Listen up Parents – Ways to save ££ on your child's car insurance

Insurance

0 min read

As anyone who’s ever had to pay for it will tell you, the cost of driving for young and first-time drivers is notoriously high and many decide to put off learning to drive altogether; sacrificing that little bit of freedom!

A recent study has showed that the cost of driving from driving lessons to buying a car is increasing massively, resulting in parents being thousands out of pocket too. The study has claimed that 54% of parents have contributed to the cost of driving lessons, with 28% having paid or are intending to pay towards their child’s first car.

Back in 2009, the combined cost of a new young motorist learning to drive, buying, taxing and then insuring their first car stood at £5,731. It's now increased by a whopping 20% - to nearly £7,000.

Unfortunately, there’s not much you can change as forking out for lessons and the cost of theory and practical tests are static. BUT there are few things you can bear in mind to help keep new driver insurance costs down:

Flash will cost you!

By choosing a more sensible car with a smaller engine in a low insurance group can lower insurance premiums and it makes sense to drive a car that is smaller and slower until you can build up your no-claims discount and show a safe driving record; it’s all about baby steps!

Adding a Driver

By adding a named driver with a clean license and several years claims free driving to a young driver’s policy could reduce their premium. This is one way a parent can help their child to get lower premiums without breaking the law.

 You could consider taking a Pass Plus course; unfortunately yes, it is more lessons but it would rule out any bad habits that you may have and go towards proving you’re more of a responsible driver. It’s important to note, however, that not every insurance provider will give you a discount for having a Pass Plus certificate.

Telematics policies

Another way around this is for young drivers to take out a telematics insurance policy, which uses a device to monitor their driving behaviour and can offer discounted insurance in return.

Introducing ChilliDrive; our telematics insurance which uses a small Bluetooth beacon and a smartphone app to monitor speeding, acceleration, braking and cornering to build up a picture of your driving.

ChilliDrive has the advantage over more traditional ‘black box’ style telematics policies in that it doesn’t require a black box to be fitted to your car, which can be expensive, invasive and time-consuming. There’s also no curfews attached to the policy, which young drivers typically tend to dislike.

Best of all, with ChilliDrive you can get significant discount on your car insurance up-front, sometimes up as much as £1,500*. For more information on ChilliDrive, you can visit the website or give our team a call on 028 3005 0111.

*Based on 65% of 100 customers saving over £1,500 -January 2018. Based on Brokers own data. Autoline and ChilliDrive are trading names of Autoline Direct Insurance Consultants Limited which authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority; 300071.