Atomic Systems

Hey all! I don't want to be told off for advertising, but these days I know how hard it can be for young drivers to find a good insurance deal, but I've managed to find a great online deal, which may be helpful for others...

I've only been driving for a year and I'm only 19. But I would like to recommend The Co-operative. I managed to get £170 a month or £2500 a year! They ask for personal questions about how you drive and what you do. They also fit a smart box which tracks you’re driving, if you go over the speed limit, how fast you go around corners, etc... However...If you say you’re a 5* driver and never go over the speed limit, then the smartbox detects your speeding to many times, they send a warning and they can cancel the contract. For more information check out: http://www.co-operativeinsurance.co.uk/ ... urance-Car

Cheers,
Mike

Hello Mike
Personally speaking I think smart boxes are a good idea
There are too many idiots on the roads
I have recently given up my driving licence which I've had since 1994 and no penalty points in that time
My health has been failing recently and my memory is affected hence not being able to drive
Kind regards Stephen

Those monitoring boxes are a really good idea. Some young drivers really are idiots, and ruin it for everyone else in the same age bracket - so being able to tell the difference is great.

Even better is the one which includes a dashcam and facecam, and can be used as a feedback system to improve your driving. I'm not sure if that one is used in the UK though.

£2500 per annum WITH a tracker device?! What on earth are you insuring? Has the Stig set a time for it around TG's course?!!

I know you have to start somewhere but that seems way too expensive to me. Mind you my daughter had a Group 2 car and initially it was cheaper if her Mum and I were named drivers too. In actual fact it was cheaper to help her buy a car than it would have been to cover her on our placid old Mondeo! The insurers spluttered with disbelief when I was rude about a quote of £2,500 to add her as a named learner driver..... IT'S an 1800!!!!! They snorted.... as if that meant that it would outperform most supercars "It's also MY CAR, and she'll never drive it without me or my wife being present. Furthermore I'm actually MORE concerned about her driving it carefully than you are too ...because IT'S MY CAR..... " All that got me was "...well that's what the computer say's so take it or leave it!"

I just told her that if she got ANY convictions, had ANY accidents she could kiss the car goodbye, as insurance would become too great until she was over 25. I'm happy to say that she saw the sense of that and is very careful driving. She also never takes the car to any social event so that there is never any chance of her drinking and driving. Not that she would but youngsters (I was one a LONG time ago) do think it's funny to spike drinks etc. Maybe boys get clobbered more than Girls but even as a learner my daughter's was less than a £1000. That was with Elephant and then with Admiral .....which I think you'll find are the same thing. BTW that was in West London not in some quiet country district. We did pay for her to do "Pass Plus" which cost about £150 but she thought it was worth it. Unfortunately the only companies who'll give significant discount for this are the ones who are charging way too high a premium anyway. I think we get £5 p.a. off for that but it's good to get those extra non test skills taught to you professionally?

The joke is that this year with three years clean driving record her premium went up as did everyones! Not because of her age but to pay for all these parasites making ficticious personal injury claims! IMO providing information on an insurance claim or Road Traffic incident to a third party ought to be a criminal offence. My wife and I were bomarded with messages and calls after a minor repair when some scum bag broke into our car whilst she was walking the dog. Only the Police, The Glass replacement and the Approved repairer could have known about this apart from our insurer. One of those parties at least must have passed our details to a third party. Trouble is we're ALL paying the price for activities like that and the morons who think they're clever trying to fiddle a claim are paying for it too!

Geoff

It is important to note that whilst adding parents as named drivers to a young person's insurance can bring down costs, making the parent the insurer will cause tremendous trouble if the car is normally driven by the young person.

Tonysmedley wrote:It is important to note that whilst adding parents as named drivers to a young person's insurance can bring down costs, making the parent the insurer will cause tremendous trouble if the car is normally driven by the young person.

To be clear Tony. I made sure that the vehicle was registered in my daughters name and that she was the principal driver. None the less as a new driver the addition of us as named drivers reduced the premium. Two year in we added cost!!!! I don't even want to HEAR the LOGIC behind that! As a "family friendly forum" we need to protect the innocent from the vagaries of the Insurerers?

Geoff

PS A word to any parent thinking that they might share a second vehicle with their son or daughter .....DREAM ON! You'll never see that car again..

I drive about 14,000 miles each year mainly to and from work. I have business insurance on the car (condition of the car allowance from my old employer). At last renewal I thought about dropping that and they told me it would ADD £50 to my premium for dropping the business cover !

My brother is a senior underwriter for a major insurer and after a few drinks he will quite happily tell me that if insurance had been invented in the 1980s it would most likely have been banned by the EU as an act of legalised extortion. He really doesn't see how young drivers can legally drive like we did with the ridiculous premiums being quoted like £12,000 for a £2,000 1.6 Astra.

Easilyconfused wrote:I drive about 14,000 miles each year mainly to and from work. I have business insurance on the car (condition of the car allowance from my old employer). At last renewal I thought about dropping that and they told me it would ADD £50 to my premium for dropping the business cover !

My brother is a senior underwriter for a major insurer and after a few drinks he will quite happily tell me that if insurance had been invented in the 1980s it would most likely have been banned by the EU as an act of legalised extortion. He really doesn't see how young drivers can legally drive like we did with the ridiculous premiums being quoted like £12,000 for a £2,000 1.6 Astra.

The joke is John that they're balancing cost against risk statistics. Total payouts equals £X million There fore premiums = £X million divided by the reporetd accident rate by age, gender, address etc. etc. As the old joke went "he never had a single accident ....caused hundreds mind you......"

I have to admit that the performance of modern cars is staggering compared with my first car. My daughters 1.2litre hatchback will cruise effortlessly and quietly at 80 m.p.h. all day. 10 m.p.h. faster than any legal speed limit and that's driving it for economy rather than performance If my first car had hit 80 we'd have all driven to the pub to celebrate! IT WAS A VERY DIFFERENT WORLD back then ....

Seriously though the fact is that we pay for a potential claim from third parties rather than in any real relationship to our cars? Nowadays the only instrument that interests me is the trip computer. I almost have a hot flush if that m.p.g. reading dips below 50! I use cruise control to peg the speed limit and watch those with wider wallets rush pass me ....so that I can admire the back of their car at the next set of lights or crossing Diesels noisy?! well I've gone a bit deaf anyway...but look at the economy.....

geoff

Good morning
There are a lot of uninsured motorists on UK roads
Another growing trend among certain groups is that of getting someone else to take their driving test
I do agree about the compensation culture also contributing to rocketing premiums
When I took my driving test in 1994 I passed first time and was fortunate in having a very good instructor
As I mentioned earlier my driving days are over because of ill health making it unsafe for me to drive
I voluntarily gave up my driving licence
Kind regards Stephen

Easilyconfused wrote:I drive about 14,000 miles each year mainly to and from work.

Not wishing to start a "my mileage is bigger than yours" contest, but I drive some 20,000 miles a year - again to and from work. The company blows hot and cold about working from home at the moment, which seems a not unreasonable solution to the stress of driving and the benefits to the environment.

What really concerns me is the statistical possibility of being involved in an accident - the majority of the mileage is on the motorway - and it doesn't signify much whether I drive well because you can not plan for the actions of others.

I got a good deal from Aviva when I last switched, but I believe it will go up a lot this year so will need to compare, etc.

However once I retire in 2013 I will almost certainly not need to worry about car insurance as we won't be able to afford to run a car - significantly reduced income with a continuing significant rise in costs of fuel and insurance.

Oh well; it's being so cheerful that'll keep me going!!!!

Alec

On a slight skew, My son who is 25 this year recently fledged the nest (Yippee) and moved into his own place just around the corner (about 500 metres). His car insurance, despite having full no claims, went up by over 35% purely based on his new postcode.
Crazy

30-40% is the current hike in all car insurance Terry. They are blaming it loudly on the increase in the amount of personal injury claims. No doubt your post code makes a difference though. 30 years ago I moved about 2.5 miles South of where I'd lived that took me just outside of a Greater London Post Code. I informed them of my new address and thought nought of it. A week later I got a cheque for over £100 from them . I phoned and asked what it was for? "Oh you've moved out of London now!" came the reply. Well I've always thought you should never look a gift horse in the mouth....... whatever that means Needless to say my premium has continued to climb like everyone elses There's no value in loyalty nowadays either! When I finally had enough of hikes and shopped around I found cheaper, and inclusive of Recovery (that I'd always paid seperately). When I didn't renew they asked why and when told made no effort to match the offer at all.

Geoff

lateagain wrote:30-40% is the current hike in all car insurance Terry.
Geoff

Sorry Geoff, I should have been more clear... the 'hike' came about halfway through his insurance year, and (like you) came about simply because. as a responsible citizen, he notified them of his change of address...

I always had something against these smart boxes - probably because I would regularly collect my parents and relatives from nights out thus requiring me to drive within the 'banned' times. I was never one to be ragging my car late at night, but adding this box would automatically discriminate against me purely for doing someone a favour.

Insurance really is a black art, however. One of my friends who is only 7 months younger than me has bought a new car - nothing sporty or silly, just a nice car that will suit him well. However, as he had been driving less than 5 years, the premium was still fairly hefty, to the extent that adding me as a named driver, with only two years more experience, actually brought his insurance DOWN by £50!

The permutations are ridiculous; I've recently moved to what is considered a high risk area purely as it shares a postcode with a huge area, some of which isn't particularly desirable. Despite the fact the neighbourhood is in is a very nice area, I've still taken a hit on the insurance because of an estate some 3 miles away. Yet all of a sudden, I get a new job and it goes down again.

Passed my test in 2005, When my insurance for the car i bought for the price of the tax from my brother after it unexpectedly passed it's MoT before he went abroad. It was 1.4 fiat tipo poverty spec, insurance was £1650ish, however pass plus brought that down to £1200ish. Which was a lot of money for someone earning just £3.50 an hour. (As i was 17, yet as soon as i turned 18 it went up to £5.50ish while doing exactly the same work with absolutely nothing changed, but that's another time young people are/were ripped off)

If you can though, try getting a classic car, and importantly classic insurance. a morris 1000 or an MGB perhaps, can be had reasonably cheap for poor condition yet taxed and tested example. though i think you have to be over 21 for that, and you need to be relatively mechanically minded, or willing to learn.

Also if everyone was made to work for to pay for their own car, insurance, tax, petrol and cost of learning to drive, there would be a lot less crashes and dangerous driving than someone who knows mummy and daddy will just pay for it all for them.