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Want to know more? Read our young drivers’ insurance guide. It covers:
- Types of young drivers’ insurance policy
- Getting insured whilst you are a learner driver
- Reasons why learners’ and young drivers’ insurance is costly
- How to get the best young drivers’ car insurance deal (and save over £1000)
There are three levels of car insurance cover: 1. Third Party – drivers in the UK must have Third Party Insurance by law. This means that you are insured if you injure a ‘third party’, for example, a cyclist, pedestrian or a car passenger. Third Party Insurance does not cover damage to your own vehicle. 2. Third Party, Fire and Theft – this type of car insurance policy covers third party injuries and liabilities, plus fire and theft (but not accidental damage) to your own vehicle. 3. Comprehensive – this type of car insurance includes Third Party Fire and Theft. It also covers fire, theft and accidental damage to your own vehicle. Some policies may also cover extras such as windscreen insurance.
You can buy insurance in your own name or be added as an Additional Named Driver on someone else’s insurance policy. Being an Additional Named Driver is often cheaper than having your own insurance. But, there are a few considerations:
Insurance companies frequently check for fraud if you come to claim. If you have not been honest, your insurance may be made invalid and you may be liable for all damages. You could also face criminal prosecution.
If you are learning to drive and practising in someone else’s car, you can buy . For around £3 a day you can drive most cars valued up to £20,000 with no risk to the car owner.
We’ve undertaken careful research through literally hundreds of quotes on popular first cars for young drivers to compile our price and insurance guide. Shockingly, we’ve found:
Insurance companies base the cost of their premiums on likely risk. As First Time Drivers do not have any driving history, insurance companies base the risk of them making a claim on statistics.
Statistics show:
- Young drivers are more likely to have an accident in the first two years of driving than at any other time.
- One in five drivers will have a crash within six months of passing their test.
- Young male drivers are more likely to have an accident than young females.
So the cost of insuring young drivers is higher, because insurance companies perceive them to be a greater risk. Find out more about the hard facts of young driver statistics at .
One in five young drivers are thought to be uninsured compared to one in every twenty cars nationally. ()
BBC Newsbeat looks at what police are doing to crack down on uninsured drivers
Together the uninsured are pushing up the cost of insurance for everyone. But, young drivers who aren’t insured could also get into serious trouble. The police increasingly use technology such as Number Plate Recognition to catch uninsured drivers. Around 300,000 uninsured drivers are caught every year. If caught, you are liable to fines of up to £5000, automatic endorsement or disqualification, and in some cases the uninsured vehicle can be destroyed. Even if you are lucky enough to get away with a lesser penalty, you may find it impossible to get insurance in the future.
If you are looking for young drivers’ car insurance online, you’re sure to have seen marketing techniques offering discounts, cheap young drivers’ insurance, along with students’, and Accelerated No Claims Bonus discounts. Buyer beware But discounts don’t matter, the real cost of the young drivers’ insurance policy does. For example, you may be hooked by a 20% discount, but shopping around could find you a quote that’s cheaper to begin with.
Our painstaking research has sourced 100s of quotes from leading car insurers direct and from top car insurance comparison sites such as , and Moneysupermarket.com .
Our guide lists the lowest cost provider for male and female drivers (in their first and second year of driving) for both Fully Comprehensive and Third Party Fire and Theft. These are only guide prices, and prices will vary based on drivers, location, car, mileage use and more. But we think they are useful to check against and plan to keep them regularly updated.
What our young drivers’ car insurance research found:
- Quotes from different insurance companies and brokers vary massively – so shop around.
- The insurance comparison sites , and Moneysupermarket.com provided better value over sites claiming to be young drivers’ insurance specialists.
- Accelerated No-Claims Discount offers often have higher first year premiums and can tie you in to using that insurer for a second year (where the prices may not be as competitive).
- Insurers offering young drivers’ insurance discount for Pass Plus were generally more expensive to begin with – so check any discounts actually do help you make a saving.
- Choice of car - surprisingly the exact make and model of a car do not make a massive difference to the overall cost of young drivers’ insurance. When you add up the total cost of running a car (purchase, road tax, insurance, MOT, maintenance and fuel) then it may make more sense to spend an extra £50 on insurance, if in the end you get much better value on your first car.
- Choosing a car with a better NCAP safety rating did not significantly affect the premium.
- Mileage – limiting car mileage to say 5000 miles per year made some difference on the cost of premiums.
- Adding a ‘good’ additional driver, for example, a parent with a good driving record and clean licence often produces additional savings of up to £100 – £200.
- Always double check the quotes on the insurers’ own website and examine the policy’s cover – you may be paying for options that you do not need. (Removing options may reduce the overall cost of your young drivers’ car insurance.)
- Pay monthly options are convenient. But they can cost over 20% more than paying your young drivers’ insurance in one go.
- On a more positive note, with a clean licence and a year’s no-claims bonus, your second year premium often reduces by almost 60%.
Depending on the value of your car, choosing Third Party Fire and Theft insurance could typically save over £700 for young male drivers and £300 for young female drivers.
These are real cash savings on young drivers’ insurance. But, if you have to make a claim the savings could well be more.
Here’s how it works…
If you insure the car on a fully comprehensive young driver insurance policy, you will typically have a minimum compulsory excess of £500. (An excess means you have to pay the first £500 of any claim regardless of whether it is your fault or not – although you may be able to reclaim this from the third party.)
If you had opted for Third Party Fire and Theft insurance you may have already saved hundreds of pounds on the premium costs. In addition, as you will have no excess to pay, you could have saved around £1200 for a young male driver, or £800 for a young female driver.
Of course, if the accident was your fault then you will have to pay for the repairs to your car, which can be costly, and will eat into the savings.
But unless your car is worth considerably more than these savings – Third Party Fire and Theft may make sense for your first year of young drivers’ insurance cover.
Towards the end of the first year of a young drivers’ insurance policy, car insurers usually send a renewal offer.
DO NOT ACCEPT THIS before you have shopped around.
Again use the car insurance comparison sites to help you:
And then check your best quote with the .
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