Anyone who’s tried to take out car insurance for a young driver will know that the price can be almost as high as the car in some cases. We’re talking thousands of pounds for some young drivers.
Here are some tips that you can try to reduce the cost of your insurance as a young driver.
Ask Your Parents To Be On Your Insurance
If one of your parents has been driving for a long time, with a long no claims discount and are willing to be insured on your car then try adding them to your quote to see how it affects the price. They must know and you must be honest about who is going to be the main driver but adding them will reduce the overall risk to the insurer and should bring the price of your insurance down.
Get A Black Box Fitted
A black box, or telematics system, can be a requirement on some insurance policies for young drivers. It measures what speed you drive at, how hard you break, how well you handle the car and what times of day you’re out driving.
Insurers can quickly assess your driving ability and reduce the cost of your policy as the risk goes down. Drive like a nun on 11 points and you’ll save hundreds if not thousands of pounds.
Don’t Modify Your Car
When you get your first car you may think it’s good to widen the exhaust to make it sound like Lewis Hamilton’s car or get tinted windows fitted to ride around Dagenham city centre at night – but your insurer won’t think the same.
You have to tell them about every modification you make otherwise your policy is probably invalid and as soon as you do alarm bells will start to sound for the insurer who will see you (rightly or wrongly) as a much higher risk.
Car Security
If you can get your car into a garage at night time then do, and tell your insurer about it.
If you have got a sports car for your first car or a hot hatch then look at getting some extra security like a Thatcham approved alarm and immobiliser (other makes are available!).
As well as your driving style the insurer will look at how desirable your car is to other drivers. If you can make it as hard as possible for others to steal your car then your insurance prices will come down.
Raise Your Excess
If you increase your policy excess then you will see the price of your insurance come down and in some cases it can be quite a drastic drop. Remember though that if you increase your excess to £500 or £1000 then if you have a larger claim you’ll need to pay the excess amount each time. Think about if you’d be able to do that before agreeing to the high excess.
Multi-car Policies
If you live at home with your parents then you could see if their insurer has the ability to offer multi-car discounts. This is where the insurer will offer a discount to you for having multiple cars insured by them at the same time – an incentive to repeat business with them. It can be quite substantial, especially if both parents have a car policy with them already.
Phone Up After Getting Your Quote
Once you’ve done your shopping online and found a policy that seems to be right for you then pick up the phone and speak to a sales agent and ask them to go through the application again with you. Be honest about everything and they may know a few trade secrets or things you didn’t think about that can get you a further discount.
Comparison Sites
It’s not a bad idea to try a price comparison site for your initial quotes but remember there will be more specialised quotes for young drivers available elsewhere that may not be included on comparison engines. Use the comparison site as a starting point and then go to the insurers site and modify the quote after checking what has and hasn’t been included.
The final tip for young drivers is to be honest with your application. Trying to cheat the system by giving false answers will almost certainly invalidate your policy.