New Driver Insurance

[Hawkwind]

My son recently passed his driving test and now faces the daunting prospect of insurance.

I'm sure there are many on here who have had children in a similar situation and I was wondering what solutions you came up with?

My son is only 17 and would love to get on the road but at the moment he's getting quotes of around £1700 for a old Nissan Micra

Is it a case of bite the bullet, or are there ways around this? Both my wife and I are 'mature drivers, with maximum NCD if that helps.

 

[C180CGI]

Its the area you live in. I am 17, just about to take my driving test. Ive got quotes on a BMW 1 Series 2005 1.6 engine for £1800 and VW Golf 2005 1.6 for £1600. Prices depend on the level of crime in the area and then the type of car you are going to drive.

 

[Hawkwind]

Low crime area though, my insurance for my CLK320 convertible is less than £250 a year

 

[C180CGI]

My mums is £200 ish for her merc, if I put my name on it, price jumps to 8k lol

 

[amiller81]

Only way to get young people's insurance down is to have what's called a black box fitted. It's a tracker which your insurance monitor.

They check your speed against the limit of the road, the hours you travel peak/off peak and they also limit your mileage.

Sound terrible but can save you a packet if you don't abuse it.

 

[wongl]

Here is how I 'managed' the insurance costs for my teenagers...

1. Buy a low insurance group car, register and insure it under an adult with a high (max if possible) NCB. Choose an insurer where named drivers on the policy earn their own NCB. I choose an Audi A2, and despite being a third car, I managed to get insurer to match my 9 years NCB on my main car to get the insurance premium on the A2 down to circa £250.

2. Add spouse on policy to reduce premium to circa £230 per year.

3. Add teenager to policy in (1) as main driver. Premium increases to circa £880 per year.

4. Ensure teenager drive safely and avoid 'accident prone hours' and continue policy while named drivers build up their own NCB.

5. When teenager reaches 21 and earned 3 years NCB, start their own insurance policy in their own name using the same insurer to benefit from the 3 years NCB earned. This reduces the premium by circa 20% to 30%.

6. Remember to add adults as named drivers on the young driver policy to reduce their premiums further.

7. Repeat process for next teenager...

My daughter started with her own insurance policy at circa £770 using this method, compared to our policy being reduced to circa £500 with her as a named driver on our A2 policy. Not too painful.

 

[tali]

I believe the named driver NCB is not transferable (insurers always have a sting in the tail)
£1700 seems reasonable (in the scheme of things )But yes OP should add his and wife's name to policy to get premium down.

 

[wongl]

I believe the named driver NCB is not transferable (insurers always have a sting in the tail)
£1700 seems reasonable (in the scheme of things )But yes OP should add his and wife's name to policy to get premium down.

Correct - as far as I know named driver's NCB is not transferable. The way round this is to take an insurance policy out in the named driver's name with the same insurer. Then after one year, they will get an additional year of NCB added and the new total will be stated in the renewal notice (without a breakdown). I believe one can use the renewal notice as proof of NCB earned when transferring to another insurance company.

We will be trying this out next month as daughter should have 5 years NCB by then (three years earned under named driver and two years earned under her own named policy). Current insurer cap NCB earned to max 5 years, so time to move on to another insurer with a higher cap.

 

[MancMike]

When I passed my test at 23, (I'm now 27) I had a cheap £750 Ford Ka. It was £3200 a year to insure. I live in the highest insurance cost area there is, M15.

A year later, I got the SportKa and that added nearly a grand onto that. (1.3 to 1.6) (even with my then year's NCD).

I then with 2 years under my belt got a Mazda RX8 (then 25 years old), the cheapest I could get it insured for was £465/month (with an initial payment of £850). I paid that for 7 or 8 months before slapping myself in the face and getting a 1.2 Fiat Punto for about 6 months with a driving monitor box fitted, that cost £110/month.

Now I've got 3 years NCD, am 27 and pay £109/month for the Merc.

(in every case it was well researched, tried fully comp, TP/F&F, TP only, etc) car in a locked garage (I actually have one), and commuting to a workplace with a secure car park (true).

As said, it's the area. Unless you live in the lowest insurance/crime rate area, I'd think your son is very lucky to get quotes like that at 17.

 

[GP801]

For our children Direct Line were pretty much always the most competitive. Adding one or two mature drivers reduces the premium significantly.

 

[davidjpowell]

Correct - as far as I know named driver's NCB is not transferable. The way round this is to take an insurance policy out in the named driver's name with the same insurer. Then after one year, they will get an additional year of NCB added and the new total will be stated in the renewal notice (without a breakdown). I believe one can use the renewal notice as proof of NCB earned when transferring to another insurance company.

We will be trying this out next month as daughter should have 5 years NCB by then (three years earned under named driver and two years earned under her own named policy). Current insurer cap NCB earned to max 5 years, so time to move on to another insurer with a higher cap.

Some (not all) Insurers now ask for proof of all NCB. A real pain in the neck.

 

[kimbos1961]

we used hastings direct for 1st year (couldnt be beaten ) + black box + c1 i think was about £1400 insurance for year 1, harved in 2nd year
hope that helps
kim

 

[Hawkwind]

Thanks for all the replies guys, lots of useful ideas and information!!