How can you not feel sorry for teenage drivers? As a mum of two teen drivers – the youngest who passed his test only a couple of weeks ago – I can understand why they want to take to the road and enjoy an independent life, especially living in a village like we do. 
David, my eldest, has just inherited my trusty Honda Max through necessity as his university internship year which starts in September is based in Norwich and involves working anti social hours. It is essential he has a car, and having passed his test more than two years ago, he has had quotes for around £700 fully comp; thankfully, he will be earning enough to pay for it. However, that is a still a fortune for a student who has amassed huge debts over the last two years.
Single minded James is determined to own his own wheels too and struck a good deal on the golf course with a respected garage owner for a low mileage 1.2 Renault Clio previously owned by a local doctor from new. James is working extra hours in a nearby riverside pub to save towards it and will pay his insurance costs, which is always the biggest expense for new drivers. He has had quotes as high as £5,000, while friends tell him they are paying around £1,300. I insured my car to teach both boys to drive and it cost a fortune over the last two years, almost £200 a month, but I now feel enough is enough.
I am persuading James to take the Pass Plus test to improve his motoring skills, with the hope it will also reduce his insurance premium which it claims to do, and wondered if this was something others would recommend. I am not oblivious to the risks associated with young drivers, and have learned first hand about the devastation caused by boy racers when they get behind the wheel of a car through my role as chair of trustees for Headway Cambridgeshire, which provides rehabilitation for brain injured adults. The statistics also speak for themselves as boys aged 17-20 are almost 10 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on the roads, and one in five new drivers has a crash within six months of passing their test, according to the road charity Brake. They are scary stats.
I haven’t encouraged James to buy a car at such a young age, and wished he wasn’t, particularly with university looming next year, but he is determined and is confident he will earn enough to pay his insurance by monthly installments. Other boys may not be so fortunate, and I wonder whether these astronomical costs lead to many young drivers not paying for insurance at all, and they irresponsibly flout the law by driving without it.
At the risk of being swamped by spam comments from insurance companies (which will be instantly deleted), if any parents – or teens – can recommend insurance companies for young drivers, I will be pleased to hear from them.
*This Money Mail article confirms what James has thought – that Pass Plus does not result in cheaper driving insurance for teenage boys, so he is giving it a miss.
Teenage drivers and those with fast cars are sadly always going to be hit hard.
Well you know how I feel about car insurance for boys 🙁 and I would love to know where you found a quote for fully comp at £700 because believe me that is cheap compared to what i have been able to find.
Andrews first year was £800 and this year it was £740, that’s with one years no claims, and only for third party fire and theft.
The other thing that is a disgrace is the price you have to pay for paying by monthly installments in some cases it pushes the insurance up by another £150
You can see why i have not encouraged my younger son to take driving lessons just yet.
I think by having insurance at such stupid prices just encourages too many boys to drive with out insurance 🙁
Its the same here. I register my daughters cars and insure them. This is cheaper as its the excess that ramps up if they crash the car $2000.00 for them as $500.00 for me.
simon ..in England i think that is called fronting and is illegal but i know many people still do it 🙁
Ellee I would still like to know where you get that quote from 🙂
Sally, James believes the £5,000 quote was from Asda. In comparison, £800 is a bargain. I wish we could get it that price for James.
Ellee…. I was the £700 full comp quote i was interested in… where did that come from ??
Sally, you mean for David, not James. David is away in London with his girlfriend for a couple of days, I’ll ask him when he returns, though I know it was via an internet search.
the bad thing about it is, that teenagers really make a lot more accidents than older drivers, because otherwise the costs wouldn`t be so high for it. But i think it is everywhere the same…Britian, France, germany, etc. in order to help we should look how we could help teenagers to become better drivers, because when they are better drivers they cause less accidents and this would help their health and their money..
sorry for my english…
Perhaps people should drive until they are 19?
£ 700 – it is cheap. In Russia, insurance is much more expensive. 🙁
Igor, how much does teenage car insurance cost in Russia? What is the situation there? I would be very interested to hear.