First car insurance question

[Sirrel Squirrel]

Looking to get my son a first car but I was a bit unsure how to insure it initially as he will need black box insurance. Would I just have to temporarily cover it until he can get black box insurance or can you get black box insurance to kick in immediately?

 

[whitecrook]

Why do you think he need black box insurance?

 

[Tech_Boss]

Personally I would prefer to pay slightly more and not have a black box fitted. I find them to be pretty orwellian tbh.

 

[radderfire]

I think black box insurance is pretty common nowadays, so I expect you can go straight to the providers to get it organised for the new car. I'd imagine they have particular arrangements for getting the box fitted.

 

[Sirrel Squirrel]

Ideally I don't want him to have the black box but he's only 18 and looking at quotes from comparison sites and brokers he can't get insurance unless he has a black box. I think the only quote I got without a box was about £10k.

 

[tamzzy]

I think the only quote I got without a box was about £10k.

damn, is it a golf R and have you tried adding yourself as the second driver?

 

[adam cool dude]

If you can get it insured with him as the main driver on his provisional but check with them that you can upgrade it to his full licence when he passes.

I bought a car for my daughter in October and her test is booked for June. She will only have to pay 4 months at full rate. We paid 300 odd quid for a year's insurance so will not expect to pay much more than a grand all in.

 

[radderfire]

Has he passed his test yet?

 

[Sirrel Squirrel]

He passed his test a couple of weeks ago, it doesn't seem to make much difference with me as a named driver.

It's only a 60hp Polo (not bought yet hence the question)he's insuring but quotes with a black box are coming in at around £3k. He's getting similar quotes for other cars too like Hyundai i10's, Fiesta's, Clio's, etc although the Fiesta is quite a bit higher.

Apparently there's a lot of young drivers crashing in my area, which is bumping it up, a few companies flat out refused to insure him.

 

[Tech_Boss]

£3K is a joke, but certainly better than £10k. I think it’s very unfair the way insurance companies treat young people these days. My first car was a Renault Clio 1.2 and it was £850 without a black box. Although that was 17 years ago, how times have changed

 

[sigma]

Try on a bigger car, it will likely have a lower risk profile.

 

[Sirrel Squirrel]

£3K is a joke, but certainly better than £10k. I think it’s very unfair the way insurance companies treat young people these days. My first car was a Renault Clio 1.2 and it was £850 without a black box. Although that was 17 years ago, how times have changed

Sounds like you got a good deal there, I got my first car 21 years ago, an old 1.1l 106 and it cost £1400 to insure!

Good shout about a bigger car, I'll get him to run some quotes.

 

[m4rmite]

He passed his test a couple of weeks ago, it doesn't seem to make much difference with me as a named driver.

It's only a 60hp Polo (not bought yet hence the question)he's insuring but quotes with a black box are coming in at around £3k. He's getting similar quotes for other cars too like Hyundai i10's, Fiesta's, Clio's, etc although the Fiesta is quite a bit higher.

Apparently there's a lot of young drivers crashing in my area, which is bumping it up, a few companies flat out refused to insure him.

A few guys at work said their sons ended up with bmw 1 series cars, cheaper to insure than a corsa. Worth a try on the comparison sites.

 

[Calpol]

My daughter's Renault Twingo has 90hp and cost £1300 with blackbox. I found that the Corsa's and Fiesta' were much higher prices and it was explained that it's becuase there are so many of them involved in accidents that it puts the profile up. Twingo was £0 VED also.

 

[radderfire]

I think £3k is what my nephew paid, so it may well be the going rate. If he gets a black box, tell him to never go over the speed limit, as one infringement is enough for them to refuse to insure. More cars for him to try:

Skoda Fabia

Dacia Sandero

Ford Focus

Ford Mondeo

Hyundai i20

Vauxhall Astra

Let us know what quote comes back the cheapest.

 

[adam cool dude]

He passed his test a couple of weeks ago, it doesn't seem to make much difference with me as a named driver.

It's only a 60hp Polo (not bought yet hence the question)he's insuring but quotes with a black box are coming in at around £3k. He's getting similar quotes for other cars too like Hyundai i10's, Fiesta's, Clio's, etc although the Fiesta is quite a bit higher.

Apparently there's a lot of young drivers crashing in my area, which is bumping it up, a few companies flat out refused to insure him.

Judging by your location you are going to have to suck it up.

My daughter has a 118bhp Grande Punto Tjet and the quotes are £1500. Difference is I live in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Semple]

£3K is a joke, but certainly better than £10k. I think it’s very unfair the way insurance companies treat young people these days. My first car was a Renault Clio 1.2 and it was £850 without a black box. Although that was 17 years ago, how times have changed

The problem is the statistics flat out show that 1 in 4 young drivers end up having a crash. So it's pretty fair to treat them as such. I do think black box policies should be rewarded better though. If you can prove that you can drive sensibly then you should get rewarded with cheaper premiums. If you can't, then your premiums should go up, or insurance gets revoked entirely.

 

[Haggisman]

Sounds like you got a good deal there, I got my first car 21 years ago, an old 1.1l 106 and it cost £1400 to insure!

Good shout about a bigger car, I'll get him to run some quotes.

Yeah, it's surprising what can work out cheaper. My first car was a 2.0l Mitsubishi Galant, was about £800 to insure, compared to the usual Fiesta/Clio/etc which were closer to £2k

 

[ttaskmaster]

I think black box insurance is pretty common nowadays, so I expect you can go straight to the providers to get it organised for the new car. I'd imagine they have particular arrangements for getting the box fitted.

Modern ones are just a little airtag-sized thing that you stick inside your windscreen and bluetooth to your phone.

Personally I would prefer to pay slightly more and not have a black box fitted. I find them to be pretty orwellian tbh.

A lot of places currently seem to only offer monthly payments if you have a black box policy. If you want the cheaper price you have to pay it all up front, which many poor people can't afford... and the algorithm obviously says poor people crash more, regardless of NCB, hence the black box trend.
2024 was the first time I've not been able to find a sensible deal on car insurance, even though the motorcycle insurance was under £100.

 

[Armageus]

Looking to get my son a first car but I was a bit unsure how to insure it initially as he will need black box insurance. Would I just have to temporarily cover it until he can get black box insurance or can you get black box insurance to kick in immediately?

When my step-son got black box insurance a couple of years ago, it scheduled an appointment for fitting (as it was essentially a self contained GPS box with a simcard that just needed a 12v feed), but until it was fitted you were still covered without the blackbox (so my step-son had a couple of weeks where he could drive, get used to the car etc with a bit less worry)

I think £3k is what my nephew paid, so it may well be the going rate. If he gets a black box, tell him to never go over the speed limit, as one infringement is enough for them to refuse to insure.

My Step-son paid £1.4k for a 1.4 Fiesta 2 years ago, which was a 6000 mile annual black box policy, and included me as a named driver.

The Tesco Bank blackbox policy certainly wasn't as strict as "don't go over the speed limit" or get cancelled, it's more overall driving style such as harsh braking, rapid acceleration etc that affects things which was then averaged out into iirc a Good/OK/Requires improvement scoring.

I do think black box policies should be rewarded better though. If you can prove that you can drive sensibly then you should get rewarded with cheaper premiums.

With my step-son's policy it rewarded you with additional mileage allowance if you had a "Good" rating each month.