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The average driver paid 40% more for car insurance in 2010 than in 2009 according to the AA. Young and newly qualified drivers have been the worst hit by these price hikes, with an 18 year old male driver with 1.25 litre petrol Ford Fiesta who has recently past their driving test facing a bill of up to £6,000.

This reflects the fact that insurance companies simply do not want to take on motorists who are statistically more likely to be involved in an accident and make a claim. However, there are things that drivers in this category can do to lower their premiums and make insurance affordable again. 

Improve your statistics

The factor which has the single biggest influence on insurance prices is the named drivers on the policy. This explains why there is such disparity in car insurance offers made to different age groups, as young drivers with less experience are statistically far more likely to be involved in an accident and make a claim.

One way of reducing the statistical likelihood is to completed an advanced driving course such as pass plus once your have passed your driving test. These usually cost over £100, but the insurance savings afforded through having such a qualification will very likely outweigh it in the long run.  

A cheaper, easier and quicker option which complements this is to add an additional named driver to your policy who is both older and more experienced. This basically means that driving duties will be shared between you and the additional drivers named on the policy. Insurers will take this into account and therefore offer cheaper car insurance premiums due to the fact that the young driver will be seen as spend less time behind the wheel during the course of the policy.

Fronting is even cheaper than this. This is where the young driver becomes the named driver on an older/more experienced person’s policy. However, this practice is illegal if the main policy holder is not the main user of the vehicle and you could therefore find yourself in trouble in the event of a claim being made.

Consider your vehicle

The second biggest factor on car insurance prices is your choice of vehicle. Every make of car is assigned to an insurance group numbered between one and twenty, with cars in insurance group one the cheapest to insure.

A young driver with very little experience should therefore opt for a vehicle in the smallest insurance group possible so as to ensure that their insurance premiums are affordable. To read more about this and find out what car options are available to young motorists, visit our car insurance groups page.

Safety and Security

You can opt to add approved immobilisers and alarms to your chosen vehicle to further reduce your car insurance expenses. As with pass plus, this will obviously cost more initially but could well save you money in the long run.

A cheaper option is to park your vehicle in a secure location such as a locked garage or secure driveway. This obviously reduces the statistical likelihood of your car being stolen or vandalised. Basic teaching here is that you should avoid parking your car on public roads whenever possible.

Mileage allocation

One of the questions you will be asked to answer is the number of miles you are going to be travelling over the duration of the policy agreement. Obviously the more miles you are planning to complete, the more likely it is that you will be involved in an accident and make a claim. Insurers are aware of this and will therefore offer cheaper premiums to drivers who set a smaller mileage allocation for their policy.

Bear this in mind when you are looking for car insurance, and set the smallest mileage allocation possible. This is a difficult balancing act because setting an allocation which is too low (that you know you will exceed) will render your policy void should you happen to make a claim once you pass this limit. The best advice is to give yourself a little bit of a buffer, but equally make sure that you are not paying for a large number of miles which you will defiantly not be using.

Shop around

The only way to be absolutely sure that you are getting the cheapest deal available is to compare prices available through every car insurance company on the market. Unfortunately there are hundreds of them, so the best advice is to utilise price comparison websites which will compare quotes available through the vast majority of the companies in a matter of minutes, saving you both time and money.

Bear in mind that not all companies agree to be featured on such websites. You should therefore do a bit of investigative work of your own to retrieve quotes from high profile companies such as Aviva in order to make sure you are getting the best deal available.

However, remember that the best choice does not always mean the cheapest deal. Some insurance companies may be offering substantially cheaper deals because they have omitted previously standard elements of their insurance package such as legal protection or European breakdown cover which might save you money in the long run. You should therefore make sure that the policy has everything you require before agreeing to it.

Get cheaper car insurance for young or newly qualified drivers

Young or newly qualified drivers will never get a car insurance policy which is “cheap”. However, there are things that they can do to make it “cheaper”.

Following the advice given in this article could help cut hundreds if not thousands off your car insurance policy, ensuring that you are not forced off the road by factors over which you have no control. 

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