Car Insurance Buyers Guide:
Young Drivers
Youthful risk-taking and inexperience behind the
wheel conspire to render the cost of young driver's car insurance,
especially for young men, extremely expensive. Major car insurance
price increases during 2010 hit young drivers the hardest with an increase
for the under-25s of 58%. This rose by a further 25% in
2011, taking the cost of car insurance for many young men well above
£3,000.
 It
is tempting to respond to this price increase by getting a parent to
pose as the primary driver on your behalf, a process known as fronting.
But this is illegal and invalidates you car insurance. You shouldn't
assume that you will get away with it.
The IFB, the Insurance
Fraud Bureau (supplied with car insurance application and claims
data by all car insurance providers), at the time of writing this
article, has just written to car insurance companies in relation to
over 17,000 people where they believe fronting is occuring. As 20%
of young drivers admit to falsifying their true circumstances to
reduce the cost of their cover, the true number for fronting will be
many times this figure but even those that are not detected by the IFB
will be scrutinised if a claim is made in relation to an under-25 that
is not the primary driver. The bigger the claim, the more effort the
insurance company will make to establish evidence of fronting and they
can and do, completely lawfully, refuse these claims.
To withhold previous convictions (license points) or past claims is now
no longer viable as the car insurance providers will start to
check both of these themselves in 2011 as we reported in this blog
article: Car insurance
fraud:
Witholding license points or past claims.
It is also a mistake to try to cut costs by taking out third party only
car insurance cover. Firstly, it often doesn't save you money as those
that use this type of cover have a higher actuarial risk. Secondly, it
doesn't provide personal injury cover for the driver or passengers
where they are liable for the accident.
Be careful too about raising your voluntary excess. Some insurance
companies will charge you more
if you do this. Again, this is related to raised actuarial risk for
those that do this. It is worth trying different excess levels in your
application to see how this impacts on cost.
Clearly the young driver should be practical about what he needs to
have in his car insurance cover. 'No frills' policies can be attractive
while shopping around for a good price via a price comparison site
makes sense. Many now opt for telematics (see below) or check Endsleigh
car insurance that checks over 50 companies and specialises in
cheap young driver car insurance.
Even although seeking out a low price is helpful, you must scrutinize
the cover and determine whether it is adequate for your needs. We don't
recommend simply buying the cheapest quote, blind to the cover.
While taking out legal expenses cover may cost an extra £20, it
is now unwise for the young driver not to get it owing to legislative
changes (as a result of the Jackson
Report) that are on their way in early 2013 and will change how
legal
costs are paid if you need to claim and could lead to a loss
of £100,000 in the absence of legal cover with your car
insurance.
Other measures to reduce the cost of young driver car insurance cover
include looking into using a car insurance provider that offers telematics
monitoring of your driving style to assess your own individual risk and
calculate the premium accordingly which is available from the Co-op;
taking
an advanced
driver
training course such as the Pass Plus (soon to be replaced a new
training scheme) that some car insurance provider will
recognise via reduced premiums; improving in-car and out of car
security via an immobilizer and other Thatcham-approved devices as well
as parking off-road or in a garage; capping the annual mileage where
possible; adding an over-25 as a second driver; not cumstomizing
your vehicle that can increase the cost of car insurance; paying in a
lump sum rather than monthly which can increase the cost by over 10%
and, of course, ensuring that you have a low car insurance group car in
the first place (such as a Corsa or one
of these cars) while considering a trade-in if you
don't.
In order to reduce driving risk and build up your no claims discount,
it pays to increase your knowledge of risk factors for young people
which we have outlined in an article on teenager education about road
safety: Young drivers:
Teenager
Education. In particular, the most important safety choices a young
person can make are to pay full attention to the road at all times and
to drive within the speed limit and with an awareness of the conditions
and your own driving skill level.
Related article: Co-op
Car Insurance 'Smartbox' telematics saves young drivers money
You'll find plenty of excellent resources from which to
choose below.
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