Car insurance for 17 year olds

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17 again

The legal age to start driving in the UK is seventeen. Most young adults who would be celebrating their 17th birthday in the coming months would have already applied for their provisional licence as this can be done when you're 16 but soon going onto 17. After hours of learning to drive with a qualified instructor, they would have passed their driving test and looking forward to driving a car of their own. Unfortunately life is not always simple and when it comes to 17 year old car insurance, it becomes a matter of frustration.

Car insurance for new drivers is rather expensive for a number of understandable reasons. For example, seventeen year olds are more likely to be involved in car accidents because they lack driving experience and therefore present a much higher risk to the insurer. At this particular age in your life, you're still very young at heart and your style of living differs a lot from mature drivers because there are more frequent drinking, late nights out and long drives as socialising forms an important part of your lifestyle. Those are the most obvious reasons why car insurance for seventeen year old drivers is excessively high.

But wait, there are several things you can do to obtain cheaper premiums

First of all, there's no need to rebel and drive without insurance or lie about your details on your car insurance application form as it will have severe consequences afterwards. Let's find out what can be done to reduce the quotes first:

  • Have you considered doing the pass plus course as you can get up to 35% discounts with some insurers?
  • Did you use car insurance comparison websites to get quotes? If not, then you probably should as they will search 90% of the car insurance companies on the market.
  • Now for the other insurers which are not listed on comparison sites, go to them direct eg Direct Line Car Insurance.
  • Are you willing to pay a higher voluntary excess rather than the standard £200?
  • Are you trying to insure a sports car? Ditch it for the time being and stick with one which falls under the cheap car insurance bracket.
  • Does your car have security devices like a tracker system or an alarm/immobiliser? Modify the details for the quote to include those and find out how much you can save with these installed and whether it's worth getting them.

Just like everything else in life though, you start at the very bottom and slowly make your way towards the top of the ladder. The same goes for getting cheap car insurance for a 17 year old driver who will undoubtedly start paying a lot for insuring his car initially and will eventually pay a fraction of what he has paid in his first years as he builds up his driving experience and accumulates his own set of no claim bonus. Don't be put off by the huge premiums set forward by insurers for young drivers because if you choose your 1st vehicle carefully and drive safely and with utmost care, you will be rewarded with low premiums when your policy is due for renewal.

gices
gices Level 6
I'm a Software Developer and the co-founder of Clever Dodo. Born in Mauritius and now living in the UK, I usually blog about fitness, music, spirituality and driving topics to pass on my knowledge.

6 Replies

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SharonGray Level 1

17 year old insurance at £4000+, how to get the quote down?

I am trying to get my son insurance he is 17, when i was searching for Quotes on a bog standard clio Value £500 Third party only large excess i was getting quotes at £4000+ anyone any ideas to get this down it seems if he was a learner driver i can get same insured for £1200 how does that work

[Migrated from previous topic 11378 dated 05 Sep 2010]

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markrose360 Level 1

I am too, struggling to get insurance for my clio! I'm 18 and have been quoted 4000 for it! its only a 1.1!!! HELP!!!

[Migrated from previous post 1237 dated 07 Sep 2010]

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Ian_4 Level 1

Vauxhall Corsa vs Renault Megane Cabriolet

Hi

I'm currently stuck here - I am 17 year old and have two cars; Vauxhall Corsa and a Renault Megane Cabriolet. I've put my mum as first driver on both to see which would be cheapest and the Renault was cheaper :s How do you work that one out plus it's a 1.6 sport and the corsa is only a 1.2. It's weird - does any one know where I can get pay as you go insurance for 17 year olds males?

Cheers.

[Migrated from previous topic 10361 dated 14 Mar 2009]

gices
gices Level 6

Different insurance companies have different ways of assessing risks associated with car insurance applications. Engine size is one of the factors used and normally a bigger engine results in a higher quote. However there are other factors which are taken into consideration as well and these factors may have outweighed the engine size factor.

I understand that you've put your mother's name to see different quotes but remember that the car insurance should be in your name if you're going to be the main driver, otherwise you will be doing fronting.

Car insurance for 17 year old males are more expensive because men tend to drive less carefully than women. There's nothing much you can do in your first year and if you don't have any claims at the end of the policy, you will earn your no claims discount which will entitle you to a huge savings on your renewal.

Right now what you can do is check car insurance comparison websites and go to Direct Line Car Insurance (not listed on comparison sites but offering cheap quotes for young drivers like yourself) to see where you can get the best deals.

[Migrated from previous post 199 dated 16 Mar 2009]

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Yussef Level 1

Do you insure 17 year olds?

Do you provide car insurance for drivers who are 17?

[Migrated from previous topic 11555 dated 25 Oct 2010]

gices
gices Level 6

At Clever Dodo, we do not sell any type of insurance policies. However we are here to help you with your queries. Are you looking for car insurance as a learner driver or have you already passed your driving test?

[Migrated from previous post 1364 dated 26 Oct 2010]

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