Find the painful truth about how much it’ll cost to help a child hit the road
Getting behind the wheel of your first car and cutting free from childhood restraints is a rite of passage for all of us… but claiming that sacrament of youth is rapidly becoming a debilitating financial burden on parents, too. Find out how much it’ll cost to set your offspring on the highway of life – and how you can slash that very same bill.
How much to get on the road
Here’s how the price of automotive freedom stacks up for new drivers and their parents…
The cost of getting a new driver on the road revealed…
Shock new research from price comparison website Gocompare.com has revealed that getting a young driver through their test and on the road in their first car is now a staggering sum of £6,537.
The price has jumped by more than 18% over the past five years, despite the UK’s plunging inflation rate.
Learning to drive: Typically, this will cost in the region of £600 once the cost of driving lessons, taking tests and obtaining a provisional licence have been added to the bill. Research shows young drivers will need an average of 20 lessons (costing around £24 each) before passing their test, so be prepared to pay around £480 for driving lessons alone.
Buying the car: Most of the increase in the cost of getting new drivers on the road comes from spending more on the first car; up from £2,477 in 2009 to a current average price of £3,825.
Insuring the car: Despite the overall increase in the cost of getting on the road, insuring the car for new drivers has actually fallen from £2455 in 2009 to £2232 in 2014. However, it remains a huge barrier for young drivers and their parents.
Price that parents pay…
It has also been revealed that it’s parents who are paying the price for spiralling costs of getting their children driving. Here’s how mum and dad are helping set their kids on the road to independence.
Getting a young driver on the road is a financial headache for parents, too
How to cut the cost of getting on the road
Cut the cost of motoring
With the average cost of getting a new driver on the road approaching £7,000, it might seem an impossible dream for many youngsters to get a wheel on the highway. Don’t buy the bus pass just yet, though; simply follow our cost-cutting guide to getting on the road.
Sensible cars: While a sparkling red drop-top with a prancing horse adorning the bonnet might seem the obvious choice to the average 17-year-old, opting for sub-1000cc city car nestling in a low insurance group could well offer the ever-so-slightly more cost-effective option. It’ll be cheaper to buy, cut insurance premiums and (hopefully) help them build up a decent no-claims bonus – and prevent the need for a second mortgage on the family seat.
Cheapest cars for new drivers to insure: Research shows that the Vauxhall Corsa is the number one choice for drivers under 25, but it’s also one of the most expensive to insure for the age group – costing an average of £1,304 to buy cover. If they took a more pragmatic approach and chose the Peugeot 107 instead, this would fall to an average of just £900. Here are the cars that young drivers tend to buy – and how much they cost to insure – compared with the cars they could buy to slash their (read ‘parents’’) costs.
What they should buy…
See how much you’ll save on these cars compared with the cars most young drivers choose.
| Cars that they should be buying | Insurance costs for under-25s |
|---|---|
| Peugeot 107 | £900 |
| Fiat 500 | £912 |
| Citroen C1 | £928 |
| Kia Picanto | £955 |
| Toyota Aygo | £970 |
...And what they actually buy
See how much extra young drivers are paying because of the car they choose.
| Cars that new drivers buy | Insurance costs for under-25s |
|---|---|
| Vauxhall Corsa | £1,304 |
| Ford Fiesta | £1,266 |
| Renault Clio | £1,248 |
| Volkswagen Golf | £1,702 |
| Vauxhall Astra | £1,402 |
Use a price comparison site: It might sound obvious, but some people still feel loyalty to insurance companies and blindly accept the auto-renew price that dutifully drops into their inbox. Never do this – head straight to one of these price comparison sites to reveal the price you’ll be paying for ‘loyalty’. Here are the top sites rated in order by MoneySavingExpert.com
1) Confused.com
2) Compare The Market
3) GoCompare.com
4) MoneySupermarket.com
Don’t miss these… Not all insurance companies get into bed with price comparison sites, but that doesn’t (necessarily) mean they’ve got anything to hide. Here are two companies you won’t find on the results page, but certainly shouldn’t be ignored…
Aviva: This company offers discounts for buying online, or for those adding a second car.
Get your quote here
Direct Line: Check the site to see if you qualify for extra discounts
Get your quote here
Choose to pay a higher excess: This is a bit of a gamble, but one you can play the odds with by comparing how much you’ll save on the policy with how much extra you’ll need to pay in the event of an accident. If your child was constantly dragging his/her bicycle home with buckled wheels and punctures, you might want to stick with a lower excess.
Consider a ‘telematics’ policy: These policies use GPS-enabled ‘black boxes’ or smartphone apps to track and monitor the young person’s driving. It will look at driving style, miles covered and times of day the user is on the roads. All this information is then analysed to work out the driver’s risk – and the policy is adjusted accordingly.
Insurers will look at the following types of data to determine if you’re more Lewis Hamilton or Driving Miss Daisy…
– The time of day or night you drive (11pm to 5am is likely cost more)
– Your speed
– Gentle braking reactions (erratic driving is not a cash-saving tip)
– Gentle acceleration and cornering (save it for the video games)
Here are some to telematics-based policies to consider.
Direct Line Drive Plus. This gives users a 25% discount upfront which can be removed if they don’t drive carefully enough.
More info here
Coverbox. This is a ‘pay as you drive’ scheme from Coverbox* which allows you to choose from as low as 3,000 miles and is available for a wide range of ages.
More info here
iKube: For 17-25-year-olds who are usually tucked up in bed between 11pm-5am.
More info here
Drive Like A Girl: Also at 17-25 year-olds who avoid driving at night, but this time between 11pm and 4am). And – before you get on the blower to the Equality and Human Rights Commission – it is open to boys, too.
More info here
Insure The Box: Lets you pick a 6,000, 8,000 or 10,000 mile-per-year policy for your premium, and then you can earn extra miles by driving safely – or buy more online if required.
More info here
Co-op. This policy fits a box into 17-24-year-olds’ cars to monitor acceleration, braking, cornering and time of driving. Drivers are then charged every 90 days with safe driving cutting the cost of each payment.
More info here
Untick the added extras: Have a close read through the policy being offered, it’s likely to have pre-selected added extras such as courtesy car, legal assistance, breakdown cover and key cover. All very well if you’re a well-off retired banker but not so essential for the average new driver. Search them out, untick – and see the price tumble.
Adding a safe driver: Adding another named driver with a clean licence and several years claim free driving to 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. However, don’t be tempted to add the experienced driver as the main driver to save more cash – this is known as fraud.
Drive safely: Ultimately, this is the best advice for any young/new driver and the only way to rapidly reduce insurance premiums – and allow them to move up a gear when it comes to style and power.
Test your driving with Intelligent Marmalade app
Get your driving score
Could you slash your insurance bills with telematics insurance? Young drivers – or anyone – can see just how safe their driving is with this free app from insurance firm Wanna Insure.
Simply leave it running while you’re driving and it will look at acceleration, braking and other factors to see how good your driving is – issuing a possible score out of 100. It will also tell you how much you could save on your insurance premium.
I would like to know where you the information that if takes 20 hours average average to pass the driving test?
The DVSA state it’s an average of 45 hours plus around 20 hours of private practice with friends or relatives.
Hello, If you read the article you will see the research used was undertaken by GoCompare.com. Thanks