My eldest son is currently having driving lessons, and I've managed to pick up a cheap Ford Ka for a 'family runaround', but mainly for him to drive when he passes his test. The only quote I have had that is anything like sane is through Co-Op's 'Black Box' policy. I have looked into the things it monitors etc, but does anybody have any actual experience of one?
Co-op black box insurance.
- Thread starter DreXeL
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A friend has one and to be honest, it's a bit crap. Even if you drive like a granny the whole time, you're still penalised if you have to break hard to avoid a hazard. In my first year of driving I went on a similar scheme called i-kube, which is a lot better because they simply base your renewal quote on the data gathered, and after the first year you won't renew it anyway. I hooned it around all over the place and ended up with a renewal of £6500 (quote for the first year was £1800), but I didn't care because I was switching to admiral anyway.
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Never had one myself but a friend is still with them. His driving performance is graded online (things like braking, acceleration, obeying the limit etc) and is scored on a scale of 1-5. All these figures contribute to is the insurance renewal cost for the year after with Co-Op.
Have a look at iKube, Geekman on here used them for the first year of driving, and whilst they didn't allow driving between 11PM and 5AM, they were quite cheap, and then once the year is up, jump ship over to a different insurer so you can drive at whatever time you like. Also to note, if the insurance won't let you drive at night, that isn't just the policy holder, it applies to the whole car, so if it is being used as a family run-around, nobody will be able to drive it at night. (Edit: Looks like he ninja'd me anyway!)
Through my personal experience, the only way for a young new driver to get a sensible quote that is unrestricted is through an Admiral multi-car policy with parents on it with their car, although that could involve changing your insurance too.
Have a look at iKube, Geekman on here used them for the first year of driving, and whilst they didn't allow driving between 11PM and 5AM, they were quite cheap, and then once the year is up, jump ship over to a different insurer so you can drive at whatever time you like. Also to note, if the insurance won't let you drive at night, that isn't just the policy holder, it applies to the whole car, so if it is being used as a family run-around, nobody will be able to drive it at night. (Edit: Looks like he ninja'd me anyway!)
Through my personal experience, the only way for a young new driver to get a sensible quote that is unrestricted is through an Admiral multi-car policy with parents on it with their car, although that could involve changing your insurance too.
This did concern me, however in the FAQ they say one off events like that don't really count against it, they look at an average of factors:
Haven't tried the admiral group directly, but the comparison sites give rubbish quotes, even with the wife and I as named drivers.
Comparison sites are by and large terrible
They work OK if you are Joe Average. If youre a middle age man with decent NCD, living in a reasonable area and driving a normal car then they work quite well. Anything else, they're a complete waste of time
I always found the quotes for the admiral group came in much higher through the comparison sites than going to them directly, even giving exactly the same details
Comparison sites have always worked out OK for myself, but clearly it's a different story in this situation. I'll get some more quotes direct.
There's no actual 'curfew' on the Co-Op one, but regular driving between 11:00pm and 6:00am will go against you.
There's no actual 'curfew' on the Co-Op one, but regular driving between 11:00pm and 6:00am will go against you.
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Soldato
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erm.. 7am is before 8pm?
Lol good effort.
I have this (2nd year), it's perfectly fine unless you are going to drive like an idiot.
I have done motorway runs and had to brake hard etc etc.
They take the average score, so as long as it's not an everyday occurrence to brake hard should be fine.
However if your son is going to drive stupidly then you will pay for it as the premium will go up.
The part about driving times is a lie to, you can drive it in those hours just they frown upon it.
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The thing is, from what I've been quoted so far, it's much more than a 'little bit' more....