This June HB junior hits 17. My car insurance is due in feb. A quick quote search shows I can add him as a second driver for c£400 for the year if he was 17 now, but with my insurance due in feb and him not being 17 till June I don’t think I could add him to insurance till then.
So what have other STW parents done to get their 17 year olds driving and some experience in the family car?

Add him to the policy after he is 17 and got his provisional.

It’s easy enough to add people and you will just pay the extra for the remainder of the policy.

Ask the insurance company though, they will tell you the best way to do it.

But it’ll only be for a provisional driver, and then rise steeply once he passes.

You’ve no guarantee that the quote that is cheapest for adding him later, will actually be cheaper once you get around to adding him.

tbh With my eldest two we just waited until they passed their tests and got them cars – insurance was in excess of £2k EACH…

There’s no way I am paying for him to have his own car. He can borrow a family one and build up his no claims when he is older. Thanks for pointing out that insurance is higher once passed…will bare that in mind!
A colleague at work said that he mum used to have a policy that allowed him to drive for so many days a year. Anyone heard of that?

There is specific learner driver insurance that runs in parallel with the existing insurance. I got a 3 month policy which was enough to teach my son to drive. Then it was a case of him going on our policy as a named driver. He only drives it at weekends and the occasional evening out. I am the main driver.
Rich.

I looked into this for my daughter and it was cheaper to insure her in her own right after she passed her test. It’s gonna be **** expensive anyway so they might as well take the hit now as later

Coming from a 19 year old… I passed a month or so after I was 18, insured since May and think it’s about 900 as an additional driver on my parents insurance with no claims protected (£800 + £100 ncp). From my experience id say you may be just as well off spending or putting some of the £400 from the insurance towards driving lessons instead. Driving with parents or other passengers will result in bad habits being picked up which won’t be ideal when it comes to the test.

It’s not what you want to do but I agree with Ken. Get them their own car and insure it in their name with a few good named drivers, works out a whole lot cheaper in the long run. It’s what we did for our daughter – cheap small engine but looks for anything unfashionable. First years insurance will probably more than the car’s worth but it will decrease with NCB. Now with 5 years she pays about the same as me.

Thanks for advice all.
Alpineharry: point noted on driving lessons, they will of course be given by an instructor. Getting him insured on my car is so that he can get more hours in and practice in pre test.
Buying a small car IS an option, but we have a spare Audi A2 (restored by me!) and I would need to sell the A2 to fit another car on the drive. Don’t really want to do that.

OP a bangernomics £350 to £500 car owned by junior HB while he is a learner will do marvels for reducing his insurance once he’s passed his test in a way being a named driver won’t. Insure it with one of the multi-car policies that are available he might find that his solo driving insurance costs “only” £1500 when he’s passed.

This will be dependent on you having enough driveway that a car can sit there for a few months without being moved or getting in the way.

Classic car like a 2CV or Morris Minor may allow them to get a lower premium to build up their no claims. Join the owners club, etc.

“Classic car like a 2CV or Morris Minor may allow them to get a lower premium to build up their no claims”

Most classic car policies are over 21.
Also there is a reason that insurance for kids is so high its the risk, its real.
Do you want to put that risk in to pre war safety standards (2cv Moggy etc.)

Large small engined modern era cars, mk3 mondeo, passat? still cheap but a lot of metal

“Classic car like a 2CV or Morris Minor may allow them to get a lower premium to build up their no claims. Join the owners club, etc.”

no it wont.

Classic car like a 2CV

Have you any idea how much a 2CV costs for a car that is hilariously unsafe?!

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/list/15/2cv/

That’ll give you an idea. Any parent person would be nuts to

A: Put a 17 year old anyone in one of those
B: Spend that money on a 2CV in the first place unless you’re really into classic motors. Specificly French ones made of cardboard.

My first car was a 2CV 🙂 Actually pretty good as a bike lugger, the rear seat lifts out very easily and they’re quite tall so you can get quite a lot of stuff in there. Used to do 50mpg on a run. Soft long-travel suspension meant it coped easily with muddy rutted car parks.

Unfortunately prices have gone loopy recently, have you seen how much a non-rotten one is worth now ??

There’s no way I am paying for him to have his own car. He can borrow a family one and build up his no claims when he is older. Thanks for pointing out that insurance is higher once passed…will bare that in mind!

Cars are cheap, less than £1500 for two – insurance is way more every year for both.

“Classic car like a 2CV or Morris Minor may allow them to get a lower premium to build up their no claims. Join the owners club, etc.”

no it wont.[/quote]

Guy I was at uni with had a Morris Minor, his insurance, aged 20, was £67 IIRC. Limited mileage and all that, but I’d not write it off. Another chap who used to work at the LBS had someone a bit less collectable, forget what, but his was verging on sensible aged 18. Car was POS though.

e can borrow a family one and build up his no claims when he is older.

Not sure if they still do it, but Direct line used to let named drivers build no claims too, not as much as if it was their own policy but it helped me quite a lot when I came to get my own car.