Cheapest options for new drivers over 21?

[Finius]

Hey folks,

Presently undergoing the hazardous and intrepid adventure of learning how to pilot an automobilaijig.

Stay the f**k away from the roads if you're in Lincolnshire. Seriously. It's not safe bro.

I'm hoping to pass by the end of the summer. I've driven pretty much everything in the past and it's not really difficult.

With that in mind, I want a car to run myself about to airsoft, ferry stuff home, generally to tell public transport to f**k itself up the posterior etc. You get the idea.

I'm over 21, but will obviously only have passed my test pretty much the day I intend to get said car. I'm also a student.

I'd like to know what people reckon are the best companies to go for insurance with, and what people reckon is the best car to be buying. Do I spend more on the car to pay less for insurance?

I've head a lot of rumors about doing stuff to reduce costs, such as increasing voluntary excesses etc.

Here's some info the meerkat-related market comparison website asked, which might be useful, both for the car and the insurance know-how:

-Time I'll have held the license; Probably about two hours.

-Where will the car live; Locked compound w/ cctv and 24 hour security.

-Immobilisers and alarms; I'll get an immobiliser probably, an alarm if funds permit.

-Annual mileage; Probably under 10k

-Social and domestic use only.

-No other drivers.

-No use of any other cars.

-No dependents.

-Living in Student Halls (albeit the poshest ones in Coventry).

-I'm a sexual God.

So c'mon AFUK, hit me with some truth!

 

[Deva]

Use the comparison websites.

Admiral, Arriva, Direct Line don't show up so you'll have to do them separately.

If you spend more on the car you'll likely get a better and more reliable car (depends what you want though) so it can be worth the extra. It's varied as to what will be cheap and what won't, so there isn't really a set rule that a newer car will be cheaper to insure.

Where the car is kept has less effect. Just mess with the options and see what gives the cheapest quote. Garaged doesn't always if the garage is broken into, that is more damage caused.

Immobilisers are in nearly every car these days anyway. You could pay to get an alarm fitted but it isn't really worth it. The high price is because you're a young driver who they think is going to crash, not because they think your car is going to get stolen.

Set your annual mileage lower.

Set your occupation as your part time job rather than student, often works out cheaper, just a case of playing with the options and seeing what quotes you less.

You'll be much better off adding people as named drivers (parents), but keep yourself as the policy holder so that you can build up a no claims bonus (it's also illegal to 'front' someone else as the policy holder if really you're the main user)

Admiral multicar lets you add cars from different addresses (other multicar policies seem to only allow cars at the same address), so if parents or someone else who is up for renewal at the same time can join in, you might be able to do that. It often works out cheaper.

 

[geoffreym]

get a small van with aviva, first time driver £960 a year (2001 Y VAUXHALL ASTRA 1.7 TD ENVOY VAN)

 

[Finius]

The van-man wins it!

£1000 from Aviva for a Rover-25 Van.

Looks like I'll be telling Public Transport to sod off sooner than I thought!

 

[Liam Porter]

Not sure if you're too old, or if you'll be happy with the idea, but try Coop's Young Driver's insurance. They fit a box to the car, which monitors speed, acceleration, corning and stopping, then lowers or raises your premium depending how you drive. If you paid annually, then you can get money back. It's fully comp and works out a lot cheaper than other companies, especially with a few named drivers, don't even have to be parents.

I'm 18, my insurance was £1375 (for a year) on a 2005 1.8L Mondeo.

If I'd gotten a smaller car (1.1L) it would have been about £500, and a 2003 1.4L Astra Estate would have be £700.

The box puts people off, but really you should be driving like that anyway. Although, if you intend on driving like an idiot and showing off, or if you do a lot of late night driving (e.g past midnight) then it won't be much cheaper if any as they'll up your premium.

Aside the that, I found elephant.co.uk to be the cheapest by a long way (£2300 for the Mondeo third party, fire and theft) against other quotes of over £3000.

Also, for me, I got higher quotes if I had an alarm and immobiliser than I did without, same with driveway/garage, cheaper quote if parked in driveway over in garage.

 

[geoffreym]

i had a look at the insure the box's thing, but i live by "hope for the best, plan for the worst", and the box screws over any worst case scenario.

 

[Tariq]

sometimes its cheaper when you tell them the vehicle is parked on the road, than in a driveway or a garage.. dunno why but it works sometimes.

Add good named drivers to your list (secondary)

 

[geoffreym]

Add on to the Aviva van, I put my mother on (license for 20 years, no claims) and it lowered the price from 980 to 760, full comprehensive.

 

[lemon191]

unfortunatly as every case is different what lowers one person can add more money to anothers nd same goes for the companies one is cheap for one person and expensive for another. best thing you can do is just play with the comparison sites and then ring the companies directly and play them off each other to get the rice down abit more. (be creative with you job, where you park etc but dont out right lie as if you crash they can and in some cases will check details and refuse to payout on the grounds of you lieing invalidating insurance at which point im sure you open yourself up to police giving you fines/points for driving without insurance aswell but not totaly sure on that one)

also check your postcode if you search google for insurance postcode risk list (or somthing along those lines) there are lists that show what risk catagory your postcode comes under and this can seriously effect prices (if you live in a high car crime area etc)