I've relatively new to the Backroom and so far I am impressed. I was reading a few postings in the archives and seeing as I have nothing to do, felt I would have a moan.
Yes ok....an 18 year old lad isn't going to get the cheapest insurance but can someone please tell me that to isnure a £2000 (ish) car with third party ONLY (no fire or theft...yes that's right if it gets nicked, it's gone) it's just under 2 and a half grand? We searched everywhere and believe me, this is the cheapest. It makes me laugh though that when I was learning to drive, I was insured on a 2 litre Ford Focus (as a named driver ) and it was only £700. I'd have thought that was more of a risk.
Ok....moan over
Thanks guys
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If you are a named driver the insurer assumes that you will only use the occasionally, hence the lower risk.
As for the high premiums, a lot of insurers (including the one I work for) basically don't want young drivers on the books - too high a risk.
A lot of young drivers WILL have accidents and the third party claims can be very high and for £2.5K of premium the insurer soons loses any profit. You would be surprised how much of the money taken in premiums is paid back out on claims.
The most important thing you can do is to not make any claims and get a no claims bonus built up, this will reduce your premium by quite a lot, also as you get older >21 the premium will get lower again. I know this doesn't help you much at the moment, I've heard of 17 year olds buying a cheap mini and insuring it for a year without driving it just to get a years NCB under their belt.
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I am not 100% sure, but I think that there is a scheme that you can go on as a newly qualified driver that will reduce your premiums. I dont know what the name of the scheme is, but there are a selected bunch of insurers who will give you cover at a reduced price (compared to what you would have had to pay otherwise).
The best way of course is to get a cheap car, run it for a couple of years to build up some kind of no claim bonus then buy the car that you really want.
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To be honest is it worth spending £2k on a first car, might as well get a cheap one that will last 2 years, in those 2 years you would have 2years NCD? At the moment, I feel my current runabout gets me from A to B and back, I can worry about bigger cars later when I have a full 5 years NCD.
Try Pass+ - I think you have to pay for it, but it will reduce the insurance costs, and try Tesco's insurance.
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Take me for example: Male / 18 years at the time in a LN1 Postal area
1st Car was a Fiat Panda 1.0 G-reg - £850 for TPFT for the 1st year - 2nd year was a £120 drop still with the same car. Now had it for 18 months when the brakes packed up :(
2nd - Fiat Seicento - For 3rd year term came to £380 at fully comp! (okay there is £250 excess by me and an extra £300 by the insurance company.)
Now had a renewal for a 4th term at £220 fully comp - still the cheapest.
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Try www.liverpoolvictoria.co.uk
They were by far and away the cheapest for me, about £1,000 less than Direct Line.
Blue
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This takes me back to 1974. Me, 17, new shiny licence, living on the edge of London, first car, Triumph Herald Convertible costing £125 parked on the street.The insurance in my name, TPFT, was £35. I know in today's money it would be a lot more but it was still only 28% of the cost of the car. I don't know how people afford to start driving these days. It would make me cry to pay £000's for insurance.
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Adski,
Have a think about joining the IAM - cost you £75-00 at your age and I would be surprised if you did not at least cover your cost when you renew your insurance.
Not the best reason for joining though - it will also make you a safer driver.
Matt35.
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My IAM advanced pass did not bring any reduction. ROSPA runs a similar scheme and is probably better considered - but, unlike IAM, you have to re-take the qualification every year for it to stay in force (I am working on that one now).
Incidentally, I have just found that the online insurance quotes are much higher than steam-age ones, furthermore applications take very long to complete and each one seems to want different details.
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Budu,
RoSPA re test is every three years - don't make it any worse please!
Matt35.
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Adski - some insurers choose to specialise in a particular category of driver, eg drivers aged 18-35, women only, over 50's, etc. As far as I know Endsleigh (also operating as Club 17-40) promotes itself as more suitable to younger drivers, but it doesn't always mean you'll get a cheaper premium by going to them. Elephant.co.uk operate a "bonus accelerator system" which means that you can opt to buy 10 months of insurance from them, for which they will give you a full 12-month no-claims bonus. This means that although renewal comes up more frequently, if you're claim-free you can get to the point of being able to protect a no-claims sooner. They've been very good for me, but I first insured with them in my late 20's.
Doing the Pass Plus test should certainly bring down your average premium quote. Even the car you drive might be relevant in spite of being in the same insurance group as some others - Saxos are low insurance group but perceived by some insurers as a bit of a boy racer special, whereas a Fabia might not be so readily seen as the car of choice for the backwards baseball cap brigade.
Finally, third-party only isn't always the cheapest option - some insurers take the view that someone taking out fully comp is less likely to claim. I once had a quote for TPFT which was £70 more expensive than fully comp from the same company.
andymc
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Something to consider - buy the cheapest, lowest insurance group new car you can find with a "free insurance" deal, DO NOT CRASH IT in your first year, and being a year older and with a year's NCB your premium might be less criminal.
Do the sums, it might be worthwhile. Don't forget to take into account the depreciation on the car.
Mike
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