Third-party
Third-party insurance only pays out for damage done to someone else or their car or property – it doesn’t cover you or your car
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Car insurance for students is a type of insurance policy specifically designed to meet the needs of young drivers. It provides financial protection in case of an accident, theft, or other damage to the vehicle.
If you are a student, it is important for you to shop around and compare quotes in order to get the best price for your insurance needs. If you are a student living away from home, your car insurance policy needs to be registered at the address you spend the most time living in. If your car is moving with you to university, this means your car will need to be registered at your university address.
Students will have the same types of car insurance to choose from as everyone else:
Third-party insurance only pays out for damage done to someone else or their car or property – it doesn’t cover you or your car
Third-party, fire and theft policies add cover for your own car if it’s stolen, or damaged by fire or an explosion
Fully comprehensive cover offers everything included above, but also adds a range of other cover options for you and your vehicle
Temporary car insurance can be a cost-effective solution for students in certain situations:
Short term needs: If you only need your car during specific times, such as holidays or weekends, temporary insurance can save you money by covering you only when you need it.
Temporary: For one-off events like moving house or attending a wedding, temporary insurance provides flexible coverage for a specific period.
Learning to drive: If you're a learner driver, you still need the correct insurance to drive on the road. Temporary insurance or learner driver insurance can cover you while practicing with an experienced driver.
What is and is not covered will depend on your policy and the type of cover you choose. The following are based on a comprehensive policy and are instances of what usually are included and excluded from policies:
Damage to your car: Damages to your car from theft or an accident
Damage to other people's property: Covers damage to an extent, to other people's property in an accident
Personal injury: Covers personal injury to you or other people involved in an accident
Windscreen repair: Covers the cost of repairing your windscreen
Third party medical expenses: Covers third party medical expenses
Legal expenses: May include compensation for legal expenses
Wear and tear: Normal wear and tear on your car is not usually covered
Intentional damage: If it is evident any damage that is caused it deliberate, it will not be covered
Driving under the influence: Anything that occurs while you are driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol will not be covered
Additional drivers: If a person is not a named driver on your policy, it is unlikely that they will be covered under your policy if they drive your car
Breakdown cover pays for the cost of calling out a mechanic if your car breaks down and you need roadside assistance.
If your car is in for repair, courtesy car cover will help you get a replacement vehicle for while you need it.
Personal accident cover pays out a lump sum if you’re injured or killed in a road accident.
Motor legal protection will covers any legal fees you might face in relation to a road accident.
Windscreen cover will pay for the cost of repairing or replacing a cracked windscreen.
If you lose your car keys or if they're stolen, car key cover will cover the cost to replace them.
Also know as misfuelling cover, wrong fuel cover pays for the necessary repairs you'd need if you accidentally top your car up with the wrong type of fuel.
Personal belongings offers protection for your belongings in the event your car is stolen, which can be handy if you tend to leave them in your car.
Protects your no-claims discount by letting you make a certain number of claims within a year before it affects your premiums. Building a no-claims discount will reduce your premiums over time.
Add on | Average cost |
|---|---|
Breakdown cover | £31[3] |
Courtesy car | £10[4] |
Legal cover | £29[5] |
Personal injury cover | £22[6] |
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Students are likely to pay more than most for car insurance as most who list ‘student’ as their main occupation are under the age of 25.
People in this age group are seen as high risk by insurance providers due to their relative lack of experience on the road – as such they normally face higher premiums. However, it also comes down to:
Your location: Some areas in the UK are more prone to theft, vandalism or traffic accidents, so these locations will likely see higher premiums
Your driving history: If you have been driving for a while your history of claims and convictions will also be a factor
Your car: Insurers sort car makes and models into different insurance groups based on factors like performance and ease of repairs, and cars in lower
Occupation | Average annual premiums |
|---|---|
Student - Living At Home | £1416.14[7] |
Student - Living Away | £1338.24[7] |
Student Nurse - Living At Home | £1119.70[7] |
Student Nurse - Living Away | £897.16[7] |
Student Teacher - Living At Home | £1049.63[7] |
Student Teacher - Living Away | £881.84[7] |
£979.98[7] |
While students may face higher premiums than most, there are ways you can look to lower the cost of cover and save some money:
Telematics insurance, sometimes known as black box cover, is when insurers use GPS technology to monitor your driving, rewarding good habits with future discounts
Pay-as-you-go car insurance charges a flat rate for when your car is parked, then only charges beyond that for the miles you drive – helping you save if you aren’t a frequent driver
The more miles you drive the more likely you are to have a road accident – so limiting your time on the road can help keep costs down, especially with pay per mile insurance
Adding a parent or guardian as a named driver, so long as they have more experience than you, can help bring down costs – but make sure you’re honest about who’s doing most of the driving
Insurers sort cars into insurance groups based on factors like their performance and ease of repairs – cars in lower groups are generally cheaper to insure
If you can go for over a year without making any claims – by staying safe on the road and if possible, paying for small things yourself – you can start to build up a no claims discount on future premiums
If you keep your car on campus this may affect the cost of your insurance – the best place to park a car if you can is in a locked garage
A voluntary excess is an amount of money that you agree to put towards the cost of claims. By agreeing to a higher excess, you can reduce the cost of your policy, although your car insurance pay-outs will be reduced
The costs of insuring, fuelling, taxing and servicing a car can eat a big chunk out of a student budget. If you’re not planning on driving while at university, you may be better off taking out temporary insurance for a few days when you do need to drive, for example when transporting your stuff at the start of term, or sharing the driving on a trip during the holidays.
Faith Archer Personal Finance Expert
Your car's make and model significantly influence your car insurance premium. This is primarily due to factors like:
Insurance group: Each car is assigned an insurance group, ranging from 1 to 50. This group reflects the car's perceived risk, including factors like theft rates, repair costs, and safety features. A lower group typically means lower insurance premiums.
Vehicle value: More expensive cars generally cost more to insure, as the potential cost of repairs or replacement is higher.
Performance: High-performance cars often attract higher premiums due to their increased risk of accidents.
Security features: Cars with advanced security features, such as alarms and immobilisers, may qualify for lower premiums.
Keep up to date and find out all you need to know with our latest guides.
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Your car registration number and driving licence number
Any no-claims bonus you’ve accrued
When you bought the car and any modifications made
Your expected annual mileage
Whether you’ll use the car for social, commuting, or business purposes
Note: you can still get a quote if you don't know the registration yet
This car insurance allows you to insure another car under the same policy.
Black box insurance monitors your driving habits and allows you to reduce your premiums
All drivers, including newly qualified drivers, are required to have car insurance when driving on the road
If you’re learning in your own car, learner driver insurance provides cover while you’re practising to pass your test
This lets you take out temporary car insurance from anywhere between a day to 90 days
If you’re a student you may find temporary or short-term car insurance more useful than an annual policy. You’ll be able to take out cover on a monthly, daily or even hourly basis, so you only pay for the cover you need when you need it.
This can work out cheaper than taking out and paying for a full annual policy – so it’s always worth comparing your options to make sure you’re getting the best deal.
If you don’t use your car, one options could be to take out temporary cover so you can still get behind the wheel when you need to. However if you don’t use the car at all, and you’d rather not worry about having to insure it, you can declare it off-road with a Statutory Off Road Notice.
It’s worth considering that if you do declare your car off-road, you’ll stop accruing your no-claims discount. For this reason, you might prefer to take out temporary cover or reduce the expected mileage you give to your insurer, so you can keep building your no-claims bonus.
Telematics insurance, also known as black box insurance, is when your insurer uses GPS software or hardware to monitor your driving habits. This can be done with the aforementioned black box, which is fitted under your dashboard, or with a plug-in device that goes into the cigarette lighter, or a mobile app using your phone’s location data.
Insurers use this to analyse things like your driving speed, breaking and handling of corners – and they often put all of this information into a ‘driving score’ which you’ll be able to see yourself.
The better you drive the more likely you are to get cheaper premiums next time you compare quotes.
It’s usually a rule of thumb that your car insurance costs will be lower if you pay the full amount in an annual lump sum, rather than spreading the cost over 12 months. But it’s always good to compare quotes to make sure you know what’s on offer.
Fronting is an illegal practice where you would lie about who the main driver of a policy was to get cheaper premiums. For example, if you were a student and you took out a car insurance policy on your own car, you’d expect to pay high premiums – so by adding a more experienced parent or guardian as a named driver you could bring the cost down.
However if you’re doing the bulk of the driving that would make you the ‘main’ driver. Fronting would be if you declared the older driver as the ‘main’ driver even if you were doing more of the driving – just to get lower premiums. This is lying, and illegal, and could lead to punishment in court.
Even if you’re a learner driver with a provisional licence, you’ll need at least third-party insurance in place to drive on UK roads. If you’re taking private lessons it’s likely you’ll have to take your own cover out, but driving schools often provide their own insurance.
Insurers don’t usually offer special discounts for car insurance if you’re a student, and as youngsters generally face higher than average premiums, this makes it even more important to take steps to get cheaper cover.
If you’re living away from home while you study, you should use the address at which you keep your car for the most time. So if you spend more of the year at university than you do living at your home address, you should put your university’s address as yours.
Unfortunately students face some of the highest premiums - mostly down to the fact that the majority of students are also young drivers with little experience.
The options available will depend on your provider and policy, but many will offer the following cover options to add to your policy:
This will cover the cost of roadside assistance if you break down
If your vehicle is being repaired, you will be given access to a replacement vehicle until yours is fixed
This cover will pay out a lump sum to you or a beneficiary if you are injured or killed in a road accident
Your insurance will also cover any legal fees relating to a road accident
Cracked windscreens can be deadly if they aren't replaced. This add-on will cover the cost of repairing or replacing a cracked windscreen
Your policy will cover the cost of replacing your car keys if they are damaged, lost, or stolen
Wrong fuel cover
This will cover the cost of repairs if you accidentally top your car up with the wrong type of fuel
Personal belongings cover
Your car insurance can also protect personal belongings that you keep in your car if they are damaged or stolen
No-claims discount cover
Protect your no-claims discount with this cover. It will allow you to make a certain number of claims each year without affecting your premiums
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