Young driver insurance

The insurance group of your car can have a big impact on how much you pay. Cars in lower insurance groups are generally cheaper to insure as they’re usually smaller, less powerful, and cheaper to repair.

For young drivers, cars in insurance groups 1-19 are usually the most affordable to insure.

Black box insurance is one of the most common ways young drivers can reduce their premiums.

It uses a device fitted to your car or an app on your phone to monitor how you drive. It records your speed, braking, and the time of day you drive.

Insurers use this information to assess how safe a driver you are. The safer your driving habits, the lower your premiums are likely to be.

Black box insurance won't be right for everyone. If you’re looking for young driver car insurance without a black box, you could still save by choosing a car in a lower insurance group, avoiding modifications and limiting your mileage.

Read our full guide for top tips for getting cheaper car insurance.

Adding an experienced named driver to a policy for a young driver could reduce the typical cost by around £438⁴.

The typical price is £1,576 without an additional driver, compared with £1,138 when an experienced named driver is added to a policy where the main driver is under 25⁴.

However, it’s important to avoid fronting, which is when the main driver is misrepresented on the policy. This as a form of insurance fraud and it could invalidate your cover.

The excess is the amount you must pay towards a claim. Opting to pay more could lower the cost of your insurance, but be sure you can afford the excess if you need to claim.

Paying monthly for car insurance could cost around £225⁴ more than paying upfront.

The typical annual price for car insurance is £509⁴. Drivers who pay in monthly instalments typically pay £734⁴.

If you're able to pay in one lump sum, it could lower the overall cost of your policy. If not, it's worth weighing up the convenience of monthly payments against the potential extra cost.

Black box, or telematics, insurance monitors your driving through a device that’s fitted to your car or an app on your phone.

Insurance providers then look at the data collected to judge how safe a driver you are. The safer you are on the road, the lower your premiums are likely to be.

This might be useful for some young drivers who don’t have their own car.

You could take out temporary insurance if you need to use the car of a friend or family member, with cover lasting from an hour up to a month, or anything in between.

Those who don’t cover many miles could get cheaper young driver insurance by choosing a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) policy.

Instead of paying an annual premium or set monthly instalments, you only pay for the distance you drive, along with a base rate to cover your car while it’s parked.

By adding an experienced named driver – a parent, for example – to your policy, you might be able to lower the cost of your insurance.

That’s because you’re likely to be spending less time behind the wheel than if you were the sole driver.

Be mindful of ‘fronting’ though. This is a type of fraud where you mislead insurance providers about who does most of the driving.

Learning to drive in a friend’s or relative’s car? Learner driver insurance gives you separate cover from the car owner’s insurance. This means that if you have an accident, their no claims bonus won’t be affected.