Cheap car insurance for young drivers: how to save money

Car insurance for younger drivers can cost a small fortune, particularly if you're a teenager. Follow our tips and save some money!

Take a Pass Plus course

After you’ve passed your test, you have the option of taking a Pass Plus course to help you become a more careful driver (and reduce your premiums).

It takes at least six hours with six practical modules covering driving on motorways, rural roads, at night and in all weathers.

The price is around £180 but it depends on where you live, your instructor or driving school and how long your training takes.

Some local councils do offer a discount off the full cost so check with them before you book. 

Be careful before you pay; insurers may only give a discount if the teenager is the main driver of the insured vehicle rather than a named driver.

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Get a car that’s cheaper to insure

All insurers place different cars within numbered groups, based on the car's value and performance, and those groups then play a part in the cost of your insurance.

Cars within groups 1-5 are the cheapest to cover, and include motors like the Vauxhall Corsa, Fiat Panda, Volkswagen Up, Seat Mii and the Skoda Citigo.

Insurers are less likely to cover you if you have a modified car with a massive engine as it'll be more powerful and more attractive to thieves, so it’s best to avoid pimping your ride.

Read How car insurance groups work.

Enhance your car’s security

Rope your parents in to help

It’s worth either getting yourself put on a parent’s car insurance policy as a named driver or putting one of them on your policy as a named driver.

A more experienced driver can really bring down your premiums as they’re seen as more reliable than a younger driver.

Be wary of ‘fronting’, though. This is where a parent claims they are the main driver on their child's car, when actually the offspring does all of the driving, in order to get a cheaper insurance policy. 

Read more at Are you guilty of this major insurance fraud?

Choose the right type of insurance

Car insurance comes in different types, and the one you go for will affect just how much your policy costs.

The minimum requirement is third-party car insurance which pays out if you injure or damage another person or property.

The next step up from this is third-party, fire and theft insurance. This offers the same cover as third-party insurance, but also covers your vehicle if it gets stolen or damaged in a fire.

Finally, there is fully comprehensive car insurance. This covers you for damage to your own vehicle, as well as to other road users, whether it's your fault or if blame cannot be attributed. It also includes fire and theft cover.

Despite its name, there may be some exceptions in your 'comprehensive' cover, so be sure to read the terms and conditions before you sign up.

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Black box insurance

Build up a no-claims bonus

Even though you haven’t been driving for long, any stretch of no-claims you can get is beneficial. The bigger the bonus, the lower your premiums will be.

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Stump up a higher voluntary excess

All insurance policies come with an 'excess'. This is how much you pay towards any claims you make. So for example if make a claim on your car insurance and have a £500 excess, you will have to stump up the first £500 towards the repair.

The higher the excess you go for, the cheaper your policy will be. Just don't get too carried away and commit to an unaffordable figure.

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Could your car insurance go down in future?

Possibly. One area being explored is graduated driving licencing (GDL). 

This basically means that instead of getting a full licence as you would now, new drivers have certain restrictions for a certain amount of time after they pass their test. This allows them to build up their skills and experience gradually.

For example, they wouldn't be allowed to:

• Carry passengers who are younger than 25 unless they're supervised. New drivers who are parents or carers and need to carry children should be exempt from this restriction;
• Drive between 11pm and 6am, unless supervised or travelling directly from home to work or school; 
• Drive on motorways.

These licences are already in force in other places including Australia, New Zealand, Northern Ireland and certain US states. In the US, 16-year-old drivers who are subject to the GDL had 37% fewer crashes per year, and 17% fewer crashes per mile driven.

 A 2017 survey by breakdown specialist, GEM Motoring Assist, found that 90% of drivers would like to see a graduated driving licencing scheme introduced in the UK. 

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