Explanations for younger drivers Looking for Car insurance

The expense of car insurance for young motorists can be exceptionally high. They are regularly priced at several thousand pounds and can be more than the price at which the car was bought. There is no wonder why young motorists frequently are left frustrated by the prices they are charged for cover.

The main reason that car insurance for young drivers is so expensive – and so dear compared to more experienced older drivers – falls down to the size and number of claims made by young motorists. The figures highlight that younger motorists are more at risk of being involved in an accident compared to their older counterparts.

In addition, the expense of a claim involving a young driver is likely to be greater compared to the cost of a claim involving an older motorist. This is due to many claims linked with young people involved in accidents at high speeds when there are several people in the vehicle – the combined damage to the car or cars involved and the personal injury costs add up to huge sums being involved.

Costs on top of insurance

Indeed insurance is not the only cost related to driving. Fuel expenses are still extremely dear, and there are also garage bills and road tax to consider to. These can result in a huge burden for drivers young and old.

Free price compare’s statistic show that two out of three drivers have altered their driving behaviours to lower costs, while 5% have been pressurised into forfeiting their car as costs were just too much – so young people are not by themselves when it comes to feeling the financial difficulties of running a car in modern times.

Reducing the financial burden

With expenses so great, and savings of any kind are welcome, here are various ways to gain cheap car insurance for young motorists:

Car insurance groups:

Insurers determine every car registered to drive on British roads to one of 50 car insurance groups. These consider the model and make of the vehicle, their in-built security features, performance capabilities, how attractive it tends to be for thieves and the cost of repairs. Insurance companies also overlay their figures around how regularly certain cars are involved in accidents.

To generalise, the greater the number of the group, the larger the insurance premiums would be. Other factors like the persons driving history and the age and location of the driver, would obviously be considered.

You have a greater probability of gaining lower young drivers car insurance if you take the option of a car from a lower group. To get a better insight on how the car insurance group system works, see www.thatcham.org.

Mileage:

If you driver fewer miles per year then your premium should be smaller than that relative to a person driving more annually. The idea is simple: the higher your annual mileage, the more chance of you being involved in an incident. But ensure the numbers you provide to you insurance firm in your proposal are true since your policy may be invalidated if you breach the annual mileage limit you agrees upon.

Our car insurance comparison tool for young drivers has beneficial calculator to help you determine the amount of miles you drive annually.

Points on your licence typically result in more pounds on your premium, hence avoid transgressions like speeding. Accumulating points could quickly add 5% or 10% on your driver insurance policy and, if found guilty of a serious offence like drink-driving could find you with 50% increase or more. You may even have difficulty gaining cover at all.

Excess

Majority of cover has a built-in, mandatory excess of £100 or maybe £200, which is the money you have to pay towards the cost of a claim.

You are also able to pick a voluntary excess at a level chosen by you. In return for agreeing to pay a larger amount towards the expense of any claim, you will typically be rewarded with cheaper young drivers insurance.

It is vital to ensure you can afford to pay both the compulsory and voluntary excess if you must make a claim. Also be vigilant that, the more the combined excess, the more the amount will be before you are even able to claim on a policy. If your complete excess is £400 and you find yourself with damage worth £300 following a
bump, you will pay all of it yourself.

Claim free driving

Motorists who do not make claims build up a no-claims discount (NCD). Then NCD can be greatly rewarding, with up to 70% off the expense of young drivers car insurance after five continuous years of being claim-free. Yours actual premium may still rise upon renewal – you will simply receive the discount off the larger amount. Due to this it is vital to look around for young person’s insurance premiums upon renewal as opposed to automatically staying with your current provider.

NCDs are “portable”, which constitutes to them being able to transfer over to a new insurer if you change policies.

Accumulating a vast NCD, it can be beneficial to pay for minor repairs yourself as opposed to making a claim and forfeiting your discount.

If an additional premium is paid you can safeguards your discount hence you can make one maybe two claims per year without risking your entitlement to NCD.

Check your cover

There are three kinds of car insurance policy: Fully Comprehensive, Third Party, Fire & Theft and Third Party. The most basic is Third Party car insurance and is the legal minimum to drive on British roads. It covers the policy owner for any damage or injury to another person or their property. Third Party and Fire and Theft car insurance is one step up and also includes damage or loss to your vehicle caused by theft or fire. Fully Comprehensive cover provides the widest range of cover including damage to your own car if involved in an accident.

It could be less expensive to go for a more minimal level of cover. This is an appropriate measure for a young driver whose car is worth very little. But you must always compare all kinds of policy, since the cost of comprehensive cover occasionally tallies up better compared to the more limited third party & theft.

Cut out policy extras

Insurance firms regularly include services into their comprehensive policies, like legal expenses insurance, breakdown cover and courtesy cars. If you can live without these, you must either tell the insurer to rake them out and offer a young driver car insurance quote that reflects the reduced level of cover or find a policy that does not include them from the beginning.

Monthly car insurance – good or bad?

With car insurance for young drivers so expensive, it could be tempting to spread the expense of cover across the 12 months as opposed to paying the total premium in one go. However remember that a vast number of insurers charge a higher total if you choose the option of instalments – so 12 times the monthly payment is more than the one price.

Boost security

Drivers who make it difficult for thieves to steal their cars often pay less for their car insurance. Hence install an approved alarm, tracking device and immobilizer in your car. If you have an expensive car, the insurer may insist you fit such a device as part of the deal.

It would also be better if you are able to leave your car off road at night, even better if it can be kept in a locked garage or at the very least in a driveway.

For more solutions on how to bypass the high cost of car insurance for young drivers, take a look at our money savings tips page.

Enhance your driving skills

The Driving Standards Agency’s Pass Plus course is targeted at newly qualified motorists and covers numerous aspects of driving not covered by the conventional driving; such aspects include night driving and motorway driving. If you complete the course, you may reduce your premiums by up to 35%. Further details can be found on our pass plus insurance page.

The Institute of Advanced Motorists also carry’s out driving courses to boost motoring skills and therefore lower the statistical likelihood of an incident.

Add ‘named’ drivers

You are able to lower the expense of young driver car insurance through adding older, more experienced motorists on to your policy as ‘named’ drivers. This lowers the costs as the insurer believes that the will be driven for some of the time by a careful driver.

It is important, though, that the person who drives the vehicle the majority of the time is named the main driver on the cover. Young drivers should never be lured into seeking lower insurance cover by allowing a family member to insure a car and then they driver as the main driver. This is called ‘fronting’ and is seen as fraud.

Is the insurer can prove fronting has occurred, they may refuse to pay for any claims. Fronting can also result in prosecution and anybody found guilty or associated with the crime may see themselves having problems trying to gain affordable cover in the future.

To find more information on the matter, look at our named driver car insurance page.

Buy car insurance for young drivers on the internet

It is advocated that you look around for young driver insurance quotes upon renewal since insurers do not reward loyalty and do not offer their best deals to existing customers, so renewing automatically is almost certainly a mistake. You are able to compare young drivers insurance offered by an array of insurers on freepricecompare.com’s price comparison site. It’s fast, simple – and free.

Is telematics the solution?

In an attempt to lower the cost of car insurance for young people to a level more affordable, several insurers are advocating the use of black box insurance, also known as ‘telematics insurance’ policies is some circles.

With this type of deal, your car is installed with a device, likely to be about the size of a pack of playing cards that records data on your motoring habits with information on when and where you drive. You could be sent the device by post along with the easy instructions on ways to locate it inside your car.

The insurer is solely interested in how you take corners, brake and your acceleration. Also vital is the gap you keep and the amount of miles you drive along with the times of the day in which you regularly travel.

If it is found from the data that you are a careful driver who does not go on motorways that much or on night time drives, you could see a reduction in your premium after a three to six month review. If, though, you brake and accelerate aggressively, use high-risk routes where accidents are known to occur a lot and break speed limits, tour premiums may rise.

Modifying your behaviour on the road can improve your risk profile and gain reduced premiums. The policies include an online ‘dashboard’ that you are able to access and how your driving performs compared to the several parameters. This will give you an idea of areas which might require attention.

All in all, black box insurance premiums are different from traditional policies as they are based on the driver’s real habits as opposed to just statistics. Not every young driver is a ‘boy racer’, so black box insurance is found as the perfect way to prove insurance firms wrong and benefit young motorists with cheaper young driver car insurance quotes.

specific guidance to car insurance for young drivers

Free price compare is dedicated to helping their customers source the cheapest premiums available to them, to meet their situations. Age is a very important factor for insurance providers when related to calculating car insurance quotes, and when young drivers are concerned every year passing by makes a significant difference.

We have hence completed various different young driver car insurance guides, which focus on the expense of premiums for each separate age group to ensure the advice received from us is as relevant as can be.

Written by

Kevin Patterson