Age and accidents/insurance

[jimbobsimmonds]

This is kind of a rant but it also a genuine question...

I am a 20 yr old male who drives a Volvo S60T5, but am lucky enough to be earning more than most 20 year olds so can afford it and more importantly can afford to be insured in my own name... my friend, same age as me has been a named driver and doing more than a few miles on his dad's 540 Beemer for 3 years without bumping it into a bollard let alone going sideways on fire into anything now needs a little ecobox for crunching miles... how come the cheapest insurance quote he can get for an astra diesel 1.3 is £1400? money he really doesn't have

now i know a lot of young guys (and girls) drive like retards but does anyone have any concrete stats on the number of accidents and the true cost of insuring 17-23 year olds or is it all just a giant scam... and why the hell do they not take driving history into account, because despite the fact we have both been driving large, powerful saloons round for 3 years; we are still not trusted with 1.3 diesels!

rant over... anyhow, does anyone have any stats just to satisfy my curiosity...

[citizen_smith]

I haven't seen any concrete evidence, but most insurers try to justify their discrimination by claiming something like "under 25's only make up 5% of the motoring population but are involved in more than 30%". doesn't mean they are responsible for those accidents though!

[otolith]

Here's an idea - if you think that the insurance premiums charged for young drivers are not justified by the claims costs they incur, why not set up an insurance company to massively undercut everybody else, steal the whole lucrative young driver market, sell the company for millions and retire to a life of leisure?

Frankly, I'm amazed that nobody else has thought of it, and you should have no problem at all getting venture capital funding once you demonstrate how you've come to your conclusions about risk...

[omgus]

T5 nice car for a 20 year old, but the risk for the insurance company of a 1.3d astra driven by a 20yo male is statistically higher than an S60 T5 driven by a 20yo male and until you can grasp that concept you will continue to think insurance companies are ripping you off.

[aka_kerrly]

The important difference is that the OP has his own policy and his own NCB where as his mate doesnt.

[Soovy]

otolith said:

Here's an idea - if you think that the insurance premiums charged for young drivers are not justified by the claims costs they incur, why not set up an insurance company to massively undercut everybody else, steal the whole lucrative young driver market, sell the company for millions and retire to a life of leisure?

Frankly, I'm amazed that nobody else has thought of it, and you should have no problem at all getting venture capital funding once you demonstrate how you've come to your conclusions about risk...

Spot on.

Young people crash. A lot.

Suck it up or get the bus.

[Paul Drawmer]

Here you are
www.abi.org.uk/content/contentfilemanager.aspx?con...
should open a pdf, page 5 has some interesting charts.

[kit_kat]

Slightly OT but I get quite annoyed by compulsary insurance excesses. I haven't had an accident yet (touch wood) so I haven't had to pay it but... I am 24 and have been driving for 7 years but the compulsary excess for a 25 year old that has been driving a year are usually £100 lower. How are they less risk than people like myself?

[Paul Drawmer]

kit_kat said:

Slightly OT but I get quite annoyed by compulsary insurance excesses. I haven't had an accident yet (touch wood) so I haven't had to pay it but... I am 24 and have been driving for 7 years but the compulsary excess for a 25 year old that has been driving a year are usually £100 lower. How are they less risk than people like myself?

Different companies have different schemes. They don't all do it the same way.