MASSIVE Insurance Increase After Passing Your Test

MASSIVE Insurance Increase After Passing Your Test

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Discussion

redgriff500

Original Poster:

27,659 posts

270 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all
My 17 yr old daughter is learning to drive and I found the insurance premiums quite reasonable at £700ish for a 1.4 206.

However a friend's son has just passed and warned me that once he told the insurers he'd passed his insureance increased massively.

TBH it never even occured to me that I should notify the insurers when my daughter passes but I have just checked and her £700 premium goes up to over £2200 !!!

Am I alone in not knowing about this ?

Had I known TBH I wouldn't have got her a car as she's a student and probably going to be for another 4 years.

Any bright ideas for lower premiums I've checked various cars and none seem to be much lower including 998cc Micras etc


HellDiver

5,708 posts

189 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
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Insurers don't want new drivers driving, it's as simple as that.

Targarama

14,661 posts

290 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all
Hardly surprising really, a previously supervised learner driver now being let loose on their own at all hours on all roads in all conditions.

McSam

6,753 posts

182 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all
I passed 18 months ago at 17, and I've heard about this, but interestingly didn't experience it at all myself; my premium went up by about £50 (less than 5%). A friend, however - a lad my age with a 2005 1.25 Fiesta - was quoted a premium rise of about £400, nearly 50% more than he was already paying.

Now, I originally thought that someone who's passed the test should be more insurable, rather than less, but on thinking about it more back then, I realised the reasoning: all of a sudden, this 17-year-old doesn't have a "responsible adult" in the car with them and is being let loose, so they're a bigger risk.

In the case of my mate above, though, switching to another provider solved his worries and - while the quote he had for provisional was as good as he could find at the time - he ended up paying slightly less with his full licence. If that seems too much hassle and/or you can't find a cheaper quote, though, adding named drivers to the policy is the way forward. If you don't already have yourself and any other family members named on the policy (two extra, older, experienced drivers seems to be optimum, gender doesn't matter much), you should get a quote for that and see the difference. Could be drastic!

Hope this helps, anyway.

Angry Sheep

1,120 posts

217 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
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I'm with Tesco and the insurance stayed the same when I passed my test. Annoyingly, it shot up £500 a year later for no apparent reason.

SS2.

14,519 posts

245 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
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You might find that the premium is reduced if both parents are added as named drivers.

snotrag

14,925 posts

218 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
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The main thing is definitely to add 1 or 2 older, experienced drivers with clean records as named drivers, bring it right down.

I'm 25 and have 6 yrs NCB now but I still put my parents on my insurances as named drivers as it saves me a good couple of hundred quid I bet.

McSam

6,753 posts

182 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all
Angry Sheep said:
I'm with Tesco and the insurance stayed the same when I passed my test. Annoyingly, it shot up £500 a year later for no apparent reason.
The financial world seemingly has a lot to do with insurance prices, I can't get a future quote as good as the premium I have now, even though I'll have held my licence two years rather than one and have a year's NCB rather than none! st happens. By the time I renew, it might've sorted itself out again.

ETA - To add figures to my suggestion of the named drivers, I've just got some re-quotes for my current policy.

With my parents added, both with licences held over 15 years and no claims or convictions and aged 52 and 50, my quote's (brace yourself) £1950.58
With just my mum, it's £2349.35
With just my dad, it's £2557.49, so gender does matter a bit.
With neither of them, it's a rather impressive £3365.54!

That's with Admiral, in case anyone's interested - when I got my policy ten months ago, by far the best going

Edited by McSam on Thursday 2nd September 09:45

Reload

1,530 posts

181 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all
Targarama said:
Hardly surprising really, a previously supervised learner driver now being let loose on their own at all hours on all roads in all conditions.
I think that sums it up pretty well. They're now unsupervised and (in terms of driving on their own) very inexperienced.

Original Poster

5,429 posts

183 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all
Mine remained exactly the same, but that was over 6 years ago now.

Soovy

35,829 posts

278 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all


It's logical isn't it?

Before she was supervised. Now she'll have six pi55ed mates in the car at all hours.


Massive increase in risk.



redgriff500

Original Poster:

27,659 posts

270 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all
I just assumed that the insurance was for a year, no one is a learner for long hence the cover was for them learning and passing the test.

Similarly if you get points during the year your insurance doesn't go up but it does when you renew.

We are both on her policy as named drivers.

Seeing the minimal fines for no insurance I can understand why many 'choose' the option.

However I think we'll get her to pass the test, then sell the car.

frown

McSam

6,753 posts

182 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all
redgriff500 said:
I just assumed that the insurance was for a year, no one is a learner for long hence the cover was for them learning and passing the test.

Similarly if you get points during the year your insurance doesn't go up but it does when you renew.

We are both on her policy as named drivers.

Seeing the minimal fines for no insurance I can understand why many 'choose' the option.

However I think we'll get her to pass the test, then sell the car.

frown
The fine is up to five grand and imprisonment is a possibility, as I recall.. Get quotes from elsewhere! I've just ran one with my company, for a girl who turned 17 last month, has held her licence for 0 months, on a W-reg 3-door 1.4 206 LX, doing up to 6,000 miles and leaving it on the street overnight, with my parents as named drivers: £1160 fully comp for a ten-month policy.

Jeffmaniac

525 posts

206 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all
As a former motor claims handler I can vouch that a large number of drivers in their first year will have a crash. Male drivers especially will have large accidents and female drivers will have small car park bumps. With more injury claims coming through every day the price for young drivers is enormous but the insurance companies are not making money from these enormous premiums.

8400rpm

1,777 posts

174 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all
I am SO glad that I'm way beyond all the young person car insurance rollocks.

God knows what it will be like in 16years when my daughter wants a car.

Herman Toothrot

6,702 posts

205 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all
redgriff500 said:
However I think we'll get her to pass the test, then sell the car.

frown
Most sensible option especially if she is at university. Neither my parents or I ever experienced these huge young driver premiums as I passed my test then just had a few months as a named driver using my parents cars then went to uni and didn't drive or have a car for 4 years. I did remained a named driver on my parents cars for the odd drive in holidays when at home. Then on leaving uni I bought an Audi 80 2.0E Avant and my 1st ever policy cost me £500 a year fully comp with a £300 excess. The following year with 1 years ncb I was in a group 16 car at £550. Having a bit of age early 20's instead of teens makes a huge difference.

redgriff500

Original Poster:

27,659 posts

270 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all
McSam said:
redgriff500 said:
I just assumed that the insurance was for a year, no one is a learner for long hence the cover was for them learning and passing the test.

Similarly if you get points during the year your insurance doesn't go up but it does when you renew.

We are both on her policy as named drivers.

Seeing the minimal fines for no insurance I can understand why many 'choose' the option.

However I think we'll get her to pass the test, then sell the car.

frown
The fine is up to five grand and imprisonment is a possibility, as I recall.. Get quotes from elsewhere! I've just ran one with my company, for a girl who turned 17 last month, has held her licence for 0 months, on a W-reg 3-door 1.4 206 LX, doing up to 6,000 miles and leaving it on the street overnight, with my parents as named drivers: £1160 fully comp for a ten-month policy.
I've just run 2 more quotes with comparison sites and both are around £2k

I even tried Tesco who won't quote until shes 18 and even then its £1800

McSam

6,753 posts

182 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all
redgriff500 said:
McSam said:
redgriff500 said:
I just assumed that the insurance was for a year, no one is a learner for long hence the cover was for them learning and passing the test.

Similarly if you get points during the year your insurance doesn't go up but it does when you renew.

We are both on her policy as named drivers.

Seeing the minimal fines for no insurance I can understand why many 'choose' the option.

However I think we'll get her to pass the test, then sell the car.

frown
The fine is up to five grand and imprisonment is a possibility, as I recall.. Get quotes from elsewhere! I've just ran one with my company, for a girl who turned 17 last month, has held her licence for 0 months, on a W-reg 3-door 1.4 206 LX, doing up to 6,000 miles and leaving it on the street overnight, with my parents as named drivers: £1160 fully comp for a ten-month policy.
I've just run 2 more quotes with comparison sites and both are around £2k

I even tried Tesco who won't quote until shes 18 and even then its £1800
Comparison sites are about as much use as chocolate fire-pokers. http://www.admiral.com/.

redgriff500

Original Poster:

27,659 posts

270 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all
McSam said:
Comparison sites are about as much use as chocolate fire-pokers. http://www.admiral.com/.
Thanks.

Managed to get it down to £1320.

They had quoted much higher on the comparison sites.

They are £200 more on her provisional... or is that because some are 'buying' the provisional business as they then screw you when you get your licence.

scratchchin

McSam

6,753 posts

182 months

Thursday 2nd September 2010
quotequote all
redgriff500 said:
McSam said:
Comparison sites are about as much use as chocolate fire-pokers. http://www.admiral.com/.
Thanks.

Managed to get it down to £1320.

They had quoted much higher on the comparison sites.

They are £200 more on her provisional... or is that because some are 'buying' the provisional business as they then screw you when you get your licence.

scratchchin
No problem. If you don't mind putting the excess up (I think I had £350 on the above quote) you should be able to get it even nearer the figure I found. I think some insurers do have their markets set firmly for or against provisional drivers, yeah, quotes seem quite varied.

The craziest variation I've seen is this, though - I bought my car in February this year. If I list it as having been bought in 2009, my premium would be £200 lower..