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AIBU?

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Original poster

To wonder how young people afford car insurance?

153 replies

JacobReesMogadishu · 10/09/2020 06:44

Dd is hopefully about to pass her test so I’m playing around getting car quotes for her. If we buy her a cheap, old 1ltr fiesta run around the quotes are £1500 for the year!

My car insurance firm won’t insure drivers under 25 so I can’t add her to my insurers unless I change insurance. I’ll go and get quotes for that in a minute but seeing as my car is a massive 1.8ltr car I can’t imagine it’ll be cheaper.

Can anyone please recommend a firm or some way of doing it cheaper. Go compare didn’t ask about black boxes and we’d be happy with this if it brought the quote down.

OP posts:
SmileyClare · 10/09/2020 09:08

Come on Barbara if a young person is a named driver on a car and crashes it, the insurance will pay out.

Ok perhaps I should have explained that I use my son's car too. It would certainly be worth considering a car share with your dd so that you can (legally) be named as the main driver.

Tracking a mobile phone to prove who is the main driver of a car is not evidence and cannot be used. It cannot be proven that another driver isn't using the car without a phone on their possession. A phone could be left in a car at any time.

billybagpuss · 10/09/2020 09:10

@SmileyClare

Could you put yourself as the main driver on her car, and dd as a named driver? Bending the rules slightly.. You can be the main driver on more than one car.
Do not do this, its not 'bending the rules slightly' its illegal and will invalidate your insurance. www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/legal/fronting-and-car-insurance/

Having gone through 3 kids in this situation things that helped were:

Adding DH and I to car as named driver, DH being over 50 had more of an impact on the price than I did,
Sensible low CC car but not too old, we had a Citroen C1
Admiral multi-car insurance for all your cars, they build up their no claims independently but all cars get a discount and with admiral they don't even all need to be at the same address, for every extra car you add you get more discount. So your might be slightly more expensive than elsewhere, but the young driver could be much cheaper.
It seems to go down a bit (not much) at 18 then reduces more each year after 20.

I'll agree with PP on the Black box options, they are more trouble than they're worth. I once ended up on the phone, don't remember which company, I think it must have been the ladies last day and she gave me a list of things that effect the black box premiums, so aside from the time restrictions, you got penalised if you were likely to spend a lot of time in traffic jams, (I guess fender benders are the biggest low level pay outs) and I don't remember the other things but they were crazy.

SmileyClare · 10/09/2020 09:12

Ok point taken, it's bad advice to put your daughter as a named driver on her car. Please ignore my suggestion!

I'll get my coat.

FaffingForEngland · 10/09/2020 09:13

Maybe I'm going against the grain here, but we didn't get cars for our DC, and wouldn't have paid for their insurance. OK it meant providing lifts more, taxis and getting public transport, but unless they actually need a car because there's no way to get to work otherwise, it seems to me to be an expensive , dangerous (you just have to look at the stats on young, and especially young male, drivers) and polluting way to add more cars to our roads.

Original poster
JacobReesMogadishu · 10/09/2020 09:14

Thanks everyone. Some good ideas about investigating some none small cars. I'll do this.

All the quotes are just 3rd party, with dh on the insurance as a named driver. I was in an accident 2 years ago so not sure I'd be a help!

I won't be putting dh or myself down as the main driver. If I didn't have my own car and we shared the car then yes I could do that but if the insurance company investigated and found I had my own car, as does dh it would be obvious what we'd done..

OP posts:
billybagpuss · 10/09/2020 09:16

@SmileyClare

Ok point taken, it's bad advice to put your daughter as a named driver on her car. Please ignore my suggestion!

I'll get my coat.

To be fair, in your case its absolutely fine as you are sharing a car Grin

Also your DS whilst not accruing NCD may (not necessarily) get some kudos for named driver especially if you are able to go with the same company when he's ready for his own.

bravotango · 10/09/2020 09:18

Would one of those 'fuel and go' packages be an option? SIL got one and as it includes insurance in the monthly cost, it was the cheapest option. I think it's only the cheapest option for young, first time drivers though due to otherwise prohibitive insurance costs.

billybagpuss · 10/09/2020 09:20

@JacobReesMogadishu

Thanks everyone. Some good ideas about investigating some none small cars. I'll do this.

All the quotes are just 3rd party, with dh on the insurance as a named driver. I was in an accident 2 years ago so not sure I'd be a help!

I won't be putting dh or myself down as the main driver. If I didn't have my own car and we shared the car then yes I could do that but if the insurance company investigated and found I had my own car, as does dh it would be obvious what we'd done..

Do try and get fully comp quotes as well, you might find there is little difference but the difference in pay out could be huge.

Also does DD have a part time job? have you put down occupation as student.

My DCs were all working part time and at college for a similar number of hours so we put down their job (having discussed with the provider first) and that made a difference. Do be aware though if they use it for job + college you should get it classified as business insurance, don't panic most companies (not all) I tried the price was the same.

MoistMolly · 10/09/2020 09:22

@JacobReesMogadishu

Thanks everyone. Some good ideas about investigating some none small cars. I'll do this.

All the quotes are just 3rd party, with dh on the insurance as a named driver. I was in an accident 2 years ago so not sure I'd be a help!

I won't be putting dh or myself down as the main driver. If I didn't have my own car and we shared the car then yes I could do that but if the insurance company investigated and found I had my own car, as does dh it would be obvious what we'd done..

Don't be afraid to get quotes for comprehensive cover. Quite often they can be similarly priced if not cheaper than 3rd party only.
roadsurvey · 10/09/2020 09:23

Do be aware though if they use it for job + college you should get it classified as business insurance,

Business insurance isn't for this.

TeenPlusTwenties · 10/09/2020 09:26

All the quotes are just 3rd party

Definitely try some fully comp quotes.

Dobbyismyfavourite · 10/09/2020 09:27

Try Marmalade with a black box. We bought a VW polo insurance group 1 for DD and insured her as main driver and she is still a learner. Added me (Mum) on the insurance to bring it down but not DH as the quote went up.

billybagpuss · 10/09/2020 09:27

@roadsurvey

Do be aware though if they use it for job + college you should get it classified as business insurance,

Business insurance isn't for this.

We were told we had to have it as regularly commuting to more than one place of business required business insurance, even if one was college.
GreenPlum · 10/09/2020 09:27

DD's first year was £1,700. Policy was cheaper with a black box and in her own name with me as an additional driver. She earned her own no claims discount. 2nd year was £700.

roadsurvey · 10/09/2020 09:31

We were told we had to have it as regularly commuting to more than one place of business required business insurance, even if one was college.

You were ill advised. You do not need business insurance for this.

Iwantacookie · 10/09/2020 09:31

This fills me with dread my dm said ds1 can use her 17 year old banger when he passes. (He cant drive my car not allowed it's the rules of me having it) I dread to think how much that is going to cost. I know him he wouldn't be stupid just use it to get to college and back but I'm not paying over £1000 a year for that.

BarbaraofSeville · 10/09/2020 09:37

We were told we had to have it as regularly commuting to more than one place of business required business insurance, even if one was college

That's not business use, that's commuting. Business use is when your employer requires you to visit different sites and pays you mileage expenses to do so.

But you do need to make sure your policy includes commuting to your workplace, because they've now started to offer policies that exclude this. Normal social, domestic and pleasure may mean you aren't insured to drive to work, it has to include commuting.

Comefromaway · 10/09/2020 09:41

We got a good deal on Admiral Multi car insurance. It ws cheaper for dd to be named driver with me and her grandad as additional drivers than for me to be the main driver and her as named (and more legal)

But ultimately we decided we were going to swallow the cost regardless as due to a medial condition dh is no longer able to drive so another driver in the family is very useful.

AriettyHomily · 10/09/2020 09:50

I've been driving for a loooooong time. I remember my insurance was £750 at the time in a car that cost me nothing it was a little Citroen and still had a choke it was that long ago

Etulosba · 10/09/2020 10:01

I've been driving for a loooooong time. I remember my insurance was £750 at the time in a car that cost me nothing

Hmmmm... I suspect that I have been driving longer than you. My first car insurance cost me £150 and it covered me to drive any motor vehicle. Mind you, my weekly rent was £14 so not that cheap by the standards of the day. Oddly enough, it was though a broker that has been mentioned on here already: Adrian Flux.

Tumbleweed101 · 10/09/2020 10:11

Put on a couple of experienced drivers as named drivers. This brings it down a bit. I put myself and my brother into my teens and it helped significantly. Keep an eye on what you put down as their employment, tweaking this a little can sometimes make a difference. Play about with excesses and mileage too.

In my experience black boxes aren’t worth the hassle. We ended up having to ‘pay’ for my son to use it later in the evening (he had a catering job) and then to add more miles on. I think we ended up spending the same as a non black box one in the end.

I helped my teens although they had jobs but for us it worked out because I was paying £200 a term for college bus passes. Due to low income I got help with their travel to college so this grant went towards their insurance instead. We muddled through and by the next year it dropped a lot and they had better jobs to cover it themselves.

nokidshere · 10/09/2020 10:16

I've found Hastings direct to be be the cheapest for my sons 07 fiesta.

First yr it was £875, last year £695, and his quote this week is down to £490. DH is a named driver on it as is our younger son who passed his test a year ago.

ArnoJambonsBike · 10/09/2020 10:22

To those mentioning Peugeot's Just Add Fuel (or Simply Drive for Citroen), its not necessarily cheaper and it certainly isn't free insurance.

You have one monthly payment which is broken down into a) the car payment, b) three years servicing, c) two years tax (first year is included in the price and you get a cheque for the cost of the tax so you go and tax it after 12 and 24 months) and d) insurance. The insurance will seem cheaper, but its averaged over three years so you don't get the price reducing after a year and two years.

Effectively, if you can get a car for £200 a month, I'd be thinking JAF would be well over £300 as you once you add £25 a month for servicing, £13 a month for tax and then an average monthly payment for three years insurance.

In seven years selling Peugeots, its amazing how many people think that a new drover would get three years insurance for free.

Baaaahhhhh · 10/09/2020 10:25

Not so long ago, it was cheaper to have two cars insurance wise. I was in my 30's and had a Fiat Uno for normal days, which wasn't very expensive to insure, and then a vintage MGB Roadster. The Roadster (insured with a specialist insurer) only cost me £150! - Still got the certificate.

Viviennemary · 10/09/2020 10:27

Bank of Mum and Dad usually. Or not having a car until they can afford to run it. But shopping around helps.