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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
pinkbalconyrailing · 10/09/2020 10:28

low engine car & black box

JengaNonConfirming · 10/09/2020 10:34

I've just bought my DD a Ford Ka, 10 years old. She is 20, but hasn't driven since passing her test. I'm also on her policy as a driver. Insurance was just under £800 and this will go down to just under £500 when we move. It was by far the cheapest car we found to insure!!

Brainwave89 · 10/09/2020 10:42

I work in insurance. Strong advice would be to visit two or three aggregator sites such as compare the market and Go Compare to get the best possible price. Always be choosy about what you pick from these sites though, i.e. make sure you are happy with the brand, cover and excesses. Black boxes are a good option to consider for a number of reasons. As well as reducing cost (though there is often a set up fee), they allow you to monitor areas such as speed and time of driving as well as other areas which are important for young drivers. Sadly, the prices for young drivers are not us as insurers profiteering. We often make a loss on this area of the market. It reflects the costs of accidents for young people- the stats are frightening.

Original poster
JacobReesMogadishu · 10/09/2020 11:03

Will try some fully comp quotes.

Yes, I’ve put her down as a student. She’s got a pt waitress/bar job, might that make it cheaper if I change her occupation?

OP posts:
Ariela · 10/09/2020 11:07

My DD1 had saved birthday/Christmas money and so-on for years she is not a spender, plus all her earnings from her job all summer, so had enough cash in the bank to pay for her car (with contribution from grandparents which wasn't actually needed) and insure it.

Original poster
JacobReesMogadishu · 10/09/2020 11:12

Just got a quote for a Hyundai Amica for £1200. That’s fully comp.

OP posts:
MoistMolly · 10/09/2020 11:28

@JacobReesMogadishu

Just got a quote for a Hyundai Amica for £1200. That’s fully comp.
I'd be interested to see what you get quoted for something like a volvo s40
ChesterDrawsDoesntExist · 10/09/2020 11:28

If you're going to go down the high excess route, try to get it through Go Compare. Right now, IF an accident occurs they'll pay up to £250 excess for you. Something I found very handy this month as DH wrote off my car and the excess is getting paid back to us.

Bwlch · 10/09/2020 12:03

As I said before, get some quotes on boring old man cars. You might be surprised. Not many are crashed by new drivers, so are regarded as low risk. Ignore the insurance group.

JemimaTiggywinkle · 10/09/2020 12:07

Put yourself and her dad on the insurance too... should bring it down a bit.

Also make sure for the estimated mileage you put the amount she will actually do (not any more)... that will bring it down if she’s not doing many miles

RandomLondoner · 10/09/2020 12:18

I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of cost, so I don't know if my experience is relevant, but I sometimes find that above a certain point raising the excess actually increases the premium. I don't know why.

My general advice would be to find a policy and then get quotes for different levels of excess. The last time I did I found that cost improved (as you would expect) when I increased the excess by £100, but then got worse when I increased it by another £100.

cookiemon666 · 10/09/2020 12:19

I have just insured my sons first car, with myself on it, it is £700. The car is 20 years old tho!!

CantThinkOfAName92 · 10/09/2020 12:26

I think it's going to be high no matter what the first year.
I passed at 32 and got an old Corsa...with a black box it was £85 a month.
Renewal with 1yr NCD was half that first year without a black box.

I have my DH as a named driver as that makes the price lower.

lyralalala · 10/09/2020 12:32

Our teens went down the lease 'just add fuel' deal route. DS did it for the first two years. It was £180 a month - which once we averaged out buying the car, insurance, servicing, tyres etc wasn't much dearer. DN still does it as he likes the security of them fixing it if anything goes wrong. DD1 had planned to do the same, but she passed her test just at the start of lockdown.

roadsurvey · 10/09/2020 12:39

As you can see OP there is a huge range of prices for new drivers depending on circs. Your DD will pay more for an automatic too sadly Sad

Original poster
JacobReesMogadishu · 10/09/2020 12:42

Sadly I noticed when I changed from a manual to an automatic due to ankle issues my insurance went up. Maybe autos are more commonly driven by older people who maybe have more accidents? DD is dyspraxic and struggled trying to learn in a manual but took to an automatic like a duck to water.

OP posts:
Bwlch · 10/09/2020 12:57

I switched to an auto with my current car. My premium was lower than my last which was manual.

roadsurvey · 10/09/2020 13:01

I switched to an auto with my current car. My premium was lower than my last which was manual.

You are fortunate then. It's not the norm though. It's well known auto drivers pay more for their insurance generally.

Maybe autos are more commonly driven by older people who maybe have more accidents?

They are more expensive to repair hence the higher cost to insure.

roadsurvey · 10/09/2020 13:03

@Bwlch

I switched to an auto with my current car. My premium was lower than my last which was manual.

Oh just to add, just comparing a manual to an auto doesn't work, all the rest of the factors need to be included to make a fair comparison. I'm glad you got it cheaper but it's the exception to the rule if comparing like for like

Bwlch · 10/09/2020 13:10

You are fortunate then. It's not the norm though. It's well known auto drivers pay more for their insurance generally

Even when the car doesn't have an auto option?

Bwlch · 10/09/2020 13:11

That should have said "doesn't have a manual option"

Elai1978 · 10/09/2020 13:14

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

Classic policies are still cheap, sounds like you were paying over the odds on the MGB (which is not vintage BTW). We insure a more valuable, close to concours classic for less than £150 currently. 10 or so years ago I was insuring a ‘68 Lotus Elan for under £100!

roadsurvey · 10/09/2020 13:15

@Bwlch

You can't compare like for like if there isn't one of each. It's no secret that automatic owners have paid more for insurance for years though. You are fortunate that your came in cheaper, but you are certainly not an example of the norm.

Bwlch · 10/09/2020 13:15

Oh just to add, just comparing a manual to an auto doesn't work, all the rest of the factors need to be included to make a fair comparison

Agreed. What insurance costs me is pretty much irrelevant in a thread discussing insurance costs for new drivers.

MsEllany · 10/09/2020 13:21

You need to try fully comp as well as 3rd party - lots of insurers will rack up the cost for new drivers on 3rd party (although it used to be much cheaper back in the day).

Check and see if adding Pass Plus will bring down the cost. It was quite helpful when I passed, but that was 18 years ago!

I feel for you, I don’t know what my insurance was when I passed as my dad paid it, but I had a 5 year period when I didn’t own a car, and despite regularly driving hire cars with no incident a new policy with no no claims was still £1200! I’d been driving 15 years with no incident at that point!