To ask how on earth we can help to get DS affordable car insurance?

[SlimJimmin]

Has anyone helped to buy and insure a car for their DC as a new driver very recently? Insurance prices are just crazy, and even crazier than ever it seems. Does anyone have the magic formula? I wondered if there’s a type of car we should be looking for which hits the sweet spot of being one he’ll actually ‘be seen dead in’ 🙄🙈 but also doesn’t cost the absolute earth to insure due to age/mileage/engine size etc? Is there a specific insurer you’ve found who can offer a more reasonable premium? We know about adding ourselves as additional drivers but still prices are astronomical. DSS bought his first car last year and prices seem to have shot through the roof for insurance even since then, and we’re wondering if we can even get him on the road at all at this rate, which we really could do with doing to help his plans for when he finishes college in summer (many options he’s looking at for his future seem to want a driving license).

Thank you so much if you have done this very recently and can offer any tips!

It's ridiculous
Although I passed in 2001, had a fiat uno with a manual choke, insured 3rd party/fire/theft only and did my pass plus and even then it was £900

How will this work if parent isn’t the main driver though? Is this not fraudulent? Someone up thread seemed to say similar unless I’ve misunderstood but surely someone can only be named as main driver if they are the main driver of the vehicle and not just to make it cheaper for the real main driver for whom insurance is astronomical? Am I misunderstanding?

@SlimJimmin unless he has urgent need for a car, the cheapest way is for him to pass his test now but not get a car for a few years - it'll be significantly cheaper. (Note it's not the same benefit if he waits to do his test in a few years time - weirdly the price goes down after a few years of having a licence even if you've not actually been driving during that time. Obv not at much as if you've built up NCB but its still a lot cheaper)

I actually wasn't sure if it's possible to have more than one insurance policy per person? I have a car (my policy) and DH has a car (his policy) but if we can have a second one then that would be much better than DS1 having his own at age 20.

@SlimJimmin you've not misunderstood, what the poster is recommending is known as 'fronting ' and while a lot of people do it it is insurance fraud. Something that insurance companies are trying to crack down on and a real risk they won't pay out.

If it is a £500 claim then it won’t matter. But the sort of damage that you can do with a car has almost unlimited liability. If he drives into a school bus queue and paralyses a load of 6 year olds then it could cost millions.
^^
At which point the insurance company would investigate very very thoroughly.
^^
If you are the main named driver on the insurance you need to drive the sodding car!

How would they investigate it very thoroughly though? They’d have no way of proving that the car was driven 15 times in a particular week by the named driver or 5 times. DH does drive DD’s car every few weeks as it’s diesel and needs a good run on the motorway which he travels to work on and DD rarely needs to go on.

Very emotive language there about a possible accident. Is that supposed to shame people into paying massively inflated insurance costs?

Does he actually need his own car? If not, then he can get pay as you go insurance for him to drive your car as and when he needs to use it.

Try Hastings Youdrive. We got cheaper price on their website than was coming up on comparison sites. 18 year old boy in a corsa with both mum and dad as named driver £1200

DH has 3 policies for 3 different cars all with him as main driver. His two (an SUV which is his main car and a convertible) and DDs car. So you certainly can have more than one policy. Two of the policies are with the same insurer.

@CanNeverThinkOfAName they investigate and if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...
Using the car for a regular commute, the accident being during the week in the area of someone's uni accommodation rather than at the family home, CCTV showing the car usually being in a different area/at a different address etc - insurers don't want to pay out thousands if they don't have to and expensive claims will attract more scrutiny.

Nothing to be ashamed about if you're not committing fraud so not really sure what your issue is. Insurance is expensive, but then the amount insurers have to pay out if someone's car is written off or someone is seriously injured is expensive so I don't see how it's 'massively inflated'. The stats for accidents for young drivers are pretty awful unfortunately.

@CanNeverThinkOfAName just caught your last line and sorry to say but if your daughter has an accident and the insurers realise he's got an SUV which is obviously his main car, a convertible for fun leisure drives and a little run around that is obviously your daughter's car in everything but the name on the insurance policy - you may find she's in trouble. Especially if they can find evidence of him using his SUV as a main car, eg commuting.

I would have thought it was easy to prove fronting these days with ANPR? It's fairly easy to show a car is being used to drive to college every day for example and not the workplace of the named driver.

I think the only way to do it cheaply is to put your son on the insurance of you or his dad and only let him drive the car occasionally so he really isn't the main driver.

Well DD lives with us. Certainly wouldn’t be stupid enough to put her as a named driver on a policy registered at our address if she didn’t so thanks for your concern but it’s not needed.

DH could commute in his SUV (comfy automatic for long drives) and use the run around in the evenings and weekends. with DD using it twice a week to drive to the station to get the train to work which she actually does as she WFH the rest of the time, for all an insurer knew.

She’s at no greater risk of having an accident because she’s a named rather than main driver on the policy.

Well it's not fronting if your dh is actually using it in the evenings and your dd uses it twice a week. It would be though if she's driving it regularly and he only uses it every few weeks.

And I think in most cases an insurance company could prove that reasonably easily couldn't they?

I mean I don't care what people do as I don't work in insurance so it's none of my business! But I would be cautious of telling people that insurance companies will never know or can't prove stuff when they may well be able to.

Has he passed yet or not?
Sorry - not clear if you are looking for learner or passed

If he hasn't, try Marmalade. They are more expensive for learner policies but don't put the premium up once passed

Example - Dd has a 0.9 Clio
Learner insurance £250 year
Passed cover min £2.2k

Marmalade £1200 learner, but no increase when they pass

So took it out week before her test

Fronting is illegal and invalidates your insurance. Everyone always says how will they know. So some examples. Cctv evidence been driven everyday in a city the named driver did not live in but their daughter was at university. Named driver commuted by train every day to work but massive increase in milage, evidence it was parked in cities not where main driver lived. Loads of examples of neighbours saying it was always parked outside a house not main driver, the list goes on. If there is 3 million at stake alot of evidence can be found. And if they don't pay then you have to sue them. That leads to discovery of alot of info that you might not think they should be able to access. Fronting is considered the solution to high premiums by many. Fine until you have a substantial claim. Then see what happens.

No. This discriminates made illegal a few years ago. Insurance companies don't use sex as part of the calculation.

Named driver, not main
Keep the annual mileage as low as possible
Black box
Old car with 1 litre engine.

My DD has a C1 - i transferred all my no claims to that car (had to take out a new policy with no NCD on my other car) and we pay £1300 a year.

I'll put her on as main driver after a couple of years and she can start to build her own NCD up then.

(Taking out a new policy for just myself with no NCD only increased my insurance by about £150 so was worth it for me).

I'm the registered keeper of her car, don't know if that makes a difference? I suspect not.

And yes, I do drive her car. Quite a lot!

You are correct. Insurance companies got wise to this years ago and it's bad advice. It can help for you to be a named driver but again insurance companies are very hot on this. There are no real loopholes left.

In terms of car - Toyota Aygo everytime. Cheapest car in the UK to insure as parts are cheap and they never go wrong, mine has just ticked over 150k and has so far had one clutch and a water pump (family car since new).

New drivers do not have the luxury of a fancy car - you drive something less cool until you have built up some no claims and experience.

You are playing with fire here, I hope she doesn't have an accident as the insurance company will investigate.

Unless you live in the middle of nowhere, please wait until if or when he actually needs a car. The default in the UK seems to be to learn to drive and add another vehicle to the roads even when there are decent alternatives available.

Walk
Bike
Bus pass
Railcard

So that's two posters admitting to fronting on this thread so far. When your DC have an accident don't expect a payout. They do investigate very thoroughly. You must think you are above the law.

Tell me you live an a city and/or don't have 18 year olds with full time jobs and have the luxury or public transport.....

😂😂😂😂

I hate the whole 'back in my day' comment (and I'm only 46!) but I didn't get a car until I was 23 and could pay for it and insure it myself. I know everyone's situation is different especially if people live rurally (I didn't) but I won't be encouraging my DC to get a car until they're older - I certainly won't be buying and insuring one.

Are you the main driver in both cars?

In the case of a claim that might cause an insurance investigation, I dont know the exact legalities but it sounds dodgy