Sold the MX5, bought a Hyundai i10. One of the family is delighted, one is a bit more grumpy. Anyway, as our 17 year old daughter hasn’t passed yet (but should do in 2-3 months we hope), insurance isn’t too grim. With her as named driver, Flux Direct (via Quidco) came out at a very reasonable £320 with a hefty excess.

My question is – is it better to take something like that and then cancel it if it ends up not being very competitive once she’s passed her test, or are there companies out there which really specialise in provisional/full license stuff.

None of the current quote requires any blackbox/curfew/etc and I’m not keen to go down that route.

Experiences / recommendations would be great 🙂

You’ll probably find that a policy at that price is dependent on her being a learner and will expire as soon as the test is passed. That was the case for my daughter last year, not even allowed to drive home from the test centre.

Be prepared for north of £1k once on a full license, and yes you’ll need a black box too most likely.

Our car is insured on a co-op new driver policy with me and my missis named drivers. Petrol Seat Leon, 6000 miles is £1200 quid for the first year, which seems typical talking to other parents round here in the same position.

That’s what I’ve been reading. Might as well get the cheapest deal now then and take the hit when she passes.

On the upside a year of pub taxi before she goes to uni!

Oh aye, and the new driver policy was dependent on the holder being the registered keeper of the car, (which we didn’t spot before signing up) so we even had to re-register it in her name! We did refer to it as ‘Alice’s car’ as a joke while she was learning and now it is. 😂 SWMBO not amused.

Seriously, wait till she is 18. The premium will be MUCH less. We got our daughter insured with Ingenie for £1300 on a Ford KA. However with good driving she can get a rebate of up to £300.

Best I’ve found for my soon to pass 17 year old is 1350 with Tesco. Black Box and 6000 miles but no curfew which lots of them do have. Polo 1.2.

My Mrs found insuring her kids was worse once qualified.

I got son insured through veygo which is part of Admiral, you could either choose the length of time or set it manually, and probably works out about the same price as others have quoted.

He’s now insured with Hastings Direct with a black box and is about 1.5k a year, hopefully it’ll go down after a year like his friends,

Thanks all. I really can’t wait until she’s 18 (next feb) as we need her to be able to drive to and from sixth form from Xmas for lots of other reasons. I did some more reading about black boxes last night. It bothers me more than it bothers her in terms of privacy, etc.

I ran a second query last night for the costs when she passed. It’s certainly going to be a four figure number.  I am going to register it in her name, so that’s one less thing to worry about.

My Mrs found insuring her kids was worse once qualified.

It’s obvious why. When learning there’s a qualified driver in the car at all times, watching for hazards and keeping things safe with few distractions. Other divers are more patient and give room once they see the learner plates and a bit of hesitancy, (well most are, you still get some dicks obviously).

Once passed, you’re on your own with little supervision apart from probably your knob head mates distracting you. Music on, L’s off. Insurance is based on risk which increases hugely until you gain experience and a bit more maturity.

It bothers me more than it bothers her in terms of privacy, etc

It’s only a basic GPS tracker, no different to using Strava or a mobile location finder app.

Bit of an update: we ended up with a four month policy so the deadline is set for her to pass 😉 Ended going with Flux Direct especially after they did a bit of a ‘will you buy it tonight’ selling which somehow knocked another £50 off the premium! Assuming she has no accidents, they reckon they can beat any quote when she does pass as an existing policy holder but we’ll wait and see.

At that point looks like the GPS tracker is mandatory in terms of reducing the eye watering premiums.

Right just need to go pick the car up. Which is an hour away in Birmingham. Joy unconfined 😉

Assuming she has no accidents, they reckon they can beat any quote when she does pass as an existing policy holder but we’ll wait and see.

My van is with Flux Direct. The renewal quote was quite a bit higher than the best comparison site offer, and they couldn’t quite match it. When I challenged them on the guarantee to beat any quote, (it states it on the letter) I was told, and this is verbatim.

“We only try to guarantee to beat your best offer”. Eh? 🙂 Still a good company to deal with though.

My son passed his test a couple of weeks ago and we are just looking at cars and insurance, Tesco seem quite competitive (with a black box).

If you are a named driver on their policy and they make a claim, does it affect your own insurance policy? Never sure with insurance companies, they always try to screw you even if you have done nothing wrong!

@tt – that’s good to know. We’ll see how they get on assuming she passes in time. The final quote was less than £185 for the four months so I’m going to let them at least have a crack at it.

@eskay – no idea but I can’t see how it could. Insurance tho, who knows!

I’ve just driven it back from brum – the long way round as I’m an idiot without satnav and managed to get lost round spaghetti junction! – and it’s fab. My daughter is out driving it now. With him mum in shotgun. I don’t mind finding it/buying it/sorting insurance/fetching it but I’m not getting in with her for a while yet!