Not so many years ago to insure a young driver (a driver aged between 17 and 24), a parent just added their child’s name to their insurance policy and paid a small premium. The huge rise in young drivers coupled with the fact that increasingly they own their own cars has led to the rapid expansion of this segment of insurance. Today, if you have a car and buy a second car for your child to use, the insurance company will often insist the main insurer of the car is the young driver.
There are a number of steps you can take to find the cheapest premiums around. Our helpful guide to young drivers’ car insurance is designed to help you compare 10s of quotes in minutes and cut costs. Simply read on.
A Few Tips to Cut Costs
There are a number of practical steps that young drivers can take to reduce insurance premiums, such as:
• Take the PassPlus test: Complete the PassPlus training course after you’ve got through your driving test and you could have your premiums drop by about 10%.
• Opt for a “black box”: Some insurance companies will offer to fit a so-called ‘black box’ to your car to track your movements. This can significantly reduce young driver car insurance premiums, especially if you driving late at night and drive limited number of miles.
• Reduce annual mileage: That’s simple – the less you drive, the lower your insurance premiums will be.
• Drive a car with a smaller engine: Small cars are considered “low risk cars”. As a young driver, your insurance premiums will be significantly lower if you buy a sensible car.
• Add named drivers: If you are a young driver and you own the car, then certainly you must be the principal driver. However, a good tip to get a discount is to add older siblings or your parents as additional drivers on the policy.
• Shop Around!
Price to Pay?
According to an online poll, 9 out of 10 young drivers think that the cost of car insurance the most expensive part of driving. Surprisingly, the cost of the car itself is the second most expensive. And indeed, the price of young driver car insurance premiums can be eye-watering. And not only the young driver insurance policies are very expensive, but some insurers will even refuse to ensure any woman under 19 or any man under 21.
The average quote generated by Confused.com for a 19-year-old male college student living at home with his parents in the London boroughs and driving a 1.4 litre Volkswagen Golf with no modifications, kept in garage overnight, is around £6,800. At the same time, if you increase your voluntary excess to £1,000 and opt for a “black box”, you can get prices around £3,000 per year.
Are Policies Too Expensive?
The answer is to this question is a definite YES and NO. They are more expensive and if you are talking about a high performance car then the price is often more that you would be willing to pay. But then again with a sensible car and if you shop around you can get a reasonable deal.
Best Places to Find Affordable Policies
The Internet is one of the best places where you can get all details of the young driver insurance. Your first port of call should be one of the major comparison engines like – Compare the Market, Money Supermarket, GoCompare or Confused. You should also try to specialist young driver insurance companies such as the Young Marmalade, Co-Op or More than.
Do not be lazy and just phone your current insurer. It will take you time to find the best price but you will save hundreds of pounds for a few hours work.