Young Drivers' Car Insurance Discussion

A question about : Young Drivers' Car Insurance Discussion

Another means of saving money on car insurance that hasn't been mentioned in this guide is to do some advanced driver training. Many insurers take this into consideration when determining premiums. My own experience when I was about 24 was that it reduced my quotes on a 2.0 litre Megane Coupe (without no-claims) from Ј1200 down to about Ј650 (this was about 9 years ago). At the time, the course cost was about Ј75, so it's a bit of a no-brainer (I think it's about Ј139 now). The benefit (in terms of insurance, not in terms of road-safety) tends to reduce as more no-claims is built up, but IAM Surety will give free no-claims protection to IAM drivers and will usually match anyone else's quote, so it works out cheaper even for people with a lot of no-claims discount. Not all insurance companies take advanced qualifications into account, but even those that don't put it on their website will often consider it if you ask specifically.

There are three advanced courses I'm aware of: PassPlus (which is a fairly basic level of post-test training but does give some insurance discount), the Institute of Advanced Motorists (aka IAM) and RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders (aka RoADA or RoADAR). The latter two are very good advanced courses and involve a similar initial outlay. The IAM's Ј139 gives you a book on the techniques, the test fee and as many lessons as you need to get you up to the standard (the people doing the coaching are volunteers so you don't pay for their time). RoSPA's advanced driving course works in a similar way and last time I looked it was a little cheaper than the IAM, although they're a smaller organisation so probably have less bargaining power when it comes to insurance.

Best answers:

• Another means of saving money on car insurance that hasn't been mentioned in this guide is to do some advanced driver training. Many insurers take this into consideration when determining premiums. My own experience when I was about 24 was that it reduced my quotes on a 2.0 litre Megane Coupe (without no-claims) from Ј1200 down to about Ј650 (this was about 9 years ago). At the time, the course cost was about Ј75, so it's a bit of a no-brainer (I think it's about Ј139 now). The benefit (in terms of insurance, not in terms of road-safety) tends to reduce as more no-claims is built up, but IAM Surety will give free no-claims protection to IAM drivers and will usually match anyone else's quote, so it works out cheaper even for people with a lot of no-claims discount. Not all insurance companies take advanced qualifications into account, but even those that don't put it on their website will often consider it if you ask specifically.
  There are three advanced courses I'm aware of: PassPlus (which is a fairly basic level of post-test training but does give some insurance discount), the Institute of Advanced Motorists (aka IAM) and RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders (aka RoADA or RoADAR). The latter two are very good advanced courses and involve a similar initial outlay. The IAM's Ј139 gives you a book on the techniques, the test fee and as many lessons as you need to get you up to the standard (the people doing the coaching are volunteers so you don't pay for their time). RoSPA's advanced driving course works in a similar way and last time I looked it was a little cheaper than the IAM, although they're a smaller organisation so probably have less bargaining power when it comes to insurance.
• This story got me interested (Salford teenager...)
  The BBC report...
  Quote:
• If you have a claim against you for motorcycle accident do you have to declare it when applying for car insurance?
• Yes, any accidents and claims must be declared.
• My Suggestions:
  1. When getting quotes don't give real name, email, car, etc. if you are thinking about cash back, otherwise your cashback might be claimed by someone else. (Or accept that you very well might not get the cashback).
  2. Consider an older, common, car, insure it full comp with max excess. My comparisons in the recent year or 2 have found that Ford Escort 1994 1.6i (that's double overhead cam, fuel injection) for a new driver is cheaper than more recent 1.2 Punto, or 800cc Matiz. I think that is down to Fords, etc. being cheaper to repair and older cars have a lower upper repair limit. With an older car and new driver compulsory excess an old car is always going to be a write-off as it's trade value will be
• Hi im 17 years old and 18 in 5 weeks, ive just passed my test on the 12/08/2011, and im getting ridiculus quotes on any car and any car insurance, the cheapest ive got is from the co-op insurance!! that was like 3000k!!!!
  Can anyone help me ? Neeed to get this down, and dont know how!!
• Swift was very competitive
• My son passed his test and as with many others the cost of insurance was prohibitive.
  Under discrimination law it was deemed that car insurance companies could not differentiate between male and female.
  Surely then the same principal should be apllied to ageism. I assume there must be laws around this as employers are no longer allowed to ask date of birth in application forms.
  I know statistically young drivers account for 30% of accidents but statistically women were safer drivers but this was not taken into account when deciding upon this change to insurance.
  Surely if we are talking about inexperienced drivers then insurance premiums should surely take into account just the number of years of driving - new drivers / drivers in recent accidents paying a higher rate than experienced driver with a cleaner record - hence NO CLAIMS bonuses.
  What does anyone else think - is the current method of calculating insurance Ageist just as it was Sexist not long ago? European legislation surely cant argue the case for one and not the other - then of course there are disabled drivers ... and it goes on.
• The argument with gender was probably it was unfair to discriminate because of something that you are born with, and you cannot change.
  Age, on the other hand, affects everyone. No section of society is treated any differently. They all pay more for car insurance when they are young (to reflect risk), less in middle age, and pay more again when they become pensioners, so no-one is discriminated against. It's just a question of timing.
  If one of the other main predictors of accident risk (age) is removed from the pricing of insurance, two things would happen:
  1) The overall cost of paying insurance claims will rise significantly because people who currently don't drive because their accident risk is so high that it's too expensive to get insurance (eg: the very young) will then be able to drive. So almost everyone will have to pay a great deal more. Only the risky drivers will pay less. This will undoubtedly happen when gender rules come into place, but its effect will be limited to young women as long as age can still be used for insurance pricing.
  2) a separate private testing / assessment system will arise (a bit like pass plus or IAM) and insurers will use the results for pricing. I'd happily pay Ј50 for a test every 5 years if it meant I could save 20% off my annual car insurance bill.
• Im a 19 year old male ,and been past my test over a year (04/06/10) , havent owned a car because the quotes when i passed were ridiculous 5k + the cheapest quote iv had was from adrian flux 2k third party(1.0 corsa 51 reg), just wonderd if any one had any tips on cars that will be cheaper to insure maybe and any other good insurance companys that are worth a try?
  Thanks
• Also a very good tip is when you are within a month or two of your renewal date start getting quotes from your existing and new companies. My son (19) went with Aviva as this was the cheapest, a month before the renewal went on as a new customer and they quoted Ј2200 then when his renewal came it was Ј3400 so rang them up and said he would renew at the Ј2200 and they said fine, just checked the renewal quotation number that was still valid therfore saved Ј1200
• My daughters are both at university. I would like to find an insurance company who will accept them as named drivers on my wife's policy but allow them to be insured only during the holiday periods ( ie Xmas, Easter and the Summer holidays) - I can't see the point of paying for 12 months insurance (Ј1600) - when they will only need 5 months. Most companies seem incapable of supporting this model, even though they seem paranoid that my wife is just "fronting" them - which clearly she isn't for this model.
  Anyone got any suggestions.
  Thank You
• Your best option is to contact insurers directly and ask the question. If you are using aggregators they will not be equipped to do this. However, if your daughters are the main users during holiday periods there is an argument for insurers that they should be paid the proper premium for the year as your daughters will be using the vehicle for several months.
  Some insurers will add them on for a month at a time but that means that summer hols etc they will be restricted.
  We have shopped around and managed to obtain insurance to cover our daughter (who is at Uni) on both of our other vehicles for only an increase in excess to Ј200 whilst she is driving. She does have her own vehicle insured in her own name though, so I suspect this reflects the positive premium.
  To be honest Ј1600 for two young drivers seems like a bargain!
• Hi all,
  can you tell me if my son '20years old' has car insurance and i am it as well as a named driver 'to bring the price down'
  in 2-3 years time, when my daughter wants to drive and hopefully i can take my name off my sons insuarnce ' as he will have 4 years no claims, can i use that 4 years of me on the policy on my daughters new car insurance?
• will i get a decent price if i dont have any ncd?
• Yes if by decent your thinking of Ј3000 ish.