How Youngsters Can Get Cheaper Insurance
Saturday, 7. April 2012
Citroën C1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I know I’m past having to worry about my kids having to insure their first car at 17 but I still feel the pain, and even more so today, when premiums of several thousands of pounds are asked for on cars costing a few hundreds. According to the AA the average policy for a 17-22 year old is £3,000. As a result I’ve had a trawl around to see what best advice you can give your kids, and what you can do, in order to save them money on their insurance (can you see what I’m doing – nurturing customers of the future). First of all, and most obvious, is choose a car with lowest risk attached. Choose a group 1 – 3 car if you can.
A group 2 Citroen C1 may not be the coolest car in the world but they can be quite funky, cheap to run and one of the cheapest to insure. High spec. items such as air con can put up the cost of insurance so avoid where possible. Another lesser known trick is to max out your excess, the higher the excess the lower the premium but don’t take too big a risk.
If you have an accident you must be able to afford the excess. As a guide a £500 excess could decrease a premium by £400 increased from a £100 excess. I’ve mentioned this before but if you include a person with a few years no claims on their policy, like mum or dad, it can decrease the premium.
Until the new rules kick in regarding equal premiums for men and women, including a female such as mum, sister or girlfriend as the named driver will be better than a male.
Another obvious thing to do is car share and have the higher premium driver on the policy as a named driver. But be very careful, if the young driver is the main driver the policy must be in his/her name. An obvious test would be to ask in whose name is the car registered? Take no chances because lying could cause a claim to fail.
It’s called fronting and is illegal. However, if the young driver is genuinely simply borrowing the car from time to time some insurers will reward named drivers with a no claims bonus so check out the insurance company first before taking out a policy, that’s what you want, no claims discount.
The Co-Operative has a scheme that uses technology to assess the driving ability of young drivers and rewards their skills with a lower premium. A spokesman said that about 90% of those using the technology see a drop in premium. The system isn’t new, many large fleets have been using it for years to keep an eye on their drivers, called telematics.
Currently the Co-Op has 10,000 signed into the policy. Good driving is assessed every 90 days and the policy adjusted accordingly. Hope that little bit of advice helps your little darlings to arrange cheaper insurance policy. By Graham Hill
Dan Evans Says:
Interesting blog with some useful tips. Be careful however on the named driver business, as most insurers rate the premium based on the youngest driver as I rule now, to prevent people trying to play the system.