Extortionate increase in insurance after passing test

[Daisyhoney]

My son aged 19 passed his driving test recently - first time so really proud of him. But then came the kick in the teeth. He rang his insurance company to update them and (he had the phone on loud speaker) the man said and I quote ' it'll just be a little bit extra ' . How much extra ? my son asked only to be told £3002!!!
I thought I must have misheard but no that figure was correct and the monthly payments would go up by £350 per month 🥴
I feel so bad for him, he's done so well buying his first car and passing first time. I know he's now deemed as a higher risk but surely this just isn't fair on the youngsters. Why can't there be a cap on how much insurance companies can charge?

@MotherWilliam

As he's using the car to drive to work and back, he also needs to remember to insure for commuting.

Yes, that’s a good point. It’s not just social and leisure driving.

The problem isn't so much that it's not fair to older people to subsidise the young higher risk drivers.

The problem is that if one insurance company unilaterally chooses that route and sets its rates for new teenaged drivers at, say, a maximum of three times the rate for experienced forty-somethings then they'll end up being super-cheap for youngsters and expensive for the middle aged. So given that most people shop around these days they'll end up losing all their middle aged customers and having a flood of teenagers, at a premium which is a fraction of what they'll need to pay the claims. And they'll go bust.

No insurance company could ever do this unless it was made compulsory by law so all its competitors were doing the same. That's what happened to outlaw sex discrimination in insurance pricing, which is why the OP's son is probably being subsidised by teenaged girls.

Feel free to campaign for such a change in the law OP. Change.org is thataway =>

Tesco black box approx £900 yr one (male 19yr). This year with no claims just over £800 - his Dad also on policy.

How do they pay claims if they don't charge adequately? Young drivers are statistically much more likely to be involved in an accident. If they hit another car, the insurance company has to pay for both cars, plus any injuries. That is likely to be far costlier than the £3k your son has paid in premium.

Hi OP, do Pass Plus courses still exist? I did one when I passed my test and it gave the rough equivalent of a year's NCB. It's an approved add on driving course, covering snow, skidding and things like that. If they're still available I'd definitely suggest you look into it with your son

Just checked, they do still exist! Fabulous idea for the experience plus the bonus of the insurance discount 👍🏼I don't understand why they're not more widely publicised?!

Sorry I don't know how to attach a link, just Google it and go to the official government website 👍🏼

This is nothing new , these extortionate premiums for young drivers have been around for many years.
Never just accept what one insurance company quotes you. Always go on a price comparison website to get the best quotes.
The massively differ in price.

@Jammysod

How do they pay claims if they don't charge adequately? Young drivers are statistically much more likely to be involved in an accident. If they hit another car, the insurance company has to pay for both cars, plus any injuries. That is likely to be far costlier than the £3k your son has paid in premium.

But the same applies if an older driver who's paid a lot less hits another car so your arguement is pointless. By your reckoning everyone should pay sky high premiums to cover both cars and injuries.

Defiantly look at putting DH on as a named driver. Make sure your son is still the main driver otherwise he could find his insurance voided. A black box may also be worth it but only if he drives carefully.

The reason young people are expensive is because they are more likely to cause accidents. Unfortunately some young males pass their tests then think they own the roads.

If he drives well for a few years then he should find his insurance costs plummet once he proved he isn't a high risk to an insurance company.

A teenager giving a lift to a group of other teenagers can easily cost their insurer millions in injury compensation if the worst comes to the worst. Happens regularly.

Actually it's young women who take the biggest financial hit - cos it would be sex discrimination to just make young men pay higher premiums because young men (as opposed to young people) have more accidents.

It's always cheered my daughters up to know they are helping their male contemporaries out....

Go onto price comparison sites.

My colleague insured her DC through one of the very well known insurers for £1000 with telematics (the black box referenced above). However when I got a quote for them for my DC it was double that! Same age, similar car but colleague lives in a better postcode clearly!

However we shopped around on price comparison sites and managed to bring it down to £1300.

3 years on it's about £600.

Insurers charge high amounts when they don't want to insure you.

I had an accident last summer (my fault) and my insurance rocketed this year. But a quick search on CompareTheMarket meant I could more than half my monthly costs.

I know I'm not a 19yo boy but generally if you shop around, add another driver (your DH in this case) and maybe use a Black Box policy, you should be able to bring the price down at least a little bit.

Dh passed when he was 26 or 27 and he was paying over 2k to begin with. It's gone down a lot in the ten years since. I am having driving lessons and need to arrange getting put on his insurance but know it is going to go up after I pass - which makes absolute sense as after you pass you can drive on your own, until then you have always been supervised. I'm hoping it won't be too bad though as a nearly 40 year old woman!

My son passed first time aged 17. I rang my insurers to add him as a named driver on my 6 year old basic hatchback and they quoted £5000.

I rang round and the cheapest quote I got was almost £4k. In the end, and against all our principles, we bought a Fiat Panda for £2k and had a black box fitted. This brought the insurance down to £850. It was more cost effective for us to do this than to put him on my insurance, especially as DS2 passed his test at 17 and inherited the car. As they were the main drivers it also helped them to start building their no-claims bonus.

I had always judged people who bought their teens cars, but then completely got it when doing it for our two saved us about £4k in total. Which is madness.

Yes to adding another driver on though, it makes a difference to the cost.

My 18yo dd passed a couple of months ago and is with a different insurance company compared to the one she had while learning. She has a black box on her Fiesta and pays less than £2k iirc (£150pm)

Find a local insurance broker go into their offices they'll do all the legwork and advise you. They're always cheap and will sort out any problems for you

Yeah. They don't want to insure him.
I saw a quote for 10k once... Real!

The insurance in UK is a masaive rip off.

It's because it's the first time he's driving on his own with no supervision and - often - young lads can go a bit wild when this happens, speeding round, messing round picking mates up, and a huge number of them crash within their first year of owning a car.

That's not to say that your son wouldn't be sensible, but insurance works only on averages. The sooner it's paid, the sooner he'll start getting his no claims bonus and it will come down. Black boxes are often the best way to go - and it gives you the peace of mind that he has to be careful!

@justasking111

Find a local insurance broker go into their offices they'll do all the legwork and advise you. They're always cheap and will sort out any problems for you

That's a good idea I hadn't thought of that - thank you 😊

@Wazzzzzzzup

Yeah. They don't want to insure him. I saw a quote for 10k once... Real!

The insurance in UK is a masaive rip off.

I know someone who paid £6,000 for their son's first year because they didn't shop around and just went with their own insurer. They must have been rubbing their hands together when they saw that go through!

My dd has a black box policy and there's no time restriction in it- she's been out at night in the dark.

Don't forget to add commuting. Somebody on here had a teen who had a crash on the way to work but wasn't insured for commuting. Commuting brought down the cost of DD's insurance but that might be because she's currently a barista so works during the day.

It’s always been like that. I passed my test at 17, 34 years ago! My dad bought me an old car and he insured it for me. 3 years later I bought a wee turbo diesel Clio which was deemed the ‘hot hatch’ against my dad’s wishes as he felt it was too fast. He warned me if I bought it I would have to insure it in my own name. I ignored him and went ahead. My insurance premium in 1990 was a whopping 1800 quid! But I did love that car!

Also is he covered comprehensive or is he on Third Party Fire and Theft? Often comprehensive is the same cost if not cheaper than tpft. Or it was when I worked in insurance!