Passing your practical driving test is incredibly exciting, but now it’s time to hit the roads on your own! Whether you’ve just bought a car or you’re still searching for your first motor, insurance is an essential consideration.
To help you and other new drivers secure comprehensive and affordable cover, here are some practical strategies to adopt and common pitfalls to avoid.
Understand which factors influence insurance premiums
Firstly, you’ll need to know about some of the common areas where young drivers get caught out with higher prices.
Unfortunately, it’s a fact that new drivers are more likely to be involved in dangerous collisions on the roads. Leading road safety charity Brake found that 1 in 5 drivers crash within 12 months of passing their test.
Due to the statistics, insurers deem new drivers as higher risk. This means there’s a stronger chance of a claim being made against their policy.
Both to protect profits and to remain competitive against other insurers, brokers typically quote more on the same car for a new driver compared to someone more experienced. This might feel unfair, but everybody is in the same boat.
Effective strategies to lower insurance costs
Despite the unavoidable high prices for young drivers, there are a few ways to lower the price you pay over time. With careful driving habits and proactive research, you can find affordable and comprehensive young driver insurance.
Some policies include telematics devices attached to the car. These are also called black boxes, but each device works differently and will be policy-dependent.
Telematics devices record vital metrics to assess your driving quality and safety. These may include acceleration rate, braking speed, average speed habits and more. By collecting this information, your insurer will adjust the level of risk you present. This may lead to a cheaper policy for next year!
Common pitfalls
Before you go ahead and buy a policy, just make sure you’ve checked the most common pitfalls and mistakes that young drivers fall into:
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Failing to disclose modifications
Modified vehicles are always trendy amongst younger drivers. If you’re thinking of making any change to your car, it’s vital that you formally disclose this with your insurance provider.
It could be anything from an upgraded exhaust to an internal part that you can’t see or notice from the outside. It may feel insignificant, but if you failed to disclose any changes to your insurer and then need to claim, you could face serious consequences.
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Fronting
In an attempt to make their policy cheaper, new drivers sometimes list a member of their family as the main driver on the policy when that’s simply not the case.
If you’re the one who’ll be doing most of the driving, it’s vital that you list yourself as the main named driver. You may even be found guilty of insurance fraud if a serious claim case goes to court.
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Keep informed
Finally, try to make sure that you’re in the know about all the most recent criminal activity affecting young drivers.
Even though it might feel like the type of thing that could never happen to you, scam everywhere and no one is immune to crime attempts.
With some prudent planning and by avoiding the common mistakes that new drivers make, you can get covered and hit the roads in confidence.
