OT: cheapest way to get 17yo on the road

[John Stumbles]

OK, totally, *totally* off-topic I know but usual apologies: uk.d-i-y == fount of all wisdom etc ...

17yo wants to learn to drive. His mum has an automatic, I have a van on commercial vehicle insurance. He'll want a car of his own when he passes. I'm wondering about buying a cheapie and insuring it myself with him on my policy. What's the cheapest sort of car from the insurance point of view? (since at his age insurance costs typically many times as much as you have to pay to actually put a car on the road)

[F]

I've *heard* (ie no direct experience) that it's best to insure it in his name with you as a named driver as it starts him earning NCB earlier.

No doubt a quick check with the meerkats will confirm or otherwise.

Simples!

[Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot]

In my experience there is no "cheap" way, (and rightly so in my opinion, but that's another question). It does appear to make quotes lower to have mum or dad on the policy as a named driver so confused or gocompare are your friends.

This might be useful to find low group rated cars:

[Phil L]

Don't know your age or circumstances, but I'm 45, 7 years NCB and recently (Thursday) got several quotes for myself to drive my new car - a Vectra 2.2 SRI, they all came in at around 400-500, then I added a second driver, 17, not yet pased test and they came back at between 2,500 - 4000.

I had similar results last year with a VW passat 2.0i

YMMV

[dom]

Insurance companies are not stupid, and should there be an accident (20% of new drivers make some sort of claim in their first year), or worse, someone injured - he's driving, you're insured - they will find out.

[Invisible Man]

If 17yo is not the policyholder he will not build up any ncd although some insurers may offer some discount if he can prove he has driven regularly without incident. The insurance will be void if any misrepresentations are made as to ownership, main user etc of car. Insurance companies are wise to this. Where I used to work there were 2 ex police detectives working full time on various types of insurance fraud. Car magazines often list insurance groups. Try the usual comparison sites.

[John Rumm]

That is often still prohibitively expensive alas.

Usually making him a named driver on your policy is more cost effective even without accumulating NCD.

[John Rumm]

No need to have them "find out", you tell em at the time of insuring. You can even put the sprog down as the main driver, and its still usually significantly cheaper than them having their own policy.

[Jerry]

: > Insurance companies are not stupid, and should there be an accident : > (20% of new drivers make some sort of claim in their first year), or : > worse, someone injured - he's driving, you're insured - they will find : > out. : : No need to have them "find out", you tell em at the time of insuring. : You can even put the sprog down as the main driver, and its still : usually significantly cheaper than them having their own policy. :

Indeed, and *some* insurance companies will even allow the named driver to also earn NCB, an incentive to be careful, also insuring 'Fully-Comp' with a voluntary excess (on top of any mandatory excesses) can also help - one is then accepting some (extra) liability. To the OP, don't be temped to buy to cheaply, that in it's self sends out the wrong message (cheap = expendable), the engine power and body style of the car is more than often were the risk is.

This is all assuming that the 17yo (and car) will be residing at the same address as the policy holder, also if he is a full time student you MUST make the insurance Co. aware - in case the vehicle is stolen from campus etc. Remember, insurance Companies are in business NOT to pay out...

[Tom]

As others have pointed out there is no cheap way to get around this. I would buy a cheap car (Fiesta, Polo, Corsa) with a small engine 1.2 etc, then get quotes from the internet for him as the main driver and you as a named driver. Once you have these quotes you need to call a few companies and haggle. My mother in law recently did this for my 17 year old sister in law and the differences in costs were amazing, insurance companies are still looking for business and expect to pay over £1000 for TPF&T, you WILL get a cheaper price ringing around but its best to benchmark on the internet. The mother in law has a 1.3 fiesta, she was paying £220/yr fully comp with just her, then prior to my SIL getting her own car put her on as a named driver so she could learn the and policy was bumped up to £900/yr.

Tom

[James Salisbury]

If he does his pass plus after he passes then it might be a bit cheaper.

Whilst he still needs the L plates you might be able to get him on useing the clause "for the purpose of learning to drive"

James

[Cicero]

================================================

If you look at cars on:

each entry gives an extended description of that model of car. You'll have to open at least one individual entry for each model to see the details, but it's worth doing for an independent description of Insurance group, performance etc.

Cic.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember John Stumbles saying something like:

Insurance cos are wise to this wriggle around the rules and if he's involved in any accident they might get a bit shirty.

[Tim]

With some companies like Direct Line, named drivers start to accrue a discount based on how long they've been named. A bit like NCD but not as generous but definitely better than a kick in the teeth. Being 17 AND having a Y chromosome are real pain when it comes to insurance and if you build up some discount for a couple of years before they're insured in their own names so much the better.

That said, beware of having second car with you as the first named driver and you son as a named driver if it really is him who's doing the lion's share of the mileage. Insurance companies love folk who do that as they can legitimately weasel out of paying any claim whilst taking premiums.

Tim

[Dave]

I would go along with that, but only for the first year, then tell him he is on his own after that. It makes far better, more careful drivers :-)

Dave

[Dave]

Too dangerous, he could have an accident and remove fathers NCD.

Get him on his own after the first year.

Dave

[Steve Walker]

That raises an interesting question - who is the main user of the car? If you are using it to teach a learner driver, aren't you in charge of the vehicle? After passing it obviously becomes a simple matter.

SteveW

[James Salisbury]

Hence my comment, Direct line did offer a clause "for the purposes of learning to drive" and supervised by known main driver for a modest increase.

[David WE Roberts]

Probably have a similar problem with a Porche Turbo ;-)

Any car with a lot of power - and I assume the Vectra 2.2 SRI is vaguely related to the old Cavalier SRi - will be cheap(ish) for a mature driver and scarily expensive with a young driver.

Quite right, too. You don't want a learner out in a performance car. Too easy to get into trouble too quickly. You don't want to be in the passenger seat when the learner hits the accelerator insteads of the brake.

We bought a fairly old mid range family saloon to teach the kids to drive (Nissan Bluebird 1600 IIRC) on the principle that it had a lot of metal between the driver and the road. Better survivability than a small car of the equivalent age. Sedate and safe are the things to aim for. Boring family saloons generally fit the bill - the models with the smaller engine not the super duper performance version.

We were not even offered insurance for the kids when we enquired about our Volvo 760 Turbo Estate :-)

Cheers

Dave R

[Theo Markettos]

May be worth asking for quotes for 'classic' insurance, where 'classic' usually means at least 15-20 years old. That tends to build in the fact that drivers of classics take better care. No idea if it's available to 17 year olds. It doesn't work in the normal NCD system so you don't build it up, however. If you can get it, the price depends more on the value of the vehicle than the insurance group.

There are various brokers around who do it - you won't find it on a price comparison site.

Theo