Car Insurance - No driving experience

iamdonie1984

I am trying to get car insurance for a 2007 Opel Corsa, I have my provisional License for the last 6 years, my full test is in 3 weeks. I had my own policy in 2006 on an old car but I believe this no longer counts for driving experience. I have been named on a parents car but not a full year. I'm really having trouble getting a quote from anyone, I am 28 years old (male). No penalty points/convictions etc. The biggest problem I have is that I do not a have a full year driving experience. Does anyone know of any insurer who might give me a half decent quote. Axa quoted my €3000.00 I nearly had a heartattack when they told me that! It seems without at least the one years experience I can't get insured, surely this is not the case?

Any info/help would be great!!

Yawns

You can get insured with no driving experience but the price of the policy will reflect it. Ring around as many insurance companies as you can. Get the book out and start ringing. You don't even have 1 year as a named driver so you are basically starting from scratch with nothing. Expect to pay a hefty premium. Years ago €3k would have been cheap for a first quote, I know my brother was quoted around 5k for his. Prices have dropped a hell of a lot since then for first timers but it's still very expensive.

johnmcdnl

If your only 3 weeks away from your test it could be worth your while just trying to take lessons with an instructor in their car and when you have your full license you'll find it much easier to get a quote and the money you'll save on that quote will more than pay for the driving lessons you'll take.

iamdonie1984

Thanks, I am hoping that my named driver experience has amounted to one year and ended within the last two years (have a parent checking it out for me), it seems this would help a lot. Should I pass my full test in November, would this have much impact on my premiums or would the "no experience" rule still keep them high? Thanks again.

redarmy1929

Try Arran insurance, I have less driving experience than you, and i got a quote from them.

My quote on 03 Fiesta was 1800 though

iamdonie1984

Thanks for all the help guys. Will give Arran a call this week. Any other suggestions regarding Insurers?

jinkybhoy

try brittons in donegal. i've sent a few people there and they have been happy with the quotes

swervring

try Aon, i was surprised to see they're actually a broker & got a good deal with them. My first insurance quote I had no experience at all (not even named driver) and the best I got was from quoteme.ie

iamdonie1984

Last question I promise, do the online quotes differ much from what they would offer over the phone? Have quotes ranging from €1800 - €3200 at the minute!

jinkybhoy

sometimes but in your case you're probably better phoning as a lot of the companies might not quote online for you.

swervring

It's worth getting the online quote first & then ringing up about it. some places do a discount for getting the quote online.

djimi

Online quotes can vary wildly from what they will say over the phone. Talking to a real person is the only way; do not waste your time with websites.

iamdonie1984

You are right djimi, just got a quote over the phone with 25plus for €1240.00, the best yet so that could be a winner.

3ndahalfof6

djimi wrote: »

Online quotes can vary wildly from what they will say over the phone. Talking to a real person is the only way; do not waste your time with websites.

This is so true, a few days ago I was getting quotes for a friend (female), I done the online thing, it varied from 10k to 925,

who are the people fixing these quotes, as far as I know being a named driver on a policy will now count for your NCB, (I might be corrected on this),

iamdonie1984

3ndahalfof6 wrote: »

This is so true, a few days ago I was getting quotes for a friend (female), I done the online thing, it varied from 10k to 925,

who are the people fixing these quotes, as far as I know being a named driver on a policy will now count for your NCB, (I might be corrected on this),

Good point, how do the quotes vary so much, I thought about this and the only conclusion I came to was that Insurance companies (some) have breezed along through the last few years not undergoing any real change (I could be wrong on this), I don't know a whole lot about how insurance companies operate but it feels like the have priced up the market to suit all of them!

3ndahalfof6

iamdonie1984 wrote: »

Good point, how do the quotes vary so much, I thought about this and the only conclusion I came to was that Insurance companies (some) have breezed along through the last few years not undergoing any real change (I could be wrong on this), I don't know a whole lot about how insurance companies operate but it feels like the have priced up the market to suit all of them!

Something like this happened a few years ago (could be more than ten, but using the term few, helps me to feel young),

it let them set silly caps on what to charge, plus they shift the goal posts from year to year, I see the UK are now following their model,

where it used to be good value, (in the UK) companies competing against each other, they meet and set a high cap and agree to work within 30 percent of it,

but they will take a lot more revenue even if they lose 30% business, as the price hike is so significant.

there are ways to get round some of their stipulations but as this is Boards.ie I will not mention them, so I can keep my account open and Boards.ie out of court.

discombobulate

These were the cheapest when I got insured at 26 with no experience and provisional 2 years ago. Was 1350 on an 02 astra. Worth giving them a ring http://www.sheridan.ie/

My sister worked for Zurich at the time and said they were the cheapest broker at the time for insurance.

Scortho

Also see if putting a sister, partner or mother on your policy helps. I had my insurance in my own name at 18 for 3000.
By having my parents as named drivers on my policy it fell by 200 quid. Still have no reason as to why this happens!

3ndahalfof6

Scortho wrote: »

Also see if putting a sister, partner or mother on your policy helps. I had my insurance in my own name at 18 for 3000.
By having my parents as named drivers on my policy it fell by 200 quid. Still have no reason as to why this happens!

If the vehicle was in your parents name and they trusted you for three years, you will get three years cheap insurance and once you decide to go on your own three years later, you will have three years NCB,

there will not be much difference in the policy, it could save you the price of a nice vehicle.

3ndahalfof6

Why dose the original post look like it was copied and pasted from a book, or is it just me?

Yawns

3ndahalfof6 wrote: »

If the vehicle was in your parents name and they trusted you for three years, you will get three years cheap insurance and once you decide to go on your own three years later, you will have three years NCB,

there will not be much difference in the policy, it could save you the price of a nice vehicle.

Not all companies will shadow the named driving experience and out of those that will do it they don't have to give like for like. The 3 years as named driving experience might only get him 1 or 2 years NCB or none at all. It could of course also get him 3 years NCB but only if the insurance company wants to. While most if not all insurance companies will give you some form of discount for named driving experience, I don't believe they have to give it to you as a NCB.

3ndahalfof6

Yawns wrote: »

Not all companies will shadow the named driving experience and out of those that will do it they don't have to give like for like. The 3 years as named driving experience might only get him 1 or 2 years NCB or none at all. It could of course also get him 3 years NCB but only if the insurance company wants to. While most if not all insurance companies will give you some form of discount for named driving experience, I don't believe they have to give it to you as a NCB.

Yawns back, nothing ventured nothing gained, if your on the phone to theses people you can get a very good deal.

Scortho

3ndahalfof6 wrote: »

If the vehicle was in your parents name and they trusted you for three years, you will get three years cheap insurance and once you decide to go on your own three years later, you will have three years NCB,

there will not be much difference in the policy, it could save you the price of a nice vehicle.

as someone said some insurers won't recognize it. It worked out 1000 more expensive in year 1 but at 20 its now down to 840!:)
Also it meant I was insured to drive my mam's ML280 with no extra outlay. Much more fun than a Polo!:)

iamdonie1984

FYI guys I went with 25+, simply because of the price, just short of €1100 and has reduced further since I passed my test, very reasonable all things considered. Thanks for all the replies!

Yawns

iamdonie1984 wrote: »

FYI guys I went with 25+, simply because of the price, just short of €1100 and has reduced further since I passed my test, very reasonable all things considered. Thanks for all the replies!

Congrats on passing and that premium does seem high enough to me but maybe it's fairly accurate these days with the hikes. The NCB you'll now be earning will / should put a big dent in future premiums and bring them down for you. Best of luck!

djimi

Yawns wrote: »

Congrats on passing and that premium does seem high enough to me but maybe it's fairly accurate these days with the hikes. The NCB you'll now be earning will / should put a big dent in future premiums and bring them down for you. Best of luck!

€1100 for a male with no NCB and very little usable experience is a very good quote by any standard in fairness.

Yawns

True enough. I thought maybe he's a few years over 25 might have put him just slightly lower. Just slightly tho mind, I wouldn't be expecting him to get sub €1k quotes.