Young driver car insurance advice
The cost of car insurance is spiralling out of control, with the AA reporting that the average motorist was paying 40% more for cover last year than in 2009. Young drivers have been particularly badly hit by this, and the costs which are demanded by insurers often prove to be an unpleasant surprise for anyone who goes about retrieving their first car insurance quote.
However, there are a number of things which you can do to lower the cost of insurance and make that first bill affordable:
Pick the right car
The single most important factor in the calculation of insurance premiums (other than your age, over which you have no control) is the choice of car. Each car is assigned a specific insurance group number between one and twenty; with cars in insurance group one the cheapest to insurer.
The insurance group one vehicles are therefore the only real option for young drivers if motoring is to be affordable. This includes certain types of Vauxhall Corsa, Ford Ka’s and Toyota Aygo’s.
Shop around
You stand a better chance of getting a better deal if you compare prices with more insurers. This is pretty logical, but the price difference between two insurers can be over £1000 in some cases depending on the insurers target market.
The easiest and quickest way of doing this is by utilising price comparison websites which will compare prices with hundreds of different insurers in seconds. However, remember that these websites don’t cover all of the UK’s insurance companies, and it is a good idea to complement this activity by retrieving quotes from individual insurer’s websites as well.
Buy Online
You could make savings of up to 5% by buying your insurance policy online. The reason for this is the reduced admin costs insurers face from this type of transaction. These are the sort of savings which shouldn’t be missed.
Additional qualifications
Additional qualifications such as pass plus courses, which can be completed after you pass your test, are a great way to lower the price of premiums. The weight assigned to these varies depending on the insurance company, with savings of up to 10% possible.
Additional drivers
Adding older motorists as named drivers on your insurance policy is another great way to lower your perceived risk in the eyes of insurers. However, it is best to avoid having a young driver as a named driver on an older driver’s policy if the older motorist is not actually going to be the main driver of the vehicle. This is a practice which has been more commonly used in recent years due to increasing car insurance prices as it tends to be a cheaper option for young motorists to avoid being the main policy holder. This is known as “fronting” and has been deemed illegal by regulators.
Being a named driver on someone else’s policy will also usually render you unable to accumulate no claims discount which will be invaluable in years to come. This is not always the case as there are a small number of companies who do offer no claims accumulation to named drivers as well, but this usually comes at the expense of higher basic premiums. The best advice for young motorists is to avoid being the named driver!
Build up no claims discount
No claims discount is invaluable as it is an indication to the insurer about your levels of experience and the quality of your driving. Put simply, one year no claims discount is earned through one year of driving where no claim has been made to an insurer. These can be accumulated over a number of years and the more you have the less likely it will be that you will make a claim. Insurance companies will therefore offer cheaper premiums to drivers with more years no claims to their name.
However, you will not be able to benefit from this if you are a persistent claimer. Young drivers should therefore make sure that they drive safely and carefully, avoiding accidents and hence claims in the process. You will stand a better chance of dodging accidents if you complete an advanced driving course such as pass plus.
Go fully comprehensive
In days gone by, it used to be cheaper to opt for third party cover. This made sense as this type of insurance policy only guarantees to pay for damage caused to other vehicles, while fully comprehensive also guarantees to pay for damage caused to your own vehicle.
However, insurers have realised that people opting for third party cover tend to own older vehicles which they care little for, and are therefore more likely to make a claim. Third party coverage is no longer the cheapest option and should therefore be avoided.
Get on your bike
The more miles you travel each year, the more likely it is that you will have an accident and make a claim. You should therefore keep the mileage allocation which is stated on your insurance policy to a minimum.
Watch where you park
Drivers who park their cars on the road are more likely to have their vehicle vandalised or stolen. This is recognised by insurers who will offer cheaper premiums to drivers who park their cars on a secure driveway or a locked garage.
Safety and security
Cars fitted with approved immobilisers or alarms are less likely to be stolen than vehicles without them. This is pretty logical and a fact which is recognised by insurers in the shape of cheaper premiums.
Cheapest isn’t always the best
In the age of price comparison websites, it’s easy to get dragged into believing that the cheapest deal is always the best one. However, this is inaccurate as some insurers will omit important elements of their insurance package in order to make sure that they appear higher in the list than their competitors.
This can include factors such as windscreen protection, legal cover and a replacement car guarantee. Make sure you check all the details of your policy before agreeing to it so as to ensure that you are not being caught out.
