Car insurance for teens now completely unaffordable?

[ginforall]

Teen is nearing 17 so started looking at potential cars and insurance. I can't believe the prices of car insurance, I knew mine had gone up loads this year, but the price for DS to have his own policy is crazy. For DS it's approx on average £4000 a year depending on the car (this is for older cars, small engines eg VW polo). Do you have the car in your name and add the child to your insurance? Does that make it a lot cheaper? Just interested in how other people mange this?

We paid £1800ish for year 1 with 17 year old DS. That was a micra, diesel engine. He now has a Kia Rio, paying £1100 on year 2. I renewed it earlier this month with admiral. I am a named driver, but he is the main driver.

Exactly my thoughts. The majority of 17 year old 'kids' do not need cars or to learn to drive.
Cars are expensive and a luxury.

As an insurer I would feel the need to note that for new drivers under 21 the accident statistics are absolutely scary. This in turn drives the costs of premium higher. There are also supply issues with parts and capacity which drive up costs. The industry is pushing for some sensible restrictions. For example limiting the number of people who can be in a car with a newly qualified driver and banning driving crash courses- which correlate to higher accident rates. These were debated in The Lords last week.

@Shadowsindarkplaces this is such a valid point - parents almost see learning to drive at 17 as an inalienable right, when actually for many teens (including mine) it’s an expensive and unaffordable luxury.

DH works from home most of the week so we are planning for DS who has just turned 17 to be added to the insurance on our smaller car which is a Nissan juke. DH will still be main the driver as it is his car but DS can use it to drive him and siblings to school for instance. I only work a 5 min walk so DH can also use my (bigger) car if needed.
No point in buying DS his own car as he doesn’t really go anywhere enough to warrant his own car.so hoping insurance cost won’t be too much

Exactly. A car is a luxury. Not a given right which many people seem to think.

Cars are expensive to maintain, MOT, tax. The running costs in general.

17 year old 'kids' imo don't need a car. Wait a few more years.

Plenty of 17-18 yrar olds do need a car. I work in a factory and we have apprentices from age 17 starting work at 6am. Buses don't run that early, although the young people are at least earning a wage - most of which goes on car running costs.

Not all teens go to university.

DS 19 learnt to drive in a VW Polo automatic and has now been driving for 18months. He will take his manual test at some point but with electric cars taking over he may never have to. And to anyone advising that he won’t be able to hire a car, he probably wouldn’t be able to until he’s 21. Also Enterprise, one of the biggest fleets are replacing all their cars with automatics.
I was amazed how cheap insurance was for him, less than 1k. It’s due to the fact that very few teenagers drive automatics and so very few have accidents. Premiums are based on the number of teenagers that have accidents in specific cars. Manual Ford Fiestas are the most expensive cars to insure for teenagers.
My advice is to buy him an obscure automatic.
Newer cars are cheaper because they have more safety features. Particularly collision control that stops rear enders in traffic queues.

But the majority of 17 year olds do not need cars.

With teens starting work at 6am, an Uber or local taxi would probably be cheaper in the long run than car insurance and maintaining/running a car.

Cars are an expensive luxury and people seem to forget this.

I drive my son to work 20 miles away every day whilst he learns to drive as no public transport from our village till 9.30am. It is certainly not a luxury in this neck of the woods. My last 3 jobs have been in the middle of nowhere. If you want to work you need to drive.

That said we have 2 learning at the moment and the insurance costs are terrifying. We can't even go on their insurance as I am auto only and dh is registered blind. Luckily they have some inheritance to cover the first year insurance plus both work full time, otherwise it would be very difficult to fund.

In addition I wanted him to develop road awareness rather than be able to change gears efficiently. I feel that road awareness is far more important at that age. Being in the correct gear is also essential for safe driving, it’s a lot less likely to misjudge a bend in the wrong gear in an automatic.
DS’s friends took the piss out of him but all acknowledge that he is the best driver amongst them.
I want to put him on our family car insurance at some point so he can share some of the longer journeys we are likely to do. Since it’s a much bigger automatic it should be an easier transition.

Just insured newly passed DD on a Fiat 500 for £1400.

No ubers here and taxis are never available at peak times. A taxi to my sons work would be £25 one way

Having someone as a named driver too, if your teen has an accident in your car then it goes against your own policy and will lose any no claims discounts they have built up over the years.
So yes it might be cheaper but a big risk too...

For the exception of a few teens. The majority of 17 year olds do not need cars or to learn to drive.

Thank you for being the voice of reason. Many people on Mumsnet are determined that 17 year olds are kids. My 16 year old is nearing 17 so starting to look into cars. He is an apprentice and works shifts. Yes he doesnt NEED a car but not many adults would like to do the bus journey he has to do

Also as he is earning good money and has no bills to pay he may as well pay for driving lessons, car, insurance now and get his foot on the car ladder at 17 so that by the time he is older and moved out with other things to pay for he will hopefully have a good few years of no claims.

Mine passed last month and cheapest insurance with her on my car - older fiat 500 was £2300.
The few friends that have own small cars are paying £4000 & £4500 a year.
Lessons were £70 for 2 hour slot. Tests are like gold dust.
I’m glad she passed and it’s out of before A levels and Uni. I got a trainee job after uni and needed to drive I wouldn’t have got job if I couldn’t drive and there was no time to learn before starting.

Can I ask who with. I have same car and couldn’t get anything below £2300.

We have a tracker and she's a named driver on my car. It's so disheartening as they are trying to get on in life and it's so difficult.
I'm paying my daughters and will no doubt pay my second daughters just to help them on their way

Like a pp we are in Greater London ulez zone.

I had originally thought I would keep my old car and get a new one so she could take it on - but:

Prices have gone up so much is a big amount to lose on trade in.
No point driving to school - very minimal parking locally and it's a 2 minutes walk one end from the bus, 10 minutes the other
No point driving to work as would be extortionate to park all day. Anything near town has controlled zones. Again just as quick to get the bus by the time you factor in the walk from a free parking area.
She doesn't turn 17 until the very end of the school year so minimal time anyway before off to uni
We only have parking for one car on our drive and on street parking can be a nightmare - at bad times 7/8 minutes walk from the house!

Can he wait until he has a car, or is there a specific reason to get him on the road now?

It's usually a lot cheaper to insure someone a few years after they've passed their test, even if they've not actually been a named driver or built up no claims. Not sure why. It isn't just an age thing either - when I passed (in my twenties) my insurance was shockingly high as I lived in a city centre. Boyfriend - younger, same address, passed age 17 and had never driven since (he went away to uni, never needed a car) tried a quote in his name and it was less than half of what I was being quoted!

I had to bite the bullet as I needed it for a job so couldn't be someone else's named driver. 3k in the first year for a crappy Corsa that cost £800.

If you can, wait until he genuinely needs a car before he gets one, even if he needs a few refresher lessons it'll be cheaper.

When my boys passed their tests I spent HOURS going through the best options to bring up the best price eg

only them on the insurance
adding me
adding my dad
adding me and my dad

it was tedious but we found out that adding my dad onto it was cheaper for my eldest son (22) and adding just me onto my youngest son (17) was cheaper for him. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ adding my dad to my youngest sons insurance for some reason almost doubled it! But massively reduced it for my eldest son

someone make it make sense 🤣

Also just to add I know it's not the same, but relative who was a construction apprentice got his licence - then opted to get a moped to get to sites. Not the same kudos but way cheaper (appreciate only viable if working locally, his bosses were understanding as presumably he wasn't the first person they'd had in that situation)

My nearly 17yo DD needs to learn. We live rurally and she has to get two buses to college, touch and go as to whether they actually turn up and she's perpetually late for college, stranded in the dark in the middle of nowhere and spending 1k+ a year on a pass with around 60% reliability. She also has a painful lifelong condition and walking to the bus stop a couple miles away at 7am is awful for her.

We don't have Uber here and the only taxi firm in a 10 mile radius couldn't help with this.

Her friends all live similarly rurally and are slowly passing their tests through necessity.

yep...there will be some kids who it's beneficial and necessary for, and if they were the ones only driving their costs would come down as a kid driving to his FT job is far more likely to be a sensible, serious driver. Rupert driving because daddy bought him a car for his 17th but is not going to have any job or responsibility until he is 22 and just wants to impress girls does not.