Learning to drive is one thing - by all means get that done as soon as convenient - but there’s no point insuring him to drive before he has any good reason to, and at that point he might well have moved out and be buying his own car and insurance.
I think I was about 24 before I got a car, and insuring the micra in my own name wasn’t very expensive.
It was a while ago but when I learned you could knock down the insurance price by doing things like pass plus. Does anything like that still exist and have a noticeable effect? Added benefit of more training as well.
Try putting on a quote with your son as the main driver of the Lexus and you as the second/additional. The insurance companies really don't like 'fronting' where the parent is the main driver to reduce the premium so they may be bumping up the quote. The only issue is that if you are, in reality, the main driver, you are fronting by putting your son as the main driver, but I'm sure they won't be looking for that.
My insurance also went down when I added my girlfriend as a second driver (years ago) as the risk profile went down.
If it’s the only car you’ve got, why are you trying to insure it in his name (least, s sounds like that’s what tire trying to do).
I see you said you're putting him on it as a named driver. When we had this issue a few years ago it was cheaper to have new driver as the policy holder and me and the missis as named drivers.
Weather that would work with your risk profile, I have no idea.
20 years ago my 18 year old mates had £1000 and their insurance was £1500.
I've no idea what a 10 year old Lexus is worth -£2500 to £3500? So it's not like insurers and put the value of car to cost of insurance up.
Im the first member of my family to make it to 20 without writing a car off. I didn't get my licence until I was 24
I’ve no idea what a 10 year old Lexus is worth -£2500 to £3500?
Value of the insured car is not a huge factor, the main risks are personal injury claims, passenger claims, and damage to the £60k Audi they just ploughed into.
It must be the postcode then, try CR4 2AA
Yes that does change things enormously. I'm rural Perthshire, so I suspect the loading for theft and vandalism is the overriding risk for an unusual car where you are. There's not much of that up here...
Try putting on a quote with your son as the main driver of the Lexus and you as the second/additional. The insurance companies really don’t like ‘fronting’ where the parent is the main driver to reduce the premium so they may be bumping up the quote. The only issue is that if you are, in reality, the main driver, you are fronting by putting your son as the main driver, but I’m sure they won’t be looking for that.
I’ve just borrowed my dads car for while I’m mine is being serviced. I’m a named driver in his policy. But his policy won’t show me to commute in his car. Do yesterday we made a zero cost swap to the car being in my name with his as named driver, this will allow me to commute in his car
If course they’ll only notice if I make a claim. But if I had a big claim on his insurance close to my work or in my work car park I think they would investigate
It was 1.8K for my lad with a 1.2 corsa. As above I’m amazed he got a quote for a Lexus!
We went through a similar scenario. 17 yr old son passed his test whilst doing his A levels. We told him we would save up and help him buy a decent car when he left Uni. He’s now 20 and on his final year. It just didn’t make sense to buy him a car at that age when he would be spending the next 3yrs back and forward on the train and the parking is a nightmare at his student digs anyway. He just chips in for petrol with his mates and they seem more than happy and he never has to drive. When he is home we pay for temp insurance if he needs it but we mainly act as his taxi anyway. When he leaves Uni he’ll be 21 a bit more mature hopefully and ready to own his own car and pay for the up keep.
How much will he be driving once pasted. I insure my son (still learning) by the day. Usually about £10 for 24 hrs.
Maybe a cheaper option?
Not much, what insurer are you using?
Learning to drive is one thing – by all means get that done as soon as convenient – but there’s no point insuring him to drive before he has any good reason to, and at that point he might well have moved out and be buying his own car and insurance.
OK, we had a small windfall that bought him a shitty runaround car, but he's now 19, has two years no claims which has halved his premium, he can take himself to his girlfriends, gets himself to his summer factory job for 6am starts, and as he can't take it to uni, I get a cheaper commuter in term time.
Our daughter didn't pass her test until she was 18. We looked into quotes and insurance groups before buying her a 1 litre (75bhp) Fabia. Group 3 insurance and less than £900 with Hastings. No curfew or black box, limited to 10,000 miles per year. The same model /power/ trim VW Polo is Gp9 insurance, so it's worth checking these things out. I've fitted a front and rear dashcam, as much to let her know she's being watched as for monitoring others.
around £700 with me and wife
You're already at 3x what I pay for a nearly new 3 series so I'm guessing you're in a expensive (postcode) area. This won't help as it'll factor up for your son too.
We put three teenage sons through the driving test, not one of them did we have learn with us - save your money and pay for the lessons IMO.
As for post-test - wait until he's passed and then look. Also add yourself/wide as a named driver onto his policy (post test), that should bring down the price conseiderably.
If the policy is going to be in his name rather than adding him to your policy then try adding a grandparent as a named driver. Even though his gran lived at a different address and was never going to drive it the policy came down by £600 ( to only £1800 for a panda). That was 10 years ago so things may have changed.....
If the policy is going to be in his name rather than adding him to your policy then try adding a grandparent as a named driver.
Careful with this as once past 70 y/o insurance starts going up again - when I had a new 435d my insurance was less than my Mum's was for her Aygo 1.0 (same address).
Even though his gran lived at a different address and was never going to drive it the policy came down by £600 ( to only £1800 for a panda).
My 79 year old father now puts me on his insurance to reduce his cost... You get to an age where insurance rises again.
We put three teenage sons through the driving test, not one of them did we have learn with us – save your money and pay for the lessons IMO.
The plan is to combine both, have him do some lessons and then practice what he's learnt with me once or twice a week, I won't teach him, he'll just get more practice.
there was a thread a few weeks back on learning to drive - and being taught to pass the test rather than taught to do the bad things we all do. Worth digging out if you can.
The plan is to combine both, have him do some lessons and then practice what he’s learnt with me once or twice a week, I won’t teach him, he’ll just get more practice.
I realised that was your plan, which is why I mentioned what we did.
And none of the lads have had accidents, and I feel safe been driven by any of them.
It was a while ago but when I learned you could knock down the insurance price by doing things like pass plus. Does anything like that still exist and have a noticeable effect? Added benefit of more training as well.
I passed before pass plus was a thing, but did my IAM stuff in my early-30s: made zero difference to insurance. Yes, it gave me access to their 'preferred' insurer but even then they were comparative prices to mainstream insurers for me. You'd hope risk would be lower for a young driver who'd done additional training but I'm not sure it is.
Still a benefit doing any additional training. My kids will be encouraged into IAM (and ideally a skid pan session for shits and giggles) if they decide to learn to drive.
It’s the engine size of the Lexus. We had the same issue with our CRV diesel. I mean, what teenager is going to want to look cool in that. The Twingo 133 was 2.4k too just to add teenager to the policy. Then we went admiral multicar and things became more normal. About an extra 600 and they could both drive. Now they’re over 21 although the eldest did write off the Twingo aqua planing on the M25.
Not helpful, but the Lexus sounds expensive in the first place, £700 for you and your wife sounds like a lot. We pay £400 for a 2015 Seat Leon FR
Came here to say that. We pay <£300 for a 2019 Golf R. That said, the risk with new/young drivers is hitting things not the theft, so postcode is less of a factor, but I agree that’s a very expensive baseline.
Otherwise not a huge amount to add beyond what’s been said. The market is hugely fickle too, so whoever is cheapest now won’t necessarily be next time.
I realised that was your plan, which is why I mentioned what we did.
And none of the lads have had accidents, and I feel safe been driven by any of them.
Thanks for the advice, might end up doing that as the insurance is turning out a bit of a nightmare.
