Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
Cheap car insurance for young drivers
Reading Time: 4 minutesGetting cheap car insurance for young drivers is a huge challenge.
According to Confused.com, insurance premiums have increased by 22% over the last 12 months for 18 year olds – to a whopping £1715 a year.
One of the most regular questions we get asked is “how can I save money on car insurance?” so we’re revealing all here:
- How to get cheaper car insurance as a young driver
- Tips to reduce your insurance costs even further
- What type of cover should you go for?
- Options for learner drivers
How to get cheaper car insurance for young drivers
You need to shop around to get a good deal for driver’s insurance for young people.
But there is another way to reduce the premium you pay – by getting car insurance based on ‘black box’ technology.
‘Black box’ insurance involves having a monitoring unit invisibly fitted to your car (it’s normally located underneath the dashboard) which monitors your driving behaviour (your braking, acceleration, cornering, speed and so on). It’s not a million miles away from the infamous black boxes that are used in aeroplanes.
All this data is then used to calculate your insurance premium; smooth driving will result in lower premiums, while someone who frequently jams on the brakes and goes round corners on two wheels will see their premiums rise significantly.
The aim is to reward careful driving, whatever your age.
According to comparethemarket.com, fitting a black box might not save you money in the first year (effectively while your data is being collected), but going forward you can save up to 60% on young drivers’ insurance.
(As an added bonus, if your car were to get stolen, the GPS technology of the black box would enable the police to quickly track down your vehicle).
Of course, making any saving is dependent on being a good driver! After you’ve signed up, you can log in to a website and check your driving stats on a day-by-day basis to see how you’re performing.
Don’t forget to shop around…
Specialist policies aimed at new and or younger drivers will often offer the best deal, it’s still worth getting some quotes from the big comparison sites too.
Here’s a link to Quotezone, a price comparison site, which will give an idea of what prices you could be looking at.
Tips to reduce your insurance costs even further
There are certain things you can do to reduce the cost of your insurance – whatever your policy.
You can reduce your insurance premium by:
- Fitting a security device to your car.
- Parking your car in a garage (as it reduces the risk of both theft and accidental damage).
- Adding a mature second driver to the policy can sometimes knock hundreds off your premium – even if they’re not down as a ‘main’ driver. (A word of warning: don’t ever be tempted to lie and put someone else down as the first named driver to try and cut the cost. Not only would it invalidate your insurance, it’s illegal and could even lead to prosecution.)
- Taking an additional driving course, such as Pass Plus.
What type of cover should you go for?
There are three main types of car insurance cover:
- Third party: this is very basic cover that only covers damage that you (or your passenger) cause to another person or property. It doesn’t cover you against any damage to your vehicle (or yourself)
- Third party, fire and theft: as above, but this cover will repair or replace your vehicle if it’s damaged or destroyed by fire or stolen
- Comprehensive: this extends third party, fire and theft to also cover damage to your own vehicle should you have an accident.
Is third party cover always cheapest?
People automatically assume that basic third party cover will be the cheapest option – but this isn’t always the case (some insurers probably see drivers who only get third party insurance as being less likely to care about their vehicle and more likely to get into scrapes).
Third party is often cheaper of course – especially if your car’s worth less than £1,000 and you don’t already have a no-claims bonus – but it’s still worth getting a quote for both third party and comprehensive cover to check.
What about learner drivers?
Temporary car insurance is often the most cost-effective and practical method of insurance for learner drivers.
It’s also a great option if you’re a parent with kids who are learning to drive in your car (as it means they can drive your vehicle without putting the no-claims bonus on your main insurance policy at risk).
We recommend the insurance company Provisional Marmalade for young drivers. They insure drivers as young as 17 – a lot younger than most other insurers are willing to go.
They’re cheap too, with their prices starting from just £2.30 a day. This is surely preferable to putting a young driver on your own policy, which could see your premiums rocket.
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