C30 General : First Time Insurance for a 17 Year Old

[johnjb]

Hi
Seeking advice, i currently drive a V50 and my daughter has justed passed her theory driving test.The next big step is purchasing a suitable car and this where i am at a loss.My options are replace the V50 with a C30 or obtain a smalller car. I am aware that the insurance will be a killler as she will be a named driver on my policy. I would welcome all advice and opinions.


Thanks
Johnjb

[domhart10]

why do you have to replace the V50? you haven't stated what engine, so if you are changing the V50 for a similar power C30 I would just stay with the 50 .... insurance is going to be a killed on anything.

Just get on a comparison website and get some quotes, you might find that the V50 is cheaper, you never know.

but if I had to choose between your options, id choose a smaller car. sounds like your are set on your daughter using the car loads and crashing it so there is no point getting a nice C30 to dink it

[Welton]

Just been through all this with my Daughter.

After she passes her practical test if you put her onto your insurance as a 'named driver' the industry see this as 'fronting' and will load the policy uneconomically.

Before she passes you can add her as a supervised learner and the costs aren't too bad, she will not earn any no claims bonus during the learning period. They wouldn't add her as a learner in my T5 and the missus car is an Auto so no good for learning in.

At the end of the day if she intends to drive regularly after passing she is best to have her own first car with her own insurance and start building up the no claims etc.

We bought a 2010 Renault Twingo (fantastic little thing btw despite the "Renault" prejudice). The car cost £2,000.00 and at first the daughter had a Learners Policy through Collingwood Learner Insurance which cost about £70.00 per month; we had this for 5 months and covered 1500 miles boosting her learning experience at the same time as regular driving lessons.

When she passed (first time yay) we seeked her own insurance policy and found a good deal with 'More Than' called a 'Smart Wheels' policy. This is a Black Box policy and has a mileage cap of 4000 per year and came in at £954.00 - we're all happy enough with that and the Black Box is a great tool for safe driving.

[Missing Lincs]

I'd go with Welton, get your daughter her own car and start building her own insurance record. Despite what you see on the news, insurance for girls is still cheaper than boys, trust me I've got a son and daughter and my son's insurance for the first few years was triple and then some.
As has also been said, use Insurance Comparison Sites and see what cars give the best results. On my daughter's insurance we found that a Citroen C3 5 door was half the cost of a 3 door C2. Also, don't go on too low on annual mileage, be realistic, especially if there will be a 'black box' in the car. Too low mileage can also increase the premium as the insurers see it as inexperience.
Look out for policies that offer NCD builders, we had one that was a 10 month policy (at a pro-rata cost against the yearly rate) and gave a full years NCD after the 10 months. It might not sound like much but NCD and a good driving record is key for young drivers.
And finally, think about extra driving qualifications/experience. I'm not sure how much of an effect they have on premiums but if they can make a safer driver and reduce the chance of an accident then for me that's got to be worth it.

[NI_Volvo_Nut]

I know we've talked about this too John

As others have said once you add her to your insurance they will load the policy. Get on to comparison websites, pull reg numbers off cars on scumtree and see what is best to go for. The Aygo / C1 / 107's are the cheapest by fair to insure, they are all Toyota's and decent wee cars and are now in budget banger money (£1000)

Look at some older cars too, Mk4 Astra / Mk1 Focus etc, I've found some of the older stuff easier to insure for new drivers than the modern stuff and the "retro's" are more acceptable with the "younger folk" these days.

Maybe the 360 GLT currently on Gumtree which Peter Greer owns could be a contender

As always feel free to message me for advice and opinion

Edit: Volvo 360 GLT
Andy

[Sasha94]

I got lucky when I was 19 and was able to afford my own insurance on a C70 2.0T Convertible with 0 NCB (but 2 years on my other car, which was a 2.0 HDi Pug 407sw) but insurance has gone up since then. I am now 23 and my insurance for my V50 is nearly £700 per year on its own with 3 years NCB (my 407 was written off by a bin lorry when I was on holiday) and my CLK is £1200 per year with 0 NCB but I can’t pull a face because that’s a 5.4 V8.

At 17, today, I’d go for a new ish city car. An Aygo/C1/107 or if the budget stretches, an Up!/Citigo/Mii as they are cheap to insure as well. My brother is now 19 and he had a Mii and now a Fabia 1.2 TDi and both have been very reasonable on the insurance front. Budget about £2000 for an Aygo (or some such)and about £1500 to insure it. Sometimes a slightly more expensive modern car can work out cheaper to insure over the long term so it’s worth the investment. Just make sure if you are buying it on her behalf (or lending her he money, or part of the money or whatever) that the car is sold to her and the invoice is in her name. Should a claim be made on the policy, you don’t want to have an invoice with your name on it as you could find yourself labelled as the legal owner, and you’ll want that to be your daughter as that is what lowers the prices, having the main driver as the legal owner and registered keeper.

Good luck with it all; it’s a massive rip off!!

[Paul Wildsmith]

not sure if this has been suggested, but put yourself (and possible another adult) on your daughter's insurance as a named driver - you may never actually drive the car but it helped with my son's insurance premium. At the other end of the spectrum I'm a named driver on my 92 year old mother's insurance!

[Missing Lincs]

Originally Posted by Paul Wildsmith

not sure if this has been suggested, but put yourself (and possible another adult) on your daughter's insurance as a named driver - you may never actually drive the car but it helped with my son's insurance premium.

Good point. We found it's worth trying different numbers of named drivers, on my son's insurance adding me brought the price down but adding me and the Mrs put the price up.
Each insurer seems to have different criteria so try as many combinations as you can stomach before you get driven to distraction and give in

[Considered1]

We found multicar discounts worked well. Get her a really cheap car, insure it for all of you to drive and park it up for a year and watch the NCB discount rise dramatically.

[Welton]

Yes I forgot to mention I put myself and my wife onto my daughters policy as 'named drivers' to be fair we do drive the car anyway sometimes.

And my daughter is the registered keeper and legal owner of her own car (she paid for it).

Good call on insuring newer cars, friends of ours bought their daughter a £200.00 car to start with and it cost £1,200.00 to insure.