Si,
Good post.
As ever, when it comes to insurance there's an awful lot of tosh that gets talked about what makes cover cheaper and how scandalous insurers are and how they are all out to rip you off etc. Utter cobblers.
The facts are that drivers in the 17-21 age bracket cost insurance companies millions every year. Insurance companies are businesses just like everyone else and they are in it to make a profit, if possible.
Consider that in 2011 UK insurers on average paid out £4 for every £1 they collected in premiums and its not hard to see why so many insurers packed up and pulled out of the market and why most of those that stayed had to put their premiums up to try and shore up the losses.
Its annoying that those that claim end up causing the premiums of the rest of us to go up, but there comes a point when this has to happen.
There are many different factors to all of this but lets stick to the young drivers topic.
Statistically, young and inexperienced drivers are much more likely to have an accident or a claim than any other age group. When an insurer takes you on they don't know you from a hole in the ground and so they have to ask lots of lifestyle type questions to try and get a feel for what kind of risk you pose to them.
Without previous driving experience there is very little that insurers can go on to try and discount your premium.
You need to start with the car and look for something as low grouped as possible. Audis tend not to be low grouped because they are expensive to mend when compared to other cars and that costs insurers money. Of course, higher performance cars in the hands of an inexperienced driver could also lead to an accident (insurers have countless real life statistics of this happening) so larger engined or higher powered models will also attract higher groupings.
A 17 year old driver who has very little experience attracts the highest premium loadings of the lot and so to try and make the picture look more appealing to an insurer you need to try and make the driver look like they are a lower risk. Insurers won't just take your word for it either and so stuff like "well my dad has a fast car and I've driven it with him" or "I used to do go-karting as a kid so I'm a great driver" or "my Dad only lets me drive the car at night when the roads are quieter" won't wash.
One of the best things you can do is improve their driving experience by looking at doing additional driving qualifications. Pass Plus is widely recognised by insurers and gives drivers experience of motorway driving that isn't covered in the standard driving test. Some insurers will discount the premium by the cost of the Pass Plus tuition and some will even give you a year's NCB up front if you pass.
The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) test is also very worthwhile.
Many insurers use those 'black box' things now that effectively track the usage and driving styles of the driver, and because these things give the insurers a little bit more peace of mind about how the vehicle will be used there are some that discount their premiums quite well.
Its worth remembering that once a driver is named on an insurance policy the insurer has no control over how often that driver will use the vehicle. Saying they are an occasional user rarely makes any difference to the rating, though with some insurers you can specify the level of mileage a young driver does. The less mileage they do the better and some may allow a discount but in reality insurers can't police this and stop young drivers from going over their quoted annual mileage.
Try and keep the vehicle parked off the main road overnight on private land such as a private driveway or in a garage. Though don't lie about this because if the car is broken into or stolen during the night and its on the roadside when it should be in the garage then you could find yourself having your claim kicked out.
Also the older the car is the larger "Age of Car Discount" it tends to attract with insurers. On a car that is over 10 years old the discount can be as much as 25%, which when you're talking about premiums of £3,000+ can prove to be quite a saving.
There are lots of myths about premiums tumbling when you turn 21 or 25 or 30 or whatever. Most of the time this isn't true. Insurers work on stats and they all have differing age bands from each other. I hear so often about people complaining that their policy hasn't come right down since they turned 21 and then demanding that it should. It just doesn't work like that.
Its safe to say that if you fall into the 17-21 age bracket you are in the highest risk age band. For that reason many insurers will not offer quotes for car insurance for these people because statistically it is odds on that they will be paying out for a claim not long after accepting a new policy.
Once you hit 22, and assuming you are claim and conviction free, you will generally find that more insurers will be willing to quote for you, and with that increased scope you are more likely to find a cheaper quote.
Like others have said, I'd avoid insuring the car in the name of the youngster initially. This is the most expensive way of insuring the car. However, with this said, if you can afford to do this then providing he remains claim free he will start building up NCB and experience and will become a more attractive risk to insurers come renewal.
Who you put on the policy as named drivers is up to you. Saying that the more drivers you have on the policy the better isn't true at all. It all depends on the insurer in question and how they look at named drivers. Statistically policies with the main user and 1 named driver perform better than others and for that reason a lot of insurers give bigger discounts for those policies than they do for "Insured Only" ones. If you add lots of drivers then you run the risk of losing out on "limited driving" discounts and the policy being treated the same as an "Any Driver" policy, which is more expensive.
You also can't transfer NCB into the name of a 17 year old driver. You can't say to insurers that a 17 year old has "X" years driving experience when its obvious that they haven't.
You obviously can't insure the vehicle in a parent's name if they are not the registered owner of the car and you need to be honest to an insurer and tell them who will be the main driver of the car. If there is more than one car in the family then insurers will probably figure this out anyway and rate the quote accordingly.
Motorcycle NCB will not count for anything against a car policy.
NCB can only apply to one vehicle at once and so if it is in use on another car then you can't use it on the new Audi. However, if you have some spare NCB from a previous policy (that hasn't been transferred over to a new policy) that was cancelled within the last 2 years then you could use it on the new Audi. You would need to register the new car in your name (not your son's) and get a quote in your name with your son as the named driver. Insurers would then rate the policy on the young driver but the NCB would bring the premium down to a lower level than what it would be if you insured the car in the youngster's name with NIL NCB.
If your spare NCB is from a policy that was cancelled or expired more than 2 years ago then it is invalid and can't be used.
Also, your spare NCB having being originally allowed as an introductory no-claims discount mirroring your existing NCB is not necessarily classed as "earned" NCB by a new insurer. Some may accept it and grant you the discount but you have to be prepared that others may not.
Of course if you don't have any spare NCB to use then insuring the car in the name of a parent may not be any cheaper.
All in all I think it is extremely unlikely that you will insure a 17 year old on any car for £2,000 or under these days, never mind an Audi. £3,000 tends to be about the starting point and that is for a really cheap, low grouped car.
The cheapest way of doing things would be to not buy a new car at all at this stage and look at adding the youngster as a named driver on one of the parents' policies. Then once he has been a driver for over 12 months claim free (all being well) then you may be able to get some slightly discounted quotes from insurers based on the fact that he has a year's claim free driving record. Some may even allow him an introductory NCB of 1 year which can save you a fortune. Of course, adding him to your policy will be expensive assuming you have a car that insurers would be willing to cover him on so this needs to be factored in.
There's no "cheap" way of insuring young drivers on cars these days and so its just one of those things you have to go about in the most sensible way. People think its wrong for insurers to charge more for the insurance than the car is worth but they don't allow for the fact that anyone could buy a £100 Ford Fiesta, insure it for peanuts and then drive it into a bus queue full of people and cost an insurer £20 million. Its all relative.
Sorry for the long post. Its just not a straight forward question to answer
J
.
