When a teenager passes their driving test, it’s a rite of passage. It’s a ticket to freedom on the open roads and taking that next little step up into adulthood. Whilst they might have passed their test, the reality is that car insurance for teenagers and students can be really expensive. There are ways to bring that expense down though. How do you save money on your teenager’s car insurance?
Choose Your Car Carefully
Research is your best friend when it comes to selecting a car to buy. It doesn’t have to be a new car, used cars will still get you from A to B. You need to check the insurance bracket that the car falls into. Insurance companies will charge more for cars that are more expensive to repair. If you buy something with a powerful engine or alloy wheels, you’ll end up spending more in insurance premiums.
Your Level Of Cover
If you’d struggle to cover the cost of your car if it was written off in an accident, you need to go for fully comprehensive insurance. If it’s a second hand car that isn’t worth a whole lot of money, you can maybe get away with third party, fire and theft. Make sure to double check the price difference between the policy types though, as fully comp is often cheaper!
Take An Advanced Driving Course
By taking an advanced driving course you can show that you have extra experience behind the wheel. Having one of these extra qualifications under your seat belt shows insurance companies that you have taken the initiative to better yourself. To pass advanced driving courses you need to demonstrate better driving. This will be seen as a positive by insurance companies and with many will help you save money on your teenager’s car insurance.
Check out these top tips from Money Saving Central.
Add A Voluntary Excess
Lots of insurance policies come with a compulsory excess, meaning you have to pay this in the event of a claim being made. You can also add a voluntary one, meaning you will pay more in the event of an incident. The more you put down that you will pay if something should happen, the lower your premium will be.
Add A Second Driver
You need to stay on the right side of the law with this one. You can add a second driver, a low risk one, in order to bring down your premium. Parents are often a great option for this. Be sure you don’t add them as the main driver tough. This is known as ‘fronting’ and is illegal. Simply having them as a second driver should bring the cost down.
Pay As You Drive
New technology is helping to change the cost of insurance. A smart box takes readings based on your speed, acceleration, braking, cornering and other variables to figure out how safe a driver you are. This then reduces or increases your insurance premium. Prove that you are a safe driver and you can save money on your teenager’s car insurance.
Shop Around
Be sure to shop around for your car insurance. A lot of well known insurance companies spend a lot of cash on advertising and have to recoup that cost somehow. Be simply doing a comparison on a website you can see just how cheap you can get your insurance for. You might be surprised at how much you can save.
