My son has just passed his test and he is getting a 998cc car value around 2.5K, (Generous grandparent!) – even on this insurance looks impossible – anyone found a relatively cheap option or would I better to insure for me as an 'Old git' and add him on?? Thanks!

I read somewhere that it worked out cheaper to insure it for them and then add on a 'senior' driver?

Take a large excess too, and just TPFT.

Definately cheaper for you to insure him, but he will not accumulate NCB and you'll put yours at risk.
Collegue of mine's son just crashed and wrote off his 1.2 clio which he had insured himseld 3rd party for £1500 a year. Madness

And he must be listed as the main driver or you could be charged with fraud.

If he's going to be a the main driver then there's been loads of cases where kids have been insured with a parent as the main driver and the insurance company wiggle out of paying out. I think its called fronting and i believe its illegal.

Best off starting to have his own insurance and building up no claims as soon as possible.

Thanks all, helpful advice – quotes for Fully Comp. were around £3000, so TPF&T seems only option. Ideally do want him to, hopefully, build up his own NCB. Will start trawling the web for best deal… 😕

In the long run its cheaper to have him insure himself with you on the policy as a named driver. But really a 2.5K car fully comp with a new driver is going to have a huge premium, when I were a lad (hehe) we started with old bangers and insured them TP or TPFT and worked up, that meant that while the other guys around me were driving corsas still on £1000 premiums, I was driving a 2 litre turbo on a £400 premium 😀 I actually found the cheapest people, back then (possibly changed) were people like tesco, direct line and norwich union, endlseigh who claimed to be cheap student friendly insurers were way off the mark.

Try getting a quote from the same insurance co that you use, my daughter got a good discount as a two car family from Churchill and put either yourself or wife/ partner on as a named driver and as mentioned above go for a massive excess.

Any group 1 car will probably be the cheapest.

Possibly investigate classic cars as well- insurance is normally very cheap, though I don't know if there's a minimum age. The cars obviously aren't as fast/safe/comfortable as a new one, but you could pick up a respectable old mini/landrover/mk1 golf etc for that sort of money.

It is illegal for you to insure the car with him as a driver. It is called 'fronting' and if there is an incident/accident the insurance company may well try and wriggle out of paying up as you didn't tell the truth.

It's already been mentioned but try your insurance company or shop around, be very careful of the money supermarket type sites, investigate the small print in detail, most have very high excess levels hidden in there.

HTH

You may be best trying a broker, someone like Adrian Flux, they use a number of insurers so will be able to give you options.

If you go to Direct Line or Tesco, etc. they can only offer one solution.

I've heard that the National Farmers Union organises cheap insurance. Wonder if that might be worth a look……

Try adding yourselves and his girlfriend (or a random female friend) as named drivers, with him as the main driver. I had insurance quotes where the premium dropped when I added my gf (same age, same driving experience). In the end we put the car in her name and me as a named driver, we both drove the car equally so no problem there.

You could also 'undervalue' the car. Tell the insurance company its only worth £1.5k. If it saves you £500 on the premium, it only takes a couple of years to break even, with the risk that if it does get pranged, you will lose out. But seeing as it was a gift anyway, it doesn't matter so much?!

Tesco also have their 'value' range of insurance – bigger excess, less frills.

cheap small engine cars are not always cheapest to insure as with the age group involved they are more likely to be crashed

unpopular cars will be cheaper.

When all my mates were paying 2k to insure 1 lite corsas i was driving a 1.8 diesel fiesta for 600 third party in my name with my dad on the policy

avoid the words turbo when it comes to diesel ….. turbo ANYTHING for an 18 year old will cripple

classic car insurance isn't available untill you'r 21 for that very reason.

I'm 23, first year of actual driving and only paying £330 in insurance a year to drive arround in a classic british sports car!

Cheepest option?
Don't do it, it's always cripplingly expensive.

Our neighbours back home insured their son (my age) and daughter (2 years younger), two written off car's later and now can't get insurance except with the company that legaly now has to take them. But being in a monopoly of 1 they'r paying £1000's a year for a middle aged couple in an old toyota corrola!

As others have said, if he absolutely has to have a car (and not a motorbike which will do 100+mpg and only cost £400 to insure fully comp, £15 tax, and if its a honda next to nothing to maintain) then make sure he insures himself with as many named drivers as possible. Mum, dad, GF, neighbours who's a police driver, anyone who's a lower risk.

uphilla I feel your pain, see my post on pass plus. Daughter (just 18) passed her test yesterday and I've spoken the insurer this morning and the premium has risen from £700 to £1000. Now this is for a Pug 106 with a 954cc engine, barely moves but that's not taken into account. Broker advised something small, cheap and French???? There's only a couple of months left on the policy so in reality the monthly premium isn't too bad bare. Hopefully the one years NCD will help at renewal.

To set her policy up (as a provisional) we went through Autotrader as the broker and Saber as the actual underwriter, Saber where the only one coming up on searches no matter who the broker was. We put the policy in her name to start accruing NCD with both myself and my wife as named drivers on TPFT, car garaged, limited miles (4000) and included legal cover.

I'm ooking into at the pass plus scheme to possibly reduce the premium, advice so far is mixed.

trail_rat – I think they closed the diesel loophole some time ago, theyre now even more expensive to insure because they're heavier and do more damage on impact than their petrol counterparts.

make sure he insures himself with as many named drivers as possible. Mum, dad, GF, neighbours who's a police driver, anyone who's a lower risk.

Again, tried that loophole, the companies I tried it with said it effectively made it a communal car and therefore more likely to be treated badly?!

Insurance companies will take you for a ride no matter what you attempt. If you think you have thought of a loophole, they've thought of it too and will sting you for it!

Thanks for all the replies. Spence – I do wonder if it is all worthwhile sometimes (his friend wrote his car after a week on the road), but I am keen to help my lad be independent, so will persevere. He is not keen to do pass plus, but maybe more so if it reduces insurance as he will be paying that bit!
At the risk of sounding very old, it was far easier when I passed my test, used to buy cars for between 50 & 100 quid, fix them with bits from the scrapyard and bought another when they were too rusty or clapped out..

I know, couple of early cars were only the price of what was left on the tax disk. Happy days…………

Ive been looking at insurance for me and my girlfriend and found time of year seems to make a massive difference. Ive literally put 100s of quotes through moneysupermarket etc and found theres a definate change in prices. For example before christmas i put a mk2 scirocco gt2 (89-92) in and got around £1100 for the both of us fully comp. Put the exact same quote in now and it comes out around £3000. If anything it should have gone down given that we are both 19 instead of 18 now and i have a years driving experience.

Ive tried with lots of cars and dont believe what anyone says about "get a small car" – sorry but they are flat out wrong. Yes turbos, superchargers etc will royally ruin your insurance but sensible cars wont. Something like a 1.4/1.6 mk3 astra is a great car. Im insured on my mums 1.6 fully comp, protected NCB for her, my dad and brother (add about £10 between them) and it comes out around £900. Great thing is you can pick up a good nick one for £500. Sorry to be blunt but you might find you can SAVE money by buying a new car like this than to press on with a 2.5k high premimum "teenagers" car.

Hmmm..food for thought about the car, luckily it is would easy to re-sell, so may have to face that if quotes are not affordable.

Second the classic option ,one of the apprentices at the work went down that route and found it significantly cheaper. run for a couple of years till the NCB is up a bit.

Just been there and done that. Pass plus reduced cost by 300 quid, so worth it, but still an eyewatering 1600 quid third party with Quinn Direct for his 1.4 Clio.

As said above, forget 'fronting', it gives the insurance company the perfect excuse not to pay out.

16-24 year olds are 10 times more likely to have an accident than a 35 year old, it's going to cost regardless.

Even my insurance has just increased this year dispite having 6 years no claims now.

Blimey is it really that much when your 17/18?

It's probably worth comparing fully comp against TPFT for each insurer. I have heard that TPFT can sometimes be more expensive than fully comp. Which I know seems silly at face value, but the risk is all based on statistics, so perhaps a higher proportion of TPFT policies are claimed against?

My lad was 17 last March. Is learning in my restored 998cc Mini. Couldn't get TPFT from anywhere only Fully Comp. Quoted 1100 with legal which I didn't think was to bad considering. Was told when he passed would go up by about 400. I'm the named driver.
Expensive but best bet is try and start them off on their own NCB. Keep the mileage down ( he's on 4000 ) and go for pass plus if poss. Shop around ! I spent a few hours on the net and prices ranged from the premium mentioned to 8000 !!

On a different note. My Mini used to cost me 8 quid to fill it up, now it's best part of thirty quid WTF !!

Good luck.

andymac, has a good idea on the old mini as an option, you would be eligible for classic car insurance on one.

Any classic would be a good bet, but your into having to know about cars to keep one running sweet.

Can you not get one of those 'Black Boxes' fitted to the car so the insurance company monitors the usage?

Basically, they impose a restriction that you cannot drive between 11pm and 6am and someother things.

I have heard that these things bring it down a lot.

where did you find that would insure a classic at 18? I know some people do, but didn't think they could get anythign cheeper than a modern car untill they turned 21.

I know I couldnt go on my parents till I was 21 without paying a fortune, which is still why they go on my car insurance and not the other way arround (£800 for a focus, £330 in the MG, same cover), despite the fact the MG is far more likely to be crashed!

Well, I called the insurance company again and asked them if they take Pass Plus into account, unfortunately the don't but I guess others may do.

It is called 'fronting' and if there is an incident/accident the insurance company may well try and wriggle out of paying up as you didn't tell the truth.

The insurance company doesn't "wriggle out" of paying. The policy holder has made a concious descision to lie to the insurance company for financial gain and has therefore committed fraud. Can't find the figures but insurance fraud is up in the last couple of years and puts a lot of money onto the average car insurance premium as the honest drivers end up paying for it.

Ive been looking at insurance for me and my girlfriend and found time of year seems to make a massive difference. Ive literally put 100s of quotes through moneysupermarket etc and found theres a definate change in prices.

Having the same trouble at the moment trying to get the girlfriend in a car. She's 19, passed her test last year, cheapest quote we had for a 1.4l Astra mk4 was £800 TPFT with Endsleigh, tried it again the next week and all the prices had gone up by £500! No details changed or anything, so phoned Endsleigh up and the bloke said it varies up and down throughout the year 😕

Also found TPFT to be cheaper than third party only for some reason?

I did my pass plus and wouldn't bother if I was you, didn't bring down my insurance when I passed when I was 17 🙄

quinn direct

DaveGr – well said!

Fraud is up massively, particularly because of the recession, partly because of high fuel prices and partly because it's easy to make money. I think the figure was £5m per week in 08-09; suspect it's much more now.

Anybody wanting more info on young drivers can look here
http://www.admiral.com/pressReleases/106/Shocking-record-of-young-drivers-revealed

Edited highlights:
Young motorists twice as likely than average to have a crash
Average cost of an accident involving a young motorist twice as high as for other motorists
Accident involving a young driver five times as likely to involve an injury
Young motorists four times as likely to have a conviction for careless driving than the average motorist

It's not what they drive that's important; it's that when they hit something, they do it harder and hurt more people. That's the expensive bit. Get ready for some big premium hikes this year…

As a parent with a soon to be 17yr old son, this thread terrifies both me and my bank account!
What sort of premium increase would I be faced with if I added a 17 yr old to my insurance (on a 'sensible' car) vs his own car??

Although it might seem that diesels are slower, therefore cheaper, they will usually cost more than petrol. It's often seen as a statement of intention that you'll be driving more miles than someone with a petrol car. More miles = more risk.

Just to feedback – Aviva proved to be "cheapest" option and adding me as second driver did bring down the price..

uphilla, try a company called motaquote 0845 602 6925 and ask them about the i-kube policy, they fit a tracker to the car so that drivers cannot be out between 11pm-5am or they get fined, my lad was quoted 3000 elsewhere for r reg corsa 1000, they did it for 1200 let me know how you get on,

gaz