Bank of Dad

[1936ace]

Hi all
Following on from a post I made in ngf on Facebook, my eldest son got his P's yesterday. Big event passing his driving test and can now zip around on his own. The usual happy but worried feeling I'm sure many of us have had.
Well good Ol bank of dad is now needed
Previously as a leaner he was covered by my insurance but since he is just 17 he is still covered but the excess in event of an accident goes from $650 to $2900. I have the option of paying an extra $511 on the premium and that way the excess is only $1900
How is a kid supposed to come up with that sort of money if they have an accident, and we are all not perfect things do happen. Living in a regional town a car is essential to get around especially since there is no public transport to get him to school for early classes or to his part time job which finishes at 11pm
I was lucky at his age I had an apprenticeship that while it didn't pay well insurance was not that expensive

[Karhedron]

I almost think premiums like that are designed as a deterrent. Should come down quite a bit once he turns 18.

[1936ace]

Yes they certainly are. Which is why I think there are lots out there driving around with no insurance which if they cause an accident, the poor person they hit is not covered both for the car and themselves if there're injured.
His age penalty won't go away until he is older then 25. Apparently that's the age they instantly become a better driver apparently
I could understand maybe if it is solely insured in his name only but this is our family car

[Bealman]

Been there, done that, buddy. Had to pay extra on my wife's new car because daughter was driving it and, while not on P's, she's still under 25.

[Rabs]

Yes they certainly are. Which is why I think there are lots out there driving around with no insurance which if they cause an accident, the poor person they hit is not covered both for the car and themselves if there're injured.
His age penalty won't go away until he is older then 25. Apparently that's the age they instantly become a better driver apparently
I could understand maybe if it is solely insured in his name only but this is our family car

Don't know if it's different for your son but I'm a man in my late 20s in the UK and noticed a steady reduction in premiums (even before no claim bonus was factored in) from 17 to 25 and then it levelled out at what seems to be a pretty standard 'adult rate'.  It didn't have a sudden step at any particular age.

[Vonzack]

Have you looked at having a 'black box', installed in the car along with the policy, I've heard this reduces the premiums, not sure about the excess though. With an excess that high, it's basically turning your policy into third party cover for him, assuming that only applies to an incident when he's driving and not other names on the policy.

[PaulCheffus]

Hi

My sons own insurance was around £1500 third party for his first car at 17.

Cheers

Paul

[Malc]

I had a push bike to get to work until I bought a motor bike when I was 20. Passed my driving test at 21 and bought an old banger for £100. 3rd party insurance was about £25 in those days. Car lasted a year before it failed the MOT. Not a bad buy compared to bus fares.

[Oldman]

I'm dreading the granddaughter getting her first car, she is 17 and not yet applied for a provisional license. As a student have parents disclosed what the little dears are studying?
I could have major problems if I have to pay for it.

[DELETED]

I have to say I admire any parent for bringing a chiddler into the world, something I still don't want to do.  I am however so appreciative of my folks for helping me in earlier years when I was in a bind, I was so glad to help them out later when they needed it.

..Re: insurance though I'm a car nut and NOT THAT I AGREE but these days I can kind of see why there's so many uninsured drivers trying it on.  My first policy on my first car at 21 was well into 4 figures biut it wasn't a cheap car to insure.  I was told insurance got cheaper at 25 but it didn't drop much, 30 passed without the huge drop I was told was normal, 35 came and passed and quotes didn't change much.  I'm 37 in 3 months, just changed the policy on my current car (the lowest powered, most bog. std. normal "shopping run" hatchback I have ever had) policy last month and because of all the hikes in the last few years I'm still surprised how I'm not getting cheap insurance despite shopping around.

Thing with insurance is no matter how cheap a deal you get, the first person you ask got their policy for half that.  These days I'm more inclined to look into t's and c's than ever.  It does annoy me though: I re-insured my Mums Aygo last month, I went to Santander and RAC website (amongst others) and they both took me through exactly the same webpages (just a different logo and font colour), questions and offers -even came up with the same insurer and the same t's and c's.  Like-for like one was a good bit cheaper for the same cover so I went with the cheaper one in the end as it was a good enough deal!!

Rich

[Oldman]

All I know is she won't be put on my Subaru insurance 

[njee20]

My insurance was obscene the first year when I was 17 (2004) then dropped by 2/3 in year two, and halved in year three. At which point it was circa £300 (on a better if still fairly mediocre car). That feels like a maths question!

It's stayed largely the same in the 10 years since although the car has got successively better. I now pay £260 on a 2012 Golf GTI at 29. Not bad I don't think.

It is mad for <20s though. You can see why people drive uninsured, although there are certainly ways around it - telematics policies, checking cars more cardully (small and cheap with a tiny engine isn't always the cheapest to insure).

Can't speak for foreign markets mind.

[DELETED]

The guy oppisite my desk at work is just young (year or 2 past his test).  He's paid for a tracker to be fitted and his insurance tracks his driving on his new Suzuki Swift.  He logs into the database and gets a report each time -tells him how he's doing, mileage, speed at each GPS location, acceleration & decelleration (braking), but his route to work and back (think all the roads in Inverness) feature as "high risk" RED roads so he's always reluctant to drive because he can't get off the high-risk roads, which affect his insurance charge, which is a shame because he's not using the car: not getting used to it, not realising the benefit and getting out of town.  He reckoned the tracker made his insurance cheaper (it's tied-into it and his car's GPS position anyway) -I'll ask what scheme he's with if it helps.  I couldn't think anything worse myself though, but I never thought of it before -something that may make your siblings insurance cheaper if they / you wish to sign up for it.

[njee20]

More than do a telematics policy called Smart Wheels.  IIRC they don't penalise you in the first year for 'bad' driving (unless you do something really dangerous and they'll cancel the policy), but your premiums won't come down if you don't drive sensibly.

There are a growing number of 'black box' policies now - Ingenie spring to mind as another provider. They have to be fitted to all new cars in the EU imminently, if not already.

[CaleyDave]

Whilst not knowing the numbers off hand when I turned 21 (and had 2 years under my belt on full licence, 2 on a Provisional) my insurance almost halved but it is still several times more than that of my parents. Every other year has seen smaller drops.

After I had passed my test I heard a scare story regarding one of the insurance company trackers. As well as having "Red roads" the drivers using this one would be penalised if they were out driving late at night. The story in the papers went that the Boy needed to drive back from some event late at night was worried about being penalised if he was out after the cut off. The worry about his insurance premium was evidently greater than that of his personal safety.
This really scared me at the time and would never take out such a policy if I though it was so restrictive and would read the terms and conditions very carefully.

In my personal world it has come to job hunting time and the simple fact is that, unless I need a car to commute, a car is very low on my priority list (regardless of income).
The only thing I use the car regularity for is driving to and from volunteering I do but this more due to the amount I need to carry. Being in a city regarded as car unfriendly, living between two of the most polluted streets in Scotland, one of which was recently considered the most congested road in the United Kingdom outside of London may all play a factor and having one of the best bus company all play a factor in my lack of car use.