Practically Classics Forum

My 17 year old apprentice has just bought his first car, a lovely 998cc mini mayfair , his insurance is astrinomical £2600 fully comp. He passed his test first time and has pass plus. He only paid £1300 for the car , so how can the premium be so high. Does anyone know of an insurance firm that would help him. I told him i would try to help , as an apprentice he doesn't get paid much. thanks

Try Footman James - they like to insure younger drivers. Also, joining a club tends to take it down.

I was quoted £1300 to insure my Spitfire 1500 (worth £1300) about three months ago, by FJ and through the TSSC.
(Haven't taken my test yet though )

Unfortunately younger drivers are rated on the amount of damage they might do to other people / other cars - the value of their own car doesn't really come into it.

£2,600 does sound a bit steep though!

Did he ring around many companies or brokers? I think that many of the classic insurance brokers tend to focus on the over 25's, but most general brokers will cater for younger drivers too. Phone round the ones that advertise in Practical Classics, then get on t'internet.

It's really a case of phoning round as many as possible to see what they come up with. Best to go for the highest possible excess (the amount the your apprentice will have to pay if he has a claim). Higher excess = lower premium (an incentive to drive carefully and build up No Claims Discount).

Occupation also has a bearing on premium. Check what occupation they have him listed as ('Motor Trader' would cost more than 'Motor Mechanic').

£2600 is a good price for a 17 year old - best quote our son could get for a 1 litre Polo was £3800 !!
He's decided to to keep to his motorbike for the next six months then put it on the road when he' turns 18... and the price will be nearer £1600.

17 yr old miss Rusty's 998cc Metro costs just over a grand but that's on a learner driver policy where someone with a full licence is supervising..i.e. me! Her test is coming up soon and preliminary quotes vary wildly. It may not be fast and I may have only paid 260 quid for it (but rust free!!!! ) but it can still do a lot of expensive damage to someone's Bentley or whatever.

Have you looked at insure the box? the girl over the road from us has halved her premium by having the insure the box tracker policy- basically they monitor your driving patterns:speed, braking, times of day, etc, and charge you accordingly. I'm surprised it hasn't been taken up by other companies as an idea.

And then the insurance industry wonders why some young-un's don't bother with their products.
Seriously, if he can wait a year or so, that extra year will save him quite a bit.
Trouble is: New driver, very high probability of accident in the first year of driving due to inexperience + Young Bloke, again presumed to be a rat boy in a chavved up Nova = F. Off quotes
I was lucky that I didn't get a car / insurance till I was over 21. That was pricy, but only in 3 figures, and the vehicle was worth 4

My friend has just passed his driving test; 1989 Mini Neon, 998cc, modified with wider minilites, stripes, different colours, bucket seats, steering wheel and big arches. He's just texted me that with Footman James he's getting 4500miles a year, 3rd party for £935.50.

I always used Adrian Flux when I was younger, so much cheaper than anyone else. Worth a try.

None of the 'classic' insurance companies are interested in teenage business: they only want low mileage low risk stuff, FJ won't insure anyone under 25 and nor will any of the others: even if you're over 25 they want you to have held a full licence for at least 5 years. They advertise that they'll do 'young' driver insurance but their definition of young is different to most peoples, and unfortunately for miss Rusty insure the box won't do cars over 15 years old.

The best quote she's had so far is £2200, and a lot of comapnies won't even quote at all because a Metro Mozaic doesn't exist according to the computer.... it's basically only City spec with a sunroof but computor says no.....

I have the same trouble with my Rover, it's an SEi, an end of production runout model with stuff like half leather seats and alloys and the like fitted just to get rid of stock but again, computor says it doesn't exist.

As a driving instructor this is an every day topic with my pupils. What I have noticed is that the cost of insurance has rocketed this last 6 months, quotes of several £k being common.The only thing new drivers can do is take a pass plus course and then shop around. My school car is insured with Adrian Flux (approx £370 ) and when some clown ran into the back of us their handling of the claim was 1st class. Will not be giving them the Wolseley insurance though as RH are much cheaper for classics