car insurance

[Menon Enterprises]

i've just bought a car ..its actually my first car...and im 17 so insurance is very high for me...

my car only costed me 250 quid...

u guys know any ways of reducing my quoted price?....only things i can think of is

wait a year til im 18 so that it would be cheaper

also put a car alarm in the car

any other ways? :|

 

[Gillie]

Can you get a parent to add you to their insurance details. I do remember very recently seeing an advert saying that if you are in your position this type of insurance would be cheaper.

Sorry cant be more helpful and remember who it was doing it ....

 

[stugster]

Being 18 wont bring your quote down I'm afraid, and it wont go down until you probably reach around 21 (significantly anyway).

I would, from personal experience, strongly discourage you from becoming a Named Driver. You do not accrue any "No-Claims" bonus that way, and you will pay for that in the long run.

I strongly advise you to just fork out the cash for the year (maybe convince your parents to pay the annual charge and you just pay them back in monthly instalments?) and see how that goes. Once you've completed the year, go and shop around with the year's no claims you've got to hand, it'll go down slightly but not a lot.

One main thing, remember to always include modifications to the car if you have any. Many insurers will use this as an excuse (any excuse will do!) not to pay out in the event of a claim.

I live in Edinburgh, and we have a lot of Boy Racers around. Many a time (okay once) I have seen them crash their car, and begin ripping off their spoiler, exhaust, etc. because they've not declared them.

I know this doesn't solve your financial problems, but believe me, in the long run it will. I'm 20 now, and I'm still paying what I paid 2 years ago as a named driver, purely because I never got any no-claims to lower the cost!

 

[Menon Enterprises]

how do i get no claims

 

[Gillie]

You have to spend a year without claiming for any accidents to you or another car, then you will qualify for that years no claims which means your renewal will hopefully decrease.

Sometimes they allow you one year when you first start with them, but the idea is to get as many years without claiming as possible.

 

[stugster]

Elephant.co.uk are who I'm with, and when I first went with them, I got an Accelerated No Claims. It meant that I paid a wee bit less, but for a 10 month policy.

 

[Astaroth]

The policy must be rated on the main driver of the vehicle and therefore the traditional getting parents to have it in their name with their kid as a named driver invalidates the insurance and leads to being loaded to the fraud register for first party fraud.... insurers are heavily cracking down on these fronted policies at the moment.

Another option is to still have you as the main driver/ policyholder but then add an older "safe" adult as a named driver.... there is some arguement that this is also fraud if the named driver would never be driving the vehicle but then it is easy enough to say that your mother MAY need to drive the vehicle (just dont have you or her being tripped up by saying that she never would as you are back to committing fraud again).

Other than that it is the standard... buy the cheapest car you can with the smallest engine. Consider getting Third Party Only insurance as after you deduct the average £200 excess from the settlement of a theft/ fire you are going to get nothing for the car - obviously even less for the average £500 excess for AD claims on comprehensive insurance (including the young driver additional compulsary excess)

Whilst I suggest getting TPO dont forget to also check TPFT and Comprehensive - whilst the extra cover is next to worthless for you there is much more market competition (especially in Comprehensive) and therefore the prices artifically driven down and I have certainly known people where comprehensive insurance was actually cheaper for them than TPO or TPFT

 

[okiegirl]

you can build up your own no claims being a named driver through directline car insurance and a few others have started doing this. You could also take a pass plus test which is done through your driving instructor which then knocks off a wack of money on your insurance,it is basically a test where they take you on motorways,out at night,in the rain etc to gain more experiance and skills as a new driver.

 

[publicityheaven]

Norwich Union do a pay as you drive insurance. I think you have a GPS unit fitted to your car.

Could lower your bill if you're not doing many miles

http://www.norwichunion.com/pay-as-you-drive/

 

[compuclean]

Another way you could reduce it is by doing your pass plus - but before you do, ring a few insurers and ask them what difference the pass plus would make to the premium.

 

[Jane79]

You definitely need to shop around, there can be huge price differents between companies and this does change each year.

When I got my first insurance policy it was through a local broker which was the best deal I could find even though it was the same price as my car (this was a few years ago through!).

last time I switched my car insurance I did it online through quidco and managed to get £45 cashback - it maybe worthwhile seeing what offers they are doing - there are only a few insurance companies listed so it may work out more expensive but it could be worth a look.

 

[Menon Enterprises]

i'm not quite sure what no claims bonus means, but i heard the more of these you have the cheaper the insurance will be?...

 

[stugster]

At the end of your policy (usually a year) if you have not claimed, you get a "no claims" bonus. This year accumulates as long as you don't make claims on your policys. So for example, if I wanted to go with Privilege for my car insurance, I would need 4 or more no claims


Stu

 

[Astaroth]

For each year you are a policyholder and remain claim free you get 1 years NCD. The next year you then will receive a discount as you can now "prove" you are a lower risk. Traditionally the discounts were:

1 year - 30%
2 years - 40%
3 years - 50%
4 years - 60%
5 years - 65%


These days many insurers are now deviating from these though with some not giving max NCD until you have 9 years, others give differing discounts based on age.

In addition to this some insurers do special NCDs like Admiral Group do a "10 month accelerator" policy where you get 1 years NCD after only 10 months and some of the RBS brands (Direct Line, Tesco) give named drivers an NCD as well as the policyholder. Be careful with these however as many of them will only be honoured by the awarding insurer so they are effectively tying you to their brand

 

[Menon Enterprises]

when you talk about years...is that sayin how old your license should be? and depending on how old it is the cheaper theinsurance would be?