Insurance for young people

Smithy · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:31

Hi, I'm 22 and looking at getting my first car very shortly. Only on a provisional but have been riding bikes for a few years and have a full bike license.

Quoting for a particular car, I started using comparison websites. The cheapest quote would often come out at £1200-1300. Then I went direct to Quinn insurance (after a quick Google effort) and was quoted £1000. So clearly going direct to insurers is the way forward. Shortly after giving Quinn a go, I tried AA (next one down on Google result) and they wanted ~£4000. :confused:

So which insurers should I avoid, and which insurers offer competitive rates for young/new drivers?

Cheers.

DAnDan · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:33

Read Quinn's small print VERY carefully, they offered me a much cheaper quote than other companies, but it turns out that the quote only covers you till you pass your test, and then you have to pay again. Whereas other companies' quotes covered a full year from when you took out the policy. They tried the same thing with a lot of people I know who were getting cars at the same time as me, luckily we read the small print. They don't make it obvious though.

Edit: And to actually answer your question - I've taken out this year's insurance through Admiral (I'm 19 at the moment), and they were a good few hundred cheaper than the others, with no catches. Probably worth paying their website a visit directy.

Vigoro · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:35

DAnDan said:
Read Quinn's small print VERY carefully, they offered me a much cheaper quote than other companies, but it turns out that the quote only covers you till you pass your test, and then you have to pay again. Whereas other companies' quotes covered a full year from when you took out the policy. They tried the same thing with a lot of people I know who were getting cars at the same time as me, luckily we read the small print. They don't make it obvious though.

If you are on about when you take it out under provisional then go to a full license, then it will increase, due to a change in circumstances. Most other places i found would only give a full license price whilst i was provisional though, and quinn worked out cheapest for both by quite a way.

Chris1712 · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:38

Admiral (+ Elephant and Bell)
Norwich Union

Do Pass Plus and add parents as named drivers. Ding dang doo.

Vigoro · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:38

Chris1712 said:
Do Pass Plus

Only do pass plus if it makes a difference to your insurance, or you can get a big discount on it. My insurance dropped by £1 so i didnt bother

Meatball · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:39

Watch Quinn! I was with Quinn while learning as they gave me a very competitive quote on my provisional licence. As soon as I passed my test my premium went sky high and was not at all competitive. Get a quote with Quinn for a full licence.

I'd try:
Aviva (who I'm with now, cheap for me)
Admiral group (Admiral, Bell, Elephant)

All the usual spiel as well, adding your parents as named drivers etc etc

.

redeye_uk · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:41

I was 18 when I past my test and my first car was a Clio 1.2. I got insured through Direct Line for about £800. That was with a £500 excess and guaranteed hire car.

I put my parents on as named drivers which lowered my premium, plus the fact we had home insurance with them instantly gave me another 10% off. I thought this price was more than fair, especially when to comparing to other quotes I was getting

Smithy · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:44

Aye, I expect the premium to change when I notify them of my pass. I always read small print now anyway after having my bike stolen last year and taking the hit for it because I wasn't aware of a dodgy clause in the paperwork.

Named drivers are a given. As with Vigoro, pass plus for me would be a false economy.

Hxc · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:53

Buy a classic

Smithy · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:53

For those knocking Quinn's premium bump after test pass... I just re-quoted with having a full license held for 0 years, the premium went up by £100. That's the lowest premium rise after test pass that I've been quoted for so far.

Meatball · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:55

Smithy said:
For those knocking Quinn's premium bump after test pass... I just re-quoted with having a full license held for 0 years, the premium went up by £100. That's the lowest premium rise after test pass that I've been quoted for so far.

When I passed Quinn bumped my premium from £1000 to £2450 :eek:

. Luckily I only had to endure one month of the higher premium before gaining 1NCB

.

Chris1712 · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:59

Vigoro said:
Only do pass plus if it makes a difference to your insurance, or you can get a big discount on it. My insurance dropped by £1 so i didnt bother

Fair point. Dropped mine by £500 :eek:

.

metamorphpwner · 23 Mar 2010 at 17:01

Chris1712 said:
add parents as named drivers. Ding dang doo.

wait, so if i added my parent(s) to my current policy the price could come down?
(think i'm misunderstanding?)

Vigoro · 23 Mar 2010 at 17:02

Meatball said:
When I passed Quinn bumped my premium from £1000 to £2450 . Luckily I only had to endure one month of the higher premium before gaining 1NCB .

Mine went from 600 to 1600, and i still had 8 months left!

However it was much cheaper than a lot of other places, like AA who quoted £5800! :eek:

redeye_uk · 23 Mar 2010 at 17:02

metamorphpwner said:
wait, so if i added my parent(s) to my current policy the price could come down?
(think i'm misunderstanding?)

in a word, yes.

Vigoro · 23 Mar 2010 at 17:04

metamorphpwner said:
wait, so if i added my parent(s) to my current policy the price could come down?
(think i'm misunderstanding?)

Yep, by adding more experienced older drivers it brings down the price. So make sure to add them as named drivers!

metamorphpwner · 23 Mar 2010 at 17:06

Vigoro said:
Yep, by adding more experienced older drivers it brings down the price. So make sure to add them as named drivers!

do you get a refund or anything if you've already started the policy and then add them( if it did drop much)?
only had my policy for about 1 month now.

Vigoro · 23 Mar 2010 at 17:07

metamorphpwner said:
do you get a refund or anything if you've already started the policy and then add them( if it did drop much)?
only had my policy for about 1 month now.

You would have to phone your insurers and find out

metamorphpwner · 23 Mar 2010 at 17:08

Vigoro said:
You would have to phone your insurers and find out

thanks, will be worth a try if it could save me money.

Mucky_Pup · 23 Mar 2010 at 17:22

I passed when I was 20, cheapest for a 1.3 Fiesta was eCar was £1300, renewed with them after a year, then I replaced that the other week with the ST, they wanted too much to cover me until June, so switched to Admiral, lost a years no claims like, but meh. Not that I'd recommend eCar though, as I read the reviews of them after I'd already renewed, maybe cheap but they're a bit ***** apparently (no first hand experience though). And Aviva was the cheapest for my bike insurance.

And yeas, adding drivers should (didn't with eCar though, they wanted 60 quid to add my dad, lol) knock money off, adding my sister knocked off IIRC close to £700.