Insurance, young drivers, and what people think....

[Churchie-The-Dinosaur]

Ok so I am young, I have nearly been driving a year. No crashes, no claims, no worries.

I have a VW Lupo 1.4E yr2000. I turned 17 and took my theory 2 days after my birthday, then passed the driving test one month later. I searched for insurance high and low, the best price was around 600 pounds, great i thought, but no, i would have to pay a further 600 when i passed. The cheapest insurance i found was churchill, fully comp (cheaper than 3rd party :S) this cost a staggering 1380pounds, and did not go up when i passed.

Now i am looking to get a new car as the lupo despite getting a new clutch, tyres, catalytic converter, spending 400 pound on the M.O.T to pass it, now needs a new gearbox, this i cannot afford, so again searching for a car, cheap, reliable, and bigger than the lupo...... can i find a car bigger than the lupo, simply no. Insurance quotes me around 1000pounds on pretty much every car i put through, and thats with a years experience and no claims. so if i buy a car for 500pounds, i STILL have to pay double its value? O.k so their are boy racers, drivers who are too careful which cause accidents, but their are those well who surprisingly do what they are told, obey the rules and keep to the speed limits. Do the insurance companies take this into account after a year? not particularly, they see you have a years no claims, then calculate a number, ok so maybe after 5 years they realise you are a safe driver...... nope still they calculate the no claims and give you a number.

So i read things on the net, looking for cheaper insurance, wise cars to own, etc. the telegraph said this for their article "Young drivers struggle to get car insurance"

One in every five young drivers has a crash within a year of gaining their licence, with young drivers 10 times more likely to be involved in a serious collision than more experienced ones.

Ok granted, but those who don't get rewarded with discount? of course not....

HOW TO CUT YOUR PREMIUMS

Shop around extensively. Different companies will take very different views about your risk

Restrict the number of drivers covered

Insure third-party only

Take Pass Plus lessons within a year of passing your test

Try a specialist broker

Shopped around extensively worked, churchill where the best by far

I have one driver covered... Me!

Third party only? that was more expensive. Surely fully comp is better for young drivers because of what it covers? if young drivers are more likely to have risks, then isnt third-party a worse option?

I took pass pluss, gave me more experience, no discount! the internet discount could not be joined with the pass pluss discount!

The specialist broker in my area, was rather more expensive.

so for a young driver to get on the road....

Theory =31.00

Lessons = 300 pounds (and that was 15pound an hour!!!)

Test = 62.00

Car = 450 pounds

Cat = 200 pounds

Insurance = 1380 pounds

Tax = 120 pounds

Thats 2543 pounds to get on the road...... THEN you start to get problems with your car....

Now i have moved out, dont have mummy and daddys help on things like o so many do.

Can i afford to even run my car? not really.

And i need to get a new one, i know ill do the new scrappage scheme next year when my cars 10 years old, then its worth 2000 instead of nothing, o wait... i have no money. just little saved for insurance.

This is a VERY hard country to drive in for young drivers like myself who can only afford small bangers which will break every month.

Do we get help? do we buggery, its harder now than ever, with the bangers dissappearing to the scrappage scheme, with fuel and insurance rising. its a battle that the young independent drivers have nearly lost.

so you may ask well do you need to drive?

well yes if i want to buy food, look for a job, and not be a 24/7 hermit, theese are the so called best years of my life.... i say their the skint years of my life at least.

O and to top it all off, if i was born female, it would have cost me 600 less on my first year... 600! thats more than my cars worth!

something needs doing.

some compromise.

[DAS HAPPIWAGEN]

Im glad you wrote that all out as Im convinced 70% of middle aged drivers havent a clue whats its like these days. Back then they were asked 3 questions as the theory test and drove 15 minutes. Im pretty sure you get ****ed over no matter what when your young. I just want a job with responsibility and where they dont pay me less because im younger. that is the definition of discrimination.

Edited July 27, 2009 by DAS HAPPIWAGEN

[Naif]

Very good mate. I'm also in the same position, cheapest I've found insurance is £1400, and that would be my second year, no NCB though, no claims, pass plus, and to top it all off, TPFT. As you've said, fully comp is a lot better for the young drivers due to us being statistically more at risk... Due to a few noggin's who push their car/skill on public roads.

If I put my sex as female on my quote, it drops too £700. That's half the price! Surely girls aren't half as likely to have a claim as us?

I must say though, your £1380 to insure you for your first year is MASSIVELY cheap, as mine cost me almost £2k with a parent as the main driver. And, if insurance was cheaper, I'm sure you wouldn't find all these numpties with no insurance, or not declaring mods to the insurance companies.

Very well put though Churchie.

[tombuttigieg]

You have mentioned some interesting stuff. But I am a student, live away from home etc, to afford Travis every holiday I got off I worked 7 days a week, 7am to 5pm to afford it. It really depends how much you want your car. Don't get me wrong I'm not having a go or anything and I know your circumstances will be a hell alot different to mine, but I made major sacrifices to run my car, which meant I was skint for most of my first year of uni. Beyond worth it thought!

[89james(FOX)]

the insurace company rate your risk level, but you have to think of the stuid f***ing drivers that hit you like with my crash as i was virtually at a stop a polish lorry decided not to barke and plough into my car,

[Defcon5]

From the insurers point of view, you are a high risk, thats all it boils down to.

If you were an ins company, would you charge the same for a 45 year old man thats been driving for the last 25 years or an 18year old who passed last week? Of course not - the probability of you having to pay out for the younger driver is substantially higher, so you must charge more to offset this risk

[DAS HAPPIWAGEN]

From the insurers point of view, you are a high risk, thats all it boils down to.

If you were an ins company, would you charge the same for a 45 year old man thats been driving for the last 25 years or an 18year old who passed last week? Of course not - the probability of you having to pay out for the younger driver is substantially higher, so you must charge more to offset this risk

True, but we are in the lowest paid jobs. How do they expect us to spend 2grand on insurance when alot of us arent earning over 10K a year before tax?

I'm not disputing there logic. Its just so difficult, because as churchie says, we typically have cheap cars which require more maintainance due to there age.

Edited July 27, 2009 by DAS HAPPIWAGEN

[Defcon5]

True, but we are in the lowest paid jobs. How do they expect us to spend 2grand on insurance when alot of us arent earning over 10K a year before tax?

What you earn is of no concern to anyone except you and the tax man, I cant afford caviar and lobster, its just tough - if you can afford it you must go without. Welcome to capitalism

[treblet]

One in every five young drivers has a crash within a year of gaining their licence, with young drivers 10 times more likely to be involved in a serious collision than more experienced ones.

Ok granted, but those who don't get rewarded with discount? of course not....

Your facts all suggest that you or any 4 of your mates who have recently passed their test are very likely to have an accident.

The figures for crashes for under 25's are far far higher than that for the population above 25 so you cannot blame an insurance company for whacking on a massive premium which will steadily decrease throughout your first 8 years of driving.

As for your complaint about not getting any discount, what do you consider no claims discount to be then?

Edited July 27, 2009 by treblet

[heartagram]

I was getting a quote for a mk2 Golf GTI 8V yesterday. Turned around and told me they wouldn't insure me cause I'm to young. I'm 23 and held my license for 5 years.

Insurance is a big joke though. Cause I have a claim going through no-one will accept my no claims bonus so effectively I have none. Accident was not my fault and the 3rd party are the ones taking forever to process it yet I'm the one who has to foot the bill. Its a joke.

I can see why people drive around uninsured, unMOT'd without a license cause nout ever happens to them. Slap on the wrist or worst come to worst you get a fine thats about half of what insurance for a year would be.

Everytime some **** goes wrong with my insurance I'm more and more tempted to not bother. In my 5 years I've been so honest with it, like declaring it down to the ariel ball and wheres it got me? No where. Fu cking joke it is.

[Philplop]

It seriously isn't even worth having lessons or passing your test.

Just buy an old ****ter with no MOT and drive round. If you get stopped nowt will happen. If they crush your car, buy another £50 ****ter.

Being honest gets you nowhere.

[NOCK]

I completely agree, insurance when you are young is ridiculous. What annoys me the most is the fact that I spent the last 9 months in Australia, where the odds of a kangaroo, dog, cow, horse, wombat etc. being in the middle of the road for you to unavoidably crash into is extremely high. How much was my insurance there? On a 1.5L Mitsubishi Lancer fully comp, AUD$228 (about £100 for the year!). I'd only got 1 years driving experience, no no claims bonus and had a provisional driver added to that as well (who was only 19).

To get my insurance down in the UK I added as many drivers onto it as I could that had lots of driving experience. My insurance company also gave me a discount for one of those drivers having their policy with them (they have only been driving 4 years and I had about £90 knocked off my policy just because I added them onto it).

Edited July 28, 2009 by NOCK

[cobblers]

That's not so bad really. I used to pay £2200TPFT for a Saxo VTR when I was 19. Now I'm 23 and the Lupo costs £300 fully comp, all mods declared.

Last year I had a 106 Rallye with an engine swap and every concievable mod, and I paid £595.

Frankly, I don't blame insurers for charging so much really. I know what a lot of 17 and 18 year old lads are like. I wouldn't trust them to borrow my pushbike let alone insure their car! The only data the insurers have to go in is age, sex, profession, location, car and claims history. They use this data to predict the cost to them of insuring you for the year (based on historical data) add on a bit of profit, and that's your premium.

If they lumped everyone with the same price by ignoring all the car/age/history factors, a good 85% of the population would be compensating for the minority, which they would rightly moan about.

I'm sure you are a careful driver, but there is no way for the insurance company to predict it.

Stick with it, earn some NCB and it soon comes down. Don't be tempted with those companies that claim to give named drivers NCB, as it isn't transferable. Same with the "10 month bonus accelerator" stuff elephant and admiral do. The NCB isn't valid with anyone else.

Edited July 28, 2009 by cobblers

[Philplop]

Churchill were also the cheapest for me after i passed my test. I was getting quotes of 1200+ on my 1.4 sport at the age of 18. I rang Churchill and the woman managed to get me it for £750 a year fully comp on my own, i had only passed my test less than a month so i thought it was an excellent price. I can drive other peoples cars third party, i have windscreen cover and breakdown cover with it as well. I am also allowed mods and i wasn't with other companies until i was 21.

That's all hard to believe!

After I passed I paid £1500 on a 1.2 8v Punto, which was under my mams name . If I could have insured a Sport at all I'd have been amazed.

Check your documents regarding driving other cars, read the small print. I still can't get cover to drive other cars and I'm 23. Usually you have to be over 25. I know a few people on here thought they could drive other cars, but after checking found they couldn't.

[Philplop]

You're a lucky sh*t then really, aren't you?

Edited July 28, 2009 by Philplop

[NickSL]

I worked out how much It has cost me to get 'on the road' so far, and almost cried .

Theory & Practical £90

Lessons £250

Provisional Insurance £220

Car £1750

Insurance £2200

Tax £120

Two New Tyres £90

Total - £4720

Admittedly I could have bought a cheaper first car, But I really wanted a Lupo and the kick of a 1.4 over a 1.0. The UK is rubbish for new drivers, especially when you look at the US and see them marketing a 2.6 V6 Dodge as a perfect first car for 16 Year Olds.

[Churchie-The-Dinosaur]

I havent had much experience with other countries, but in comparison, this one sucks.... insurance high, tax high, people in parliment morrons etc.

[JamesU]

Not read all of the thread but the first sentance or 2 of the first post.

I paid £1,900, no mods allowed, 1.0l K reg polo, and yet you're going off on one about £1400.

My best mate, 1 years no claims, £1,200 on his 1.4 8v polo.

Me, 1 years no claims, £877 on my 1.4E lupo.

Its high for everyone, just like billions of other things we need to buy these days, yeah it was cheap years and years ago but i get my dad telling me he used to be on £3 a week, and £2 of it went to his mum.

[JamesU]

Edit:

Me with my lupo.

Tax: 120

Insurance: Extra 167 on top of the 1900 i spent

Car: 900

Problem after buying the car: 400

Further problem 300

Lessons were 20 a hour

Theory was around 60 i think

Test was 99.99

Edited July 30, 2009 by JamesU

[pro3mark]

I pay just over £950 for my GTi, just turned 20, mods declared, 1 years no claims, 1 accident.

I think thats far too good, couldn't believe it.

I checked a 1.0L Mk1 Arosa and it was £382

[MattyB]

They dont charge the rates they do for fun though, its based on statistics and calculated risk. Problem is, you could be a 20 year old driving genius, yet you'll still get lumped in the same category as the 20 year old boy racer who doesn't know his heel-and-toe from his cherry bomb exhaust.

But then, look on the bright side - You could have payed £7500 for insurance on your new Elise, then stacked it shortly after....

[pro3mark]

Oh dear, a friend of mine took out a £5000 loan on a 'middle shape' MR2, wrote that off the next day, and obviously had to continue paying the loan, silly boy.

[Plug]

I was getting a quote for a mk2 Golf GTI 8V yesterday. Turned around and told me they wouldn't insure me cause I'm to young. I'm 23 and held my license for 5 years.

LMAO on a 8v.

BELL ADL

Edited July 31, 2009 by ricoshay

[sam bignell]

I don't like seeing these threads come up, insurance isn't optional and insurance companies aren't singling individuals out with high prices. Every youngster gets it but you just have to live with it or search day and night for the cheapest quote!

Just to rub salt in the wound, as I'm so over the moon atm with this price, I've just been quoted £757.80 for a year on my GTi and im currently 19

Sam

[ignas]

When I was looking for mine ive been quoted nearly 3k for a 1.0 lupo as a second driver LOL i have to add this was in east london