Car insurance for 17-year-olds

One of the easiest ways to get cheap car insurance for a 17-year-old driver is to compare prices through MoneySuperMarket. Our online service is free, independent and compares car insurance quotes available through the country’s leading insurers in a matter of seconds.

You’ll be able to sort through a list of deals tailored to your needs, comparing quotes by the overall annual and monthly cost, the coverage you’ll get, and the excess you’ll need to pay to claim. Once you’ve found the right deal, just click through to the provider to finalise your purchase.

Many experts recommend that teenage drivers improve their road skills with an advanced driving course. Many insurers offer discounts to drivers who have completed a recognised driving course, while it also increases your road safety knowledge.

The Driving Standards Agency’s Pass Plus scheme is perhaps the best known of these and is specifically aimed at new drivers. But organisations such as ROPSA, the Institute of Advanced Motorists and the RAC also offer driving training.

If you don’t claim on your car insurance during the policy year, you can usually earn a discount on your premium, known as a no-claims discount. This adds up with each claim-free year, so you could knock 70% or more off your motor insurance premium if you don’t claim for five consecutive years.

You can also pay a little bit extra to protect your no-claims bonus, which normally lets you make a limited number of claims without losing the discount.

Many teenage drivers cannot afford their own car, so they drive their parents’ car and piggyback on their car insurance. But if you are lucky enough to have your own wheels, it might be a good idea to add your mum or dad to your policy as an additional named driver. Insurers are reassured by the presence on the policy of an older, more experienced motorist and it will probably result in cheaper car insurance for a 17-year-old driver.

Technology can come to the rescue of 17-year-old drivers in the form of black-box insurance. With this kind of policy, a tracking device is fitted to your car and records when, where and how you drive – and it can have a big impact on the cost of car insurance for 17-year-olds.

A number of insurers now offer so called telematics policies and it’s a good idea to compare prices as you may be able to save money.

If you cannot afford to pay your insurance premium in one lump sum, most insurers will let you spread the payment over monthly instalments.

However, you usually have to put down a deposit and there might be an admin charge for the convenience. You might also want to consider short term or temporary car insurance for 17-year olds. But beware continuous insurance enforcement, which basically means that you must insure your car even if it is off the road, unless you have a statutory off road notice from the DVLA.

There are a number of other ways to get a cheaper car insurance quote:

• Choose your car with care: Insurers rate each make and model into one of 50 car insurance groups – and the cars in group one are cheaper to insure than the cars in group 50.
• Keep your car safe and secure: Fit your car with an approved security device, such as an alarm or an immobiliser, and try to keep the vehicle in a locked garage overnight. If your car is secure it is less likely to be stolen, so your insurer should charge less for cover.
• Pay more excess: This is the amount you have to pay towards each claim. If you agree to a higher voluntary excess, the insurer will usually lower the premium. But make sure the figure is affordable otherwise you could end up in financial difficulty.  

For more ideas on how you could lower the cost of car insurance for 17-year-olds, visit our money-saving tips page.

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