£4,400 quoted for car insurance once dd has passed her test. Advice and recommendations please.

[LimitIsUp]

Posting here since as parents of teens you may have had the car insurance problem.

Okay, we weren't expecting a cheap insurance given dd has a 2018 VW Polo Beats, so the replacement cost of the car is quite high. Also, whilst it is a 1 litre engine it is turbo. However dh has been given a quote of £4,400 from the brokers. We had been anticipating (a still eye watering) £2K perhaps, but £4,400 ? If she had previously driven and been banned for drink driving her insurance would probably have been less!

Fortunately she has only just started to learn to drive so we have time to work on this. Any advice please re getting a better deal?

Black box, add one of you as a named driver. It's very expensive though, DD's friends are paying circa £1700 from what she says £110 a month is common)

I might have missed it but your posts suggest that you haven't been looking at black box insurance, if that's right you're mad not to. Not only will it bring the cost down the very fact on constant real time monitoring makes most new drivers a lot more aware of what they are doing ime

No issues with DSs friends either. As he said to them, my car might be small but you can always walk if you'd rather... funnily enough they've always preferred the lift :D

You might also have to raise the excess. The way I looked at it, the excess is something you might have to pay if there was an accident, but if you pay that money in the premium in order not to pay it as an excess, it's already gone. So, if it costs £500 less on the annual premium to raise the excess by £400 or £500 then you might have saved yourself or been no worse off if you have to make a claim. Also better to pay annually for the first couple of years as that can reduce the premium too.

I have just treated myself to a new polo with turbo only size 1 engine my old car was 1.5 , expected my insurance to go down , never had any claims. It more than tripled 😳 I tried comparison which were all very high, they said something about polos being very popular so statistically more accidents I'm hoping it goes down pronto !

1stcentral are ace. I've always been with them. The standard isurance also includes keys and windscreen and i pay an extra £4 a month for breakdown cover.

Direct Line were an absolute pisstake. I phoned them for a quote this year and they quoted me 5 times what I'm paying now.

I know you are keen to keep the car but the best way to reduce your premium really is to swap it for something like a 2015 Honda jazz - safest ncap superminis that year and not far off the polo but less sexy and a bit older so cheaper premiums

Otherwise make sure you have additional theft measures (check with insurance companies as to what they want)
Can you keep it somewhere safer (garage rather than on the road)
Add another driver to the policy
Black box / restricted new driver policy
Shop around

Oh yes and bump up your excess so you are taking more of the risk

Admiral multi car - we put my car, DH car & house insurance there along with DS car and got MUCH lower deal for him, around £700 instead of £2k! Also they installed black box. Policies are all separate (no sharing of no claims bonus) and you can join each as existing policies end. Worked really well to get him a couple of years no claims under his belt.

Hey! @Lydyaa

I'm interested in what led an 18 year old to make their first post on MN in the format of a not very well disguised advert

Oh you cynical thing coconut. Clearly this young woman has recently signed up for MN to investigate its radical feminist reputation, has happened to see this thread on Active and thought “gosh, what a coincidence that I can happen to help this woman with her child’s car insurance problem!”

Because surely a reputable firm selling car insurance wouldn’t be sending their employees out to tell lies in public would they?

Wow @Lydyaa that almost sounds too good to be true!

Give it a rest. You're overdoing it now.

My 17 year old DS was under £700 for an almost new Citigo with a 1ltr engine - with black box and DH and I as named drivers. For 6000 a year with opportunity to earn an extra 100 per month for good driving. He turned 18 during that 1st year and we then had to add 17 year old DS2 to the policy and that cost an extra £100. Renewed for 2nd year for around £600 for them both (still 18 and 17). That's with Insure the Box.

Ooh thanks for this. I think we are set on a Citigroup for our eldest, it’s likely to be about 5 years old so as a ballpark that’s really useful to know. It seems like an excellent first car

apple I have one as well as DSs, they are lovely to drive and strangely very roomy in the front. DSs are 6'3 and 6'2 and DS1 has really long legs and we struggled to find something he could sit in and not be steering with his knees. DH is forever stealing one of them when he wants to run about town. Whilst we have done longer trips in them, they are not really meant for regular motorway driving as can be a bit gutless between 4th and 5th gear but cruise very nicely when up to speed. Lovely in the lower gears and actually very high geared compared to my previous car. By that I mean that it's very happy to do do 30 in 4th and even 3rd sometimes whereas I would drive at 30 in 5th gear in my Note.

I really think they are an ideal first car, best of luck. Remember that the Seat Mii and VW Up are exactly the same car except for badge and trimming :)

I really think they are an ideal first car, best of luck. Remember that the Seat Mii and VW Up are exactly the same car except for badge and trimming smile

Thanks so much, yes we are looking at them too but the citigo seems to be better value for money. DH pretty keen that one of those are the best option

Definitely great value, you might be able to pick up a newer or low mileage one within budget too.

So yeah, dh managed to get a quote from Aviva for £1,800 which is much more acceptable 👍

Thanks very much for the many constructive tips and advice ( and 'Up yours' to the minority of naysayers )

2k? No chance.

I passed 7 years ago and paid my insurance off in full on a £500 0.8litre daewoo and it was £1300 back then!

Just saw update that's much better. Price I'd snap it up. Prices seem to change daily!

Yes, we will snap it up

Will ignore the responses motivated by envy and will focus on constructive replies
Because facts must mean jealousy.

Young drivers are more likely to have accidents.
You've bought a high value car.
= high insurance

Go figure.