Insuring a new driver

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cremeegg

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My oldest is 18 and has a provisional licence. The plan is to get him a full licence within the year.

The family car is insured in my wife's name with me as named driver, we have a full no claims bonus.

We are insured with AIG for a number of years. They have quoted an extra €2,580 to add him as a named driver.

I would consider buying him a car and getting insurance in his name if that was not too much more expensive. Or would it be better to get his test and full licence first.

Any suggestions about the best approach very welcome..
 
Test and full licence first, my niece has passed her test few months ago, quotes for a car of her own were around 6k! Think it was about 1,400 to add her to mother's car, they had to cancel existing insurance though as they wouldn't take anyone under 25 and go with a new provider.
 
Test first, even if just to remove the temptation of him heading off by himself.

A colleague of mine recently used Aviva driving school for his eldest. He had to switch to Aviva for it, but said it worked out cheapest for them. 499 for the 13 mandatory lessons, and 6 month's free insurance on the family car. I can't remember the details after that, but I remember being surprised by how reasonable it sounded.
http://www.aviva.ie/driving-school/
 
cremeegg said:
My oldest is 18 and has a provisional licence. The plan is to get him a full licence within the year.

The family car is insured in my wife's name with me as named driver, we have a full no claims bonus.

We are insured with AIG for a number of years. They have quoted an extra €2,580 to add him as a named driver.

I would consider buying him a car and getting insurance in his name if that was not too much more expensive. Or would it be better to get his test and full licence first.

Any suggestions about the best approach very welcome..
Click to expand...

You'd be looking at twice that for him out on his own based on a quote i did about two weeks ago.
 
I'd second the Aviva Option and can give a worked example.

I switched to Aviva and 17 year old started out on the 499 package for 13 lessons, Instructors were busy and it was sometimes hard to schedule lessons in a timely fashion. We utilized the 6 months accompanied driving to give him as much experience as possible.

Following on from that there is a €199 option for 3 months accompanied driving and 6 Pre Test lessons which we also utilized.

At this stage my Son applied for his test and I put him on my insurance as a named driver prior to and over the test. Got the test 2 months later and availed of the Instructors Car and a pre test lesson for €99.

Passed the test and remained on my insurance for a couple of months to have a years named driving experience.

Think there may be a new module with Aviva now once you pass your test to get a further 3 months driving and I think 6 lessons to build on passing your test that you need to do to get a quote in your own name.

After a year as outlined above Insurance on a 1.2 litre car worked out at about €1470 with me as a named driver on his policy. Aviva and Liberty were close to each other in price when shopping around and much more competitive than other companies, many of whom didn't want his business.

Sounds like a bit of work I know and a bit of jumping through hoops but it worked out ok in our case.

So to answer the OP, we did test and licence first using the above approach.
 
Have used Aviva twice, very good, eldest still with them 5 years on, insurance reasonable for him, great that Aviva have the cop on to price competitively to keep these new drivers on their book, can't say enough good things.

Younger guy paid €1800 odd comp, breakdown cover etc on a 1.2 car, renewal after first year €1400' not enough of a reduction for him but he is 19.

Aviva all the way.
 
Thanks all for this. I have renewed my own insurance with Aviva, cost was €58 less than the renewal quote from my existing insurer. I will now buy the €499 package for 13 lessons plus accompanied driving package. That seems excellent value. The lessons alone would be over €300 outside the Aviva package.
 
Cremeegg Can I give you one further piece of advice. When you arrange the insurance cover for your son/daughter don't leave any gaps transferring between packages. I mistakenly had a 2 day gap over a bank Holiday and it meant that my son wasn't recognised by other insurance companies as having a years named driving experience as there was that break but he had over 3565 days if you know what I mean. Key message I would give you is no gaps and try to build up a year named driving utilising the packages as much as possible.

Best of luck
 
Very useful information.
Question, would the cost differ much for say a 1.6 deisel and 1.2 petrol for a 17 year old. I need to buy a car that I plan to use to teach my son when 17 to drive and don' want to buy something that will cost a fortune to insure.
Thanks.
 
HollyBud said:
Very useful information.
Question, would the cost differ much for say a 1.6 deisel and 1.2 petrol for a 17 year old. I need to buy a car that I plan to use to teach my son when 17 to drive and don' want to buy something that will cost a fortune to insure.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Substantially. stick with a small engined car under 12 years.
 
HollyBud said:
I need to buy a car that I plan to use to teach my son when 17 to drive and don' want to buy something that will cost a fortune to insure.
Click to expand...

When considering models, try entering the details into some of the insurer's online quote tools. Use a false name so they don't hound you or you don't end up issues having been refused a quote.

Depending on claims history, there can be a significant difference in the prices quoted for similar cars with the same engine size. Often, the smaller cars that are more attractive to the boy racer types end up involved in more incidents resulting in claims, so will be more expensive to insure.
 
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