Help needed - cheapest car insurance for an 18yo

Any advice appreciated- 17yo just passed his test looking to insure him on a clapped out 14yo Skoda Fabia. Doesn't really need it for much at the moment - be handy for part-time work soon potentially but day to day no real use but don't want him to get out the habit of driving. He would be a named driver on my wife's insurance.

Clearly its really (really) expensive- cheapest we can find is c£2k per year. Does anyone have any tips? That quote was with black box fitted etc and from Marmalade who were recommended. Seen someone else mention a pay as you go option - £500 per 500 miles? Are these worth a look? Anyone been in the same boat recently? Many thanks in advance bbsers........

 

Insurance premiums have gone sky high, only thing I can recommend is put 2 experienced drivers on the insurance and see if that brings it down.

That's what we did, will still be a black box policy but hopefully will come down. Also the age of the car has an impact

 

Try a comapny called ‘By Miles’ we used it for my wife’s insurance other year and it’s been great, they gave her 1 years no claims as a reward for signing up, we pay about £180 initial upfront payment then it’s about 3p a mile, shes a low user but her monthly bill is about £15 a month

 

Will give that a try thanks

 

Ta, will look into that

 

BTW she was just a name on the policy and I was the main driver but we wanted her to get her own NC built up, a think as young drivers it’s maybe worth taking the hit for the first 12 month as it’ll be pay dividends further down the line

 

Admiral always used to be the cheapest for new drivers, no idea if that’s still the case though. Saying you park on the street not the drive is sometimes a few hundreds pounds cheaper for new drivers (less likely to hit a post I guess). Put some experienced drivers on there. Increase the excess.

Is the 2k your wife and child’s combined insurance or that much extra for adding the child? It might be worth getting their own policy and adding your wife to theirs. Some places specifically target new drivers so own policy might actually be cheaper.

 

I might be stupid (oh shut it you) but if she was to leave after a year would she then have 2 years no claims bonus after having held insurance for 1 year? That sounds a bit weird to me because your no claims bonus generally transfers between insurers so if they can literally make up any amount of no claims bonus just for signing up then when she leaves the new insurer is giving her a discount she isn't really entitled to

 

A year free seems extreme but it may only count with that one place. For the first few years I did Admiral’s accelerated no claims thing which gave me a year after each 10 months. That was honoured elsewhere though.

 

From what I’ve seen and heard it seems there is no rhyme or reason on how to get the lowest.
I’ve heard different versions of black box, limited mileage, putting an experienced driver as a named driver and a combination.
My daughter got hers massively reduced by having a black box which also restricted mileage and a curfew on her driving(not driving after 9pm)
It seems only way is to ring around.

 

Both of them named on there. Good tips though thanks

 

I was nodding along to everything until that last line that made me laugh, sorry. Ring around? Wouldn’t you just fill in a couple of comparison sites online and see literally hundreds of quotes at once? Maybe phone the one of two not on there (direct line) at a push.

 

I added my daughters car to my existing Admiral multi-car policy which already had 2 cars on it. That worked out cheaper than any of the black box policies.
As others have said get at least 2 named drivers on there as that will bring it down. I also made sure her car was in a separate part of a policy in her own name so it starts to build up her own no-claims discount.
The car is only 4 years old but that worked out at just over £1K for the year. (She is also 18). So the multi-car policy options are definitely worth a look.

 

It may be cheaper to get a really small engined car and insure that. I know you have the other costs of running the car, but try for quotes with things like a Honda jazz?

 

The first bit, I’m not saying a thing

But yeah, as I understood it they gifted her a years grace as she’d not got any NC, I found it bizarre myself given that insurance companies don’t particularly like being helpful

 

I had to renew my insurance once and had to call them to say my job had changed, actually I'd just lost my job so needed to inform them I was unemployed expecting the price to go up. The woman was practically winking at me down the phone as she said "on so you're doing less miles now RIGHT? And your car is now on your drive more right? And obviously if you're unemployed you won't be driving at rush hour will you? No? I didn't think so. Right your renewal has gone down, it's now £300 less than last year." Then after doing the usual thank yous and is there anything else I can help you with today at the end she whispered "my husband got laid off last week, I hope this helps you a little bit sweetie, good luck"

 

Black box's are good, they knock a fair bit off your premium, and they give you piece of mind as a parent as they encourage you to drive sensibly. Play around with adding yourself and your partner to the insurance as named drivers and see if that brings it down. Look into getting a dash cam fitted and see if that improves premiums. Use the Martin Lewis website to see if there's a slightly more favourable occupation they can add, e.g. Administration assistant and Administrator might sound like the same thing, but one gives a higher car insurance premium than the other.

£2,000 for a 17 year old who's just passed their test doesn't seem too bad (it's extortionate I know), considering I passed my test when I was 18 and paid about the same for my first car, which was a 1.2 Punto, and that was 15 years ago.

Thankfully that premium will tumble for the first few years if they have no endorsements on their licence, to the point now where I pay less a year than I did a month in my first year driving.

 

You don't say what engine size the Fabia is, I think back then diesels were 1.4 and there was a 1.2 and 1.4 petrol.
As someone's already said maybe look at another car around a grands worth, 1.1 or less engine. Good ones do tend to sell quick as there's 2 types of 18 year old drivers, the ones that snap up 1k cars and the ones (parents) that spend a fortune a month on a pcp.
That's the only way its gonna get much cheaper, but you're probably not gonna get under £1600 or so.

 

Cant beat random acts of kindness from people at times