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Anyone had the dubious pleasure of trying to get car insurance for a 17 year old male who has just passed their driving test? My son passed his test last week and was wanting to insure an L-reg Diesel Fiesta that his grandad had been keeping for him. Checked on confused.com - rip-off.com would be a better name - and those quotes they did retrieve were over 3 thousand pounds. They're 'avin' a larf as the locals round here say. Has anyone else had to insure a car for a 17 year old? Care to let me know the car, prices and company, 'cos there's no way we can fork out that sort of cash.
I remember having the same problems when I first passed my test. Doing a pass plus course can help reduce premiums. Alternatively you just have to ring a lot of companies, some give large qoutes because they don't want the business. There are also a few companies that specialise in new drivers.
I'm 20 and first had insurance when I was 17. Back then I was with Direct line and it was about £2000 from memory and that was for a Y reg Ford Focus 1.4. I have since switched to Elephant as they were quite a bit cheaper last year. My insurance is up in March so the fun is about to begin again.
Something else to consider is putting an older driver on too. My insurance was £100 cheaper if I added my Mum as a second driver.
Hope this helps
Neil
Quote: I have heard of £6000 being asked for a car worth only a few hundred
Unfortunately the car worth only a few hundred squids could cause damage to other vehicles, property or even people that could run into millions. That would be down to your insurance company.
Steve
Quote: If your wife doesnt own a car, perhaps she could be the registered owner and add your son as named driver. I think that is what my son did and altho the premium was increased it was nowhere as high.
Insurance companys are aware of that trick. Any claim would probably be rejected.
Steve
As a (not so very long ago) young female driver, I was a few years as a named driver with Frizzel who were very reasonable. When I got my own car I had a year or two with Endsleigh, then went back to Frizzel as they were the cheapest.
Steve- why should the insurance company reject any claim- they are aware of the young driver and so long as the mother registered the car in her name,and has access to the car there shouldnt be a problem- the position might be different if his mother already owned a car.
Edit- didnt read earlier thread about being named driver
Hi, someone like Hyperformance or Adrian Flux might be a soloution.
They are specialist insurers and I have one of my vehicles insured with Adrain Flux on a limited use policy. Bearing in mind building up no claims isnt necessarily a great idea at the start ... because if you don't insure a car for 2 years you lose your no claims entitlement.
Im afraid that any young driver will be an issue .. I can recall paying through the nose for insurance ... being a young driver in a fast car was hard on the pocket.
So there it is .... shop around, take a bigger voluntary excess, don't try and insure it fully comp, if you do insure his mum as main driver - then make sure she uses the car too - to avoid any claim problems.
Dan
Its an unfortunate fact of life that young drivers, especially those who have just passed their test run the highest risk of being involved in an accident, hence the higher premiums which have been steadily rising anyway over the past few years, the main reason behind the rise in premiums is the growing claims culture that exists in this country, those who think that its only the insurance companies that lose out paying out dubious claims are simply wrong as insurance companies simply pass their costs onto the consumer.
Another possible avenue is the Pay as You Drive scheme run by Norwich Union which I believe is targeted at young drivers
Quote: being a young driver in a fast car
Seriously IMHO there should be a law restricting the use of high powered cars to those over 25, that may seem harsh but I have heard of so many accidents involving young people in fast cars who in the main are more interested in showing off than developing safe driving skills, if these boy racers are removed from the road then maybe those young people struggling to insure a sensible car may find it a bit easier
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