Insurance options for a 17 year old

[davepoth]

ZOLLAR said:

There could be reductions at the start but insurers may just increase the costs of certain models of car for people under a certain age, so yes there could be a 10% immediate drop but to offset the potential increase in risk they may increase cost on certain models by over 10%.

Very true. They have to profile the risk better in other ways, so there will be higher loading on boy racer motors, modifications and crashes.

[southpaw]

I think the best option is buying a very large tube of KY and bracing yourself

ZOLLAR said:

geeteeaye said:

What a joke - is a 17 year old really that much more of a menace in an old 1.4 than a more modern 1.0/1.2 - many of which will be more powerful anyway.

yes.

At the age of 17 I managed to get a 1.4 Puma, with an amazing 88bhp, into a very big four wheel drift on a wet roundabout...pure luck stopped me having a very large crash. Low power and a lack of driver aids means you want to push the car harder to actually get somewhere and no safety net when things go wrong!

Edited by southpaw on Friday 25th February 20:57

[vit4]

Landlord said:

Hey,

My nephew passed his test today (hooray for him).

I've given him my old car (a 1.4 Astra - M reg '94) value is pretty much nothing but it's road worthy with an MOT etc.

However, it seems his best quote is circa £5,000.

Anyone have any suggestions as to how/who to contact to see if he can get a more affordable quote?

Thanks!
Phil.

I've got a 1.4 Astra (albeit older) and was getting similar quotes & up, only company who gave me a remotely 'affordable' one were Co-op THROUGH THEIR OWN WEBSITE; don't know if they are on price comparisons but even if they are the quote was high enough to not be noticed. (I'm 18, got insurance when 17)

EDIT: What trim level is it? Makes a HUGE difference. On some cars a couple of grand, even with the same engine in. The Golfs I was looking at were worst for this, £4000 for a 1.4 CL vs £6000 for a 1.4 SE (or whatever the one with the GTI kit on is).

[Jayho]

I generally found that mk 3 Astra's more expensive to insure when I was looking at cars at the tender age of 18. When I passed my test I had the option to buy my brothers Mk4 1.6SXI off him which was about £600 cheaper than the Mk3 1.4

Unluckily for me I couldnt afford to buy both the car and insurance for the 1.6SXI (Even when he offered that I could pay it in installments to him) and I was more keen on getting rat arsed as well as freedom of driving. Hence a 1.1Saxo SX

[Soovy]

Just at some of the armchair lawyering on here.

[littleredrooster]

Soovy said:

Just at some of the armchair lawyering on here.

....and the speeling.

Grammar? What grammar?

[TomCooper]

Give footman James a ring. They do young drivers classic car insurance if the cars below insurance group 3 I got a quote of £600 on a 1300 triumph spitfire TPF&T

[southpaw]

jpa3108 said:

If the car is worth very little go for third party f&t. I did this on my 1.2 corsa.

BUT get quotes for FC and TPFT - as insurance is all based on risk models, I actually got FC quotes cheaper than TPFT quotes sometimes - work that one out

[Soovy]

littleredrooster said:

....and the speeling.

Grammar? What grammar?

Your grandma.

Oh..................

:-l

[brickwall]

davepoth said:

Very true. They have to profile the risk better in other ways, so there will be higher loading on boy racer motors, modifications and crashes.

One of the big problems of insurance for young drivers is the lack of information.
With a 40 year-old you can build a reasonable risk profile through claims history, occupation, convictions etc.
Among 17 year-olds there's little variation in history, convictions and occupation (student) so it's hard to distinguish the boy-racers from the model citizens. Offer them more info is what I say.

Give 'em your GCSE results (I may get flamed for this, but I reckon (particularly among young males) there's an inverse correlation between academic performance and crash risk), voluntary curfews (less as a risk mitigator more as a signaling mechanism) etc. More accurate risk profiling is fairer for everyone.

(By the way, I am aware there are substantial practical problems with the implementation of this idea, and some of the potential unintended consequences. But in principle I think it's a good idea).

[MR Kirbyz]

Brickwall i love the GCSE results idea, However i might be a bit biased being a 17 year old male with 6 A's and 4 B's, oh and forgetting to mention the part about my insurance being £3700 for a 51 plate 1.5 diesel

[va1o]

Young driver insurance is expensive but shouldn't be £5k, I've never seen in that much. Try all the comparison sites, add named drivers, fully comp is often cheaper than tpft and try contacting some local brokers. Realistically it should be £1k - £2k max. Ignore the comments about the engine been too big, it really isn't.

[pixieporsche]

As far as 17 year old are concerned, I think the cheapest stuff to insure is either things like MG Midgets / Triumph Spitfires OR a larger saloon NOT a hatch.

[deveng]

I've just done a quick compare the meerkat and posing as a 17 y/o male passed my test last month 8k per year 7 y/o bog standard ford ka insurance FC £1800.

And there were quite a few around that price.

So your doing it wrong to get a £5k quote

[brickwall]

MR Kirbyz said:

Brickwall i love the GCSE results idea, However i might be a bit biased being a 17 year old male with 6 A's and 4 B's, oh and forgetting to mention the part about my insurance being £3700 for a 51 plate 1.5 diesel

Those grades with grammar like that??? Jesus standards have slipped.

Welcome to PH: grammar matters

I suppose those grades might get you a discount in my utopian world of car insurance...4A*s at A level would help your case though...;)

[LeeThr]

va1o said:

Young driver insurance is expensive but shouldn't be £5k, I've never seen in that much. Try all the comparison sites, add named drivers, fully comp is often cheaper than tpft and try contacting some local brokers. Realistically it should be £1k - £2k max. Ignore the comments about the engine been too big, it really isn't.

I got a quote of £12K on my 1.4 pug when I first started looking, then eventually got it down to an average of £3.5K then out of nowhere with all those £3.5K+ quotes coming up my current policy came up at £1300

deveng said:

I've just done a quick compare the meerkat and posing as a 17 y/o male passed my test last month 8k per year 7 y/o bog standard ford ka insurance FC £1800.

And there were quite a few around that price.

So your doing it wrong to get a £5k quote

Thats for a ford KA not your avaerage "well bangin modified boy racer mobile init", the OP stated a vauxhal astra, which is a bit more common with young drivers. Which will attract higher premiums.

[mph1977]

Well all i can say is remember the thread a few weeks ago where all the toss bags were suggesting that someone needed a Boxster resprayed because it had concrete and brick ( not cement - which could well have buggered the paint) dust on it ...

plus all the no win no fee tossers and near cousins ( and in certain parts of the Uk they will often be cousins and brothers/ sisters in law innit blud) the 'accident management specialist' ...

[BDR529]

pixieporsche said:

As far as 17 year old are concerned, I think the cheapest stuff to insure is either things like MG Midgets / Triumph Spitfires OR a larger saloon NOT a hatch.

At one point I could insure a 2.5 Vauxhall Omega V6 for about £20 more a month than a 1.6 Golf.

That was when I was 18.

I'm not sure if that would still be the same now however. Almost 21 now, and everything is becoming harder to insure.

[Dan Friel]

I'm 34, driven since 1994, nice area, no convictions, never crashed, good occupation and want to insure a fiat panda.... One company wanted £1,200. Go figure.

Do they still do "classic" insurance for 17 year olds? Might be the way to go.

[jamiebae]

Landlord said:

eah. You're missing the fact that I didn't have a 1.1l car to give away and that the Astra is worth fk all.

It will almost certainly be cheaper to buy a different car which is cheaper to insure and pay the insurance on that than to pay the quote on the Astra. 900cc Cinquecento or Seicento would be a good place to start looking. A mk3 Astra is east to steal and often driven by idiot chavs so prices are heavily loaded.