That kept premiums low. Obviously that is not allowed anymore and the main driver of the car has to be the main person insured and of course premiums are now through the roof.

Can you insure him/her on your own car (assuming you have one) for a year or two? If you pick the right policy, they can be getting their own no-claims which will help with the premium the following year.

Also, we found a multicar deal from Admiral was a lot better than a separate policy.

It won't kill her! We have good public transport - there's a decent train station 10 mins walk away and lots of buses so she doesn't suffer too badly . It is really irritating but honestly, I feel a bit like it's good for them to understand that just because they want something, it doesn't mean that the magic money tree will allow it to happen!

I got my first car at 21, my first year cost me £1200 or so to insure a car I got for £600. That was without my parents on my insurance. My 18yo male cousin was quoted over £3k by some companies for his car (he did have a newer and better car than me though!) he ended up paying over £2k for his insurance in the end, well, my nan did!

Mine was £650 last time around, both DP and I have passed the age of 25 now though so I'm hoping it drops considerably when I come to pay again in December!

Oh, and my 52 plate astra eco 1.7 diesel was cheaper to insure than my clapped out P reg fiesta with a tiny engine oddly enough!

On the plus side this is hopefully preventing some teenagers having terrible life-altering accidents. Statistics are really dreadful particularly for young men. I really think they shouldn't be on the road until they are more mature and especially not in high powered vehicles. If high insurance is preventing unnecessary deaths on the road it's really difficult to see it as a bad thing.

that's because they keep driving into things. Young men in particular have a 1 in 4 chance of a flowers on a tree crash in their first 2 years of driving. They can also take others with them, hence the high cost.

EU made 'gender equality' rules so girls have to pay high insurance too.

But it is better than the alternative. As an example; in New Zealand basic insurance is provided with car registration, so anyone can drive anything. They have at least raised the driving age from 15, but the death rate on their roads is four times that of the UK despite a population of four million compared to our sixty, in the same land area. Go figure, as they say.

My DS 21, works bloody hard to pay for his car, gives me board etc, but is constantly skint, paying for his own car payments, petrol, insurance etc, but said he would rather do it all now and build up his no claims by the time he may settle with a family and own house etc-
hes a careful considerate driver too, not a boy racer. He has done all this himself as I couldnt afford to pay for it all for him, as I have 2 x Dd I didnt do for either!!!

My 20 year old drives he pays under £100 a month for insurance as we bought a car that we know would be cheap to insure, its a panda. Not every young mans dream I know, but it gets him to college and work and sips petrol.
So it is possible to keep it cheap for teens (or just turned 20's) but not if they are determined to drive anything that is fast or expensive to tax and insure.

Young men in particular have a 1 in 4 chance of a flowers on a tree crash in their first 2 years of driving.

Er, no. Roughly 1 in 4 fatal accidents involve a young driver. Which isn't the same thing at all.

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/236989/young-drivers-2011.pdf

www.theaa.com/resources/Documents/pdf/young-drivers-at-risk.pdf

We've saved money since ours were small so they had a lump sum towards a car. DS had his money and he was fortunate that his Grandparents had also saved a bit for them so he bought a Clio.
He was at Uni but worked part time as well, the part time work covered his insurance and running costs. There wasn't a lot of money left over for nights out etc but he wasn't bothered by that.

DD has just turned 17 and is started lessons. Like her brother there is a small pot of money, topped up by grandparents for a car when she passes. She wants a Fiat 500 so will need to save the little bit extra she'll need for a second hand one in her budget.
At present she is job hunting and at college, unfortunately without the job she won't be able to run a car. We have done enough, we've saved the money to give the start, the rest is up to her.

I taught DD to drive the minute she turned 16. We put her on our insurance as a secondary driver. We will do the same for DS when he turns 16 in the spring.
They wont have their own cars for a bit, but can use family ones.

Foster daughter has just passed her test and bought her first car (17). She paid £1,200 for a nice little Cleo and the insurance is £1,600 for the first year with a black box fitted. She saved like mad for this from her apprenticeship wages and is thrilled.

We gave DS DH's old car and DH bought a new one for himself. We're not in the UK so insurance isn't such a killer. However, we feel far more comfortable knowing he is in something safe and reliable, as opposed to something very old or very small. As cute as micro cars are, you're always going to come off worse if hit by anything bigger ie everything else on the road!

I spend half my time at home with mum and dad and half the time with DP, so I don't really spend enough time there and my wage is £400 a month so I don't have to pay board. My wage doubles next year as I take on full time so I will have to then. but I STILL can't afford a car, while there are the people from my year at school who went into uni a year ago, their parents pay for their cars. It winds me up because they seem to get everything, and while my parents would love to buy and pay for a car for me, it will never happen.

DD1 (and then DD2, 3 years after) will use the bank of Mum and Dad, just as me, my sister and all my school friends did.

Driving lessons for our 17th and many of us cars for our 18th or lots of loan time on DM's or the company van, farm land rover.

It's just a fact of rural life, that there's bugger all point in trying to get a job until getting there is at least driving practice!

This is a question I have often wondered. The cost of lessons and insurance to our very tight family budget is the main reason my eldest daughter has not yet learned to drive, and she is 19 now. She had part time work, which was good and gave her money we couldn't, but it still didn't amount to anywhere near enough. She is now at uni.

We have only recently started getting into a position where we could help out financially, so might be able to move on that one soon.

I was taught to drive 30 years ago by my Dad, which certainly made things more affordable I guess (though I did have some lessons too). I was then insured on my parents' cars to make it cheaper. Whilst I admire my Dad for having the guts to teach me, and am grateful he did so, it wasn't an easy time in our relationship. It could be traumatic on a daily basis sometimes. For that reason I don't feel able to do the same for my children, as I would rather we continued to get on.