Student car insurance

Fronting is when someone claims to be the main driver of a car, but another person, who is also named on the policy as an additional driver, actually drives it more. This is usually done as an attempt to reduce the cost of insurance premiums.

To avoid fronting, be 100% honest with your insurance provider. You don’t have to be the principal policyholder, but if you use the car more than your parents, say, you must be named as the main driver.

Yes, you must be honest with your insurance provider about your occupation. If you provide false information to your car insurance provider, you could invalidate your policy.

This could prove extremely costly if you needed to make a claim, and could make it harder to find cover in future. In addition, without the correct insurance to drive your car, you risk a fine and points on your licence, or worse.

Optional extras you can add to your student car insurance policy typically include:

• Breakdown cover – for roadside assistance and recovery if your car breaks down

• Courtesy car cover – includes a temporary replacement vehicle if your own car is written off or is undergoing repairs

• Legal expenses – this may pay for legal fees resulting from a car insurance claim

• Lost keys cover – could cover the cost of replacing your keys if they’re stolen or lost

• Windscreen cover – this can pay for repairs to your windscreen if it’s chipped, cracked or needs replacing.

For insurance purposes, your address should be the place where your car is kept for most of the year.

If you’re taking your car with you to uni, this could be the address of your halls or student accommodation. Or it could be your family address if you’re planning to mostly leave it with your parents during term time.

If you decide not to take your car with you to university, there are a few options when it comes to your car insurance:

• Maintain your insurance

  You could keep your policy running and your car taxed. Inform your insurance provider that you won’t be using the car very much, or if someone else is going to be doing most of the driving.

• Register your car as SORN

  Even if your car is sitting on your parents’ drive unused, you’ll still have to tax and insure it. To avoid tax and insurance, you’d have to make a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN), which would also mean you couldn’t drive or park your car on a public road.

Some insurance providers may charge you an additional excess, typically called a young driver excess, if they consider you high risk because of your age. Whether you’re subject to this excess may depend not just on age but on how long ago you passed your test.

With a policy like this, if you made a claim, you’d need to pay:

• Any young driver excess, plus

• Any compulsory excess detailed in the policy, plus

• Any additional voluntary excess you agreed when you took the policy out.

Modifications – any kind of alteration made to your vehicle that changes it from the manufacturer’s standard spec – tend to make car insurance more expensive. That's because they can make cars more of a target for thieves.

You could save around £20 on your insurance simply by avoiding modifications. It might not be much, but every penny counts, especially when you're a student³.

Most professional driving schools will include insurance for you to drive in the instructor’s car in the price of the lessons. But you’ll need student driver insurance if you’re learning to drive in a friend or family member’s car, even if it’s just for occasional practice between lessons.

Read our guide to insurance for learner drivers.

Once you leave uni, you’ll need to contact your insurance provider and update your policy with your change in occupation and any change of address.

You may find that your car insurance is more expensive than you’d expect as an older student. That's because your occupation is listed as ‘student’, which is typically considered a high-risk category.

But as a mature student, insurance providers also look at other factors including your age, your driving history and where you live when they calculate your insurance premium.