When you pass your test for the first time, regardless of your age, any insurer is unfortunately going to see you as a higher risk than an experienced driver. It makes sense that if you’ve only just begun driving then you’ve not been through the situations that other drivers have been through and you may not be able to deal with them as well.
Here are some tips you should consider to try and keep the cost of insurance down as a new driver.
Pass Plus Courses
When you pass your test you’ve just proven that you can do some basic driving tasks. Pass Plus training teaches you more skills that you haven’t covered in any of your previous lessons and insurers sometimes take it into consideration and offer a discount on your premium.
Courses usually cost less than £200 – it may be worth getting a quote or asking an insurer beforehand to see if they outlay is outweighed by the saving in your insurance.
Pay All At Once
Paying for your insurance in one go may seem like a lot of money when you have to pay for it all up front especially when you have the option of paying monthly. The thing you might miss though is that some companies charge a fee or interest for the privilege of paying by monthly direct debit so you end up paying even more for your insurance.
Pay A Higher Excess
If you’re a new driver but think your quite sensible and have spare cash at the end of each month you may want to consider setting a higher excess on your insurance policy. This can have a huge impact on bringing the cost of your insurance premium down because it means that in the event of an accident you’ll pay your excess before the insurer has to pay anything – reducing their risk and therefore reducing your policy price.
Safe And secure
Parking in a garage overnight is a great way of reducing your policy price and getting a decent, industry approved, alarm and immobiliser fitted to your car is another. Insurers will see it as a reduced risk of them having to pay out for a stolen car and therefore lower the amount you pay.
Choice Of Car
When you first start driving you may want to get a luxurious car to keep up with your mate down the road but the insurance companies put cars in categories based on how desirable they are and how powerful they are. The higher the category the more perceived risk that the car will be stolen or more importantly how likely you, as a new driver, to crash it.
If you can drive a small, less powerful car for a few years and be claim free then the insurers will start to trust you more which means in the future you can drive better cars with reduced prices for insurance.
Named Drivers
If you have a partner who has driven for a few years and is of a similar or older age to yourself then you could save a lot on your car insurance policy by adding them as a named driver. This then allows them to drive your car but at the same time it reduces the risk to the insurance company and therefore lowers the cost of insurance.
It only takes two minutes online to add a named driver so you can see immediately if it will benefit you or not.
Black Box Scheme
Some insurance policies have a telematic box or black box requirement. These are usually for young drivers but you can ask for them as a new driver.
The insurance company fit it to your car and then they can use the data collected to assess how good, or safe, a driver you are. When they’ve built up a picture of your driving abilities they can adjust your policy accordingly.
Remember to be honest with your application to ensure your policy is valid but try some of the tips above to bring down the cost.
Finally you could pick up the phone and ask the sales person to help go through the quote as this can sometimes lead to further discounts on your car insurance that the website application didn’t give you.