A pivotal moment in most young adults’ lives is the day you pass your driving test. All your hard work has paid off and you’ve got more freedom than ever before. But if paying for all the lessons wasn’t expensive enough, once you pass you’ve got the cost of your car insurance to deal with.

The cost of insurance is based on the level of risk there’s expected to be. The perceived higher risk results in a higher price. Younger drivers are seen to be high risk because of their lack of experience. Statistics from THINK! do show that a fifth of newly-qualified drivers suffer an accident within the first year of passing their test [1]. Other factors that can impact the cost of young drivers’ insurance includes:

The car you drive

A car’s age, value, engine size, and potential cost and time of repairs all contribute to the calculation of premiums. Newer, more powerful cars will typically be more expensive to insure.

Who are you

Where you live, your age, your occupation and if you’ve got a no claims free driving history can all affect how much you can end up paying.

Your level of cover 

Reduced cover doesn’t always mean a reduced price. In reality, third-party cover is generally more expensive. Research shows that this is because people who take out third-party policies are more likely to make a claim than those on fully comprehensive cover [2].

Opting for comprehensive cover shows your insurer that you are more responsible, so it can be cheaper after all.

Your excess

Excess is the amount of money you must pay towards a claim made on your policy before the insurance company picks up the bill. The larger the amount you are prepared to pay in the event of a claim will reduce the cost of your premium. Make sure you choose an excess that you’re sure you can afford to pay if it calls for it.

Reducing the cost of your insurance

Research shows that for the average young driver as much as 10% of your whole yearly salary can be swallowed up by the cost of your car insurance. [3] That’s money that could be better spent on enjoying being able to drive. So what could you do to keep down the price?

Your car

After all those years of waiting to drive your own car it can be really tempting to get something fast and flamboyant. But what you gain for looking good, you’ll have to pay more for to insure. Again it all goes back to perceived risk. Cars with more power are seen as a risk and more likely to be involved in an accident or as a target for thieves. A more modest vehicle might not be as impressive but will be much cheaper to insure.

Make safety a priority

There's a few things you can do to keep your car secure that will help ease your car insurance price and give you peace of mind too. Park your car in your garage if you can, or at least off the road overnight. It could also make a difference if you invest in some security devices like an alarm, tracker and immobiliser.

Add mum or dad to your policy

Including a more experienced driver to your policy could lead to cheaper insurance. Even if they don’t drive your car very often, adding someone older with a claim free history and no points on their licence could help! Be aware of ‘fronting’ though. Putting them as the main driver instead of a named driver is illegal and will mean an insurer could reject any claims you make.

Get a black box

Young people are stereotyped as a risk and therefore more costly to cover. Black boxes allow for young drivers to be judged on their own driving ability instead. Once installed in your car the box would monitor your driving and the results will be used to determine your price at renewal. If you drive safely it could save you money.

All part of the service

At Police Mutual we agree that it’s only fair that younger drivers are judged on how safe they are behind the wheel and not their age. That’s why we’ve carefully chosen to work with More Th>n and their Smart Wheels telematics black box technology to offer Young Driver Insurance. More Th>n’s black box technology offers younger drivers the chance to get a lower premium and to build a no claim discount in claim free years. Find out more and how to get your quote here:

Young Driver Car Insurance is provided by More Th>n. Visit our legal page for further details.

Sources:

¹ https://www.think.gov.uk/campaign/road-whisperer/

² https://www.moneysupermarket.com/car-insurance/third-party-only/

³  https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2018/02/cost-of-car-insurance-now-gobbles-up-10-percent-of-a-young-drivers-average-salary/