Au Pairs and car insurance

[Emrel]

Hi,

I have had Au Pairs for years and since becoming a single parent the only way I can work is by having an Au Pair.
I made a mistake by accepting an Au Pair who is too young and the car insurance is killing me. After being completely shafted by Admiral and Elephant I now have car insurance for both myself and the Au Pair on the car but it is a lot of money.
And the car is in serious need of replacement and I started considering HP options as I can’t afford a large outlay in one go. I eventually settled on a company called Marmalade who offered a years free car insurance and specialise in younger drivers. They accepted me for a fiat 500 ( a car I’ve always fancied) I explained to everybody what I wanted a safe car that my Au Pair and myself could drive, despite this but after taking my deposit now a couple of weeks ago I have now been told that they will only go ahead if the finance is done via the Au Pair and that I can’t be a guarantor.
Clearly that is not going to happen as I will pay for the car and I want that car in my name.
Why didn’t they say this from the start and is there anybody with a better idea?
And has anybody dealt with this company before?

Does your au pair need to drive at all?
The company will be suspicious of " fronting" and that you'd be taking advantage of lower premiums when the younger au pair does a lot of driving.

Yes driving is unavoidable we’re we live unfortunately,but not a lot but she will occasionally drive my kids and will need to drive if she wants to go to the gym, supermarket etc. I make it very clear that she is the main driver but that I would like the opportunity to use fi if my car breaks down. And I feel incredibly uncomfortable that despite me paying I won’t have any say so over the policy. And I’m generally pissed of that a company that specifically targets younger drivers lets me go through the entire process and then rejects me due to information they had from the beginning.

I've never heard of them, but they do say on their website (under FAQ) that the finance is only available to 17-24 year olds. Clearly the person you spoke to initially didn't know what they are talking about.

There's no easy answer to the driving issue if your au pair is too young, although sometimes its just cheaper to use taxis if the insurance is horrendous.
It may be fairly straight forward otherwise for her to find another host family and you to find an older au pair. Many families in London don't need a driver and are happy to take younger ones.