21yr old, first car & insurance

naughtysmurf

I've a couple of questions in relation to my son, he looking to purchase his first car this year, he has a full license but hasn't driven since passing his test due to lack of opportunity really, he would have been on my Aviva policy while learning, the Aviva driving school thing for 9 or 12 months, can't recall.

As regards the car, it's going to be one of the usual 1L - 1.2L suspects, are 10 year old cars out of the question for him as regards insurance, does he need to be looking at 8yr old to give him a couple of years driving at least?

Are there any particular makes & models we should avoid from a reliability perspective, what do you recommend, assume probably an 11 reg?

Any first hand insurer recommendations, even those that use GPS devices, I know it will be expensive anyway, he won't be doing huge milage, in & out of college locally tipping around the town if it matters

If there is anything else I need to know, please feel free to advise

Thanks

Dia1988

You've not mentioned a buget so I'll just guess.

You'd be surprised what you can get.

He might like this and insurance should be low on it as it's new

https://www.donedeal.ie/otherelectronics-for-sale/lovely-pink-electric-car-in-good-condition/20697100

naughtysmurf

Budget is as cheap as possible, maximum 4k-5k I'd say

troyzer

naughtysmurf wrote: »

Budget is as cheap as possible, maximum 4k-5k I'd say

I recently bought a 142 Fiesta for €7k. Great little car.

I'm sure if you went all cash and were looking to get a lower spec, slightly older model it'll come under budget. It's a 1.2 so not too expensive to insure.

It's only my second full year of driving so I'm quite sensitive to insurance prices as well.

Getting insured for a reasonable price is difficult.
I bought a 2011 Micra 2 years back and got insurance from Liberty with parents as named drivers.
I pay 100 a month for 3rd party, which isn't bad considering some people are getting quoted 5K.
I'm 33 though, which possibly helps.

Before buying a car, i got the registration number and ran it through the online quote page to see how much I could expect it to be.

naughtysmurf

[Deleted User] wrote: »

and got insurance from Liberty with parents as named drivers.

Is this important as regards the premium price?

troyzer

naughtysmurf wrote: »

Is this important as regards the premium price?

Putting a named, low risk driver on the plan lowers premiums for some reason. Sometimes dramatically, even if they never drive it.

troyzer

troyzer wrote: »

Putting a named, low risk driver on the plan lowers premiums for some reason. Sometimes dramatically, even if they never drive it.

Exactly. Im 33, I don't even live near my parents and they will never be driving the car.

The quote I received before adding them was something like 4K.

It doesn't impact my parents insurance in any way either.

Vic_08

The ridiculous 10 year cutoff only applies to a few insurers, Aviva is one of them AFAIR, don't be bullied into avoiding older cars by these fukkers.

There really is no shortcut to putting the time in going through as many insurers as you (he) can bear and adjusting any parameters (adding named drivers, TPFT/comprehensive and anything else you can think of while still being truthful) with each one to get the best quote.

Pick a few likely cars across age/price range and use them to get quotes, there's no point spending an extra €200 on a newer car just to get €500 off an insurance quote.

There is no formula of what specifics will generate the cheaper quote, no reliable list of cheap-expensive insurers and just because someone else gets a good quote with xyz doesn't mean you will.

It's a complete PITA to do and unlike the UK there are no decent comparison websites here. There are a number of brokers, some online (AA for example) some not, however some are tied to specific insurers and will only quote from the one company, even then brokers often give different (not necessarily cheaper) rates to a direct quote from the underwriting company.

There is a list of insurers here which is a good place to start.

Tell the young lad that a part of motoring in Ireland is spending a few hours every year giving all his details to a bunch of parasites and send him off.

Once he's done that successfully I'd get him to do your insurance as well because it sounds like you are just renewing with the same crowd which is rarely the cheapest option. None of these companies are your mates, being loyal to them gets you screwed.

keyboard_cat

Regarding insurance If he is in college and between address he should try both addresses as this can play a big role in insurance cost i reduced mine by nearly 50% (1300 down to 700) by changing my insurance to my actual address instead of my parents house which I always used out of habit.
I was shocked at the reduction considering they are both rural addresses 15 mins away from each other

Another thing you can do is put him on an advance driving course (I did IAM) I think it costs about 400 to do but aviva offers 20% off with certain advance driving courses if his insurance is over 2k it will pay for itself straight away

troyzer

keyboard_cat wrote: »

Regarding insurance If he is in college and between address he should try both addresses as this can play a big role in insurance cost i reduced mine by nearly 50% (1300 down to 700) by changing my insurance to my actual address instead of my parents house which I always used out of habit.
I was shocked at the reduction considering they are both rural addresses 15 mins away from each other

I wonder if GDPR allows you to make an SDR for the actuarial model behind your quote or premiums.

It seems absolutely bizarre how big a saving/loading some of the most minor and seemingly inconsequential things can be.

Duffryman

keyboard_cat wrote: »

I was shocked at the reduction considering they are both rural addresses 15 mins away from each other

Something similar with myself a few years ago when we moved just two miles out the road, from a housing estate in a large village/small town to a new build in a countryside spot.

I rang the insurance company just to give them the change of address. They said 'hold on, let's see if it affects the premium', and a minute later they were telling me I could have €150 back.

My insurance wasn't huge anyway - used to be approx €500 per year - but that brought it down to €350-ish, and that's where it's stayed ever since.

garv123

troyzer wrote: »

Putting a named, low risk driver on the plan lowers premiums for some reason. Sometimes dramatically, even if they never drive it.

They look at it as if the high risk driver isn't going to be doing 100% of the driving, so less risk, madness really.
I've always done it, and still always cheaper to have my Girlfriend and mother on the policy.
A friend in her 40's moved home from the UK recently, full licence, plenty no claims in the UK, but because it was a company car no company would allow her to use her NCB here.
€1500 quote, told her to add x & y as a named driver, quote reduced to €700

gooner99

Recently been looking at insurance since my son has turned 17. Looking for my wife as main driver with myself and my 17 year old as named.So please bear that in mind as your situation is a little different.

What I found.

We are with Allianz and the policy is due for renewal next month, so they weren't in a position to give a years quote. I will be try them for a proper quote when I get the renewal. But from a quick call they said age and engine size have a big impact.

I then tried a broker. Our car is a 04 golf 1.4. Only Liberty came back with a quote for this car at 2500 for TP (comp not available). When the guy changed the car to a 2010 golf 1.2 tsi loads of insurers showed up and AXA were the cheapest at 1260 TP and 1700 Comp. He said that the sweet spot is 5-10 years old, so not too new and not too old and 1.0-1.4 engine size.

I then tried Liberty. They seem to be the only ones that will let you do a quote online with young named drivers (the others will, but you seem to get the we can't quote you online at the end). So this would be a good place to start. Just a few examples. Our 04 golf 1.4 came in at 2250 tp (comp not available). 2010 golf 1.2 tsi came in at 1600 tp and 1900 comp. I played around with others and what I found is that it seems to depend on age (not too old), engine size (1.0-1.6 - lower cheaper and higher dearer). But also power output seems to be a factor. For example I put in a Fiesta 1.0 65hp and got a quote. But when I put in a Focus 1.0 125hp it failed to quote. Focus 1.6 115hp was ok. So from that and from reading it somewhere else (can't remember where, maybe someone on here will confirm) anything over 115hp is also loaded or refused.

I will try some others when I get my renewal. The names I've been given as good for young drivers are Liberty, Aviva, AXA, FBD.

OP. Try Liberty online as you can chop and change persons to be insured and cars you are thinking off. so you can get a fairly good idea.

garv123

gooner99 wrote: »

Recently been looking at insurance since my son has turned 17. Looking for my wife as main driver with myself and my 17 year old as named.So please bear that in mind as your situation is a little different.

What I found.

But from a quick call they said age and engine size have a big impact.

When I was 20, I was looking for my first car on a learners permit,

I searched plenty cars and got plenty quotes, what I found was, common cars that young people drive are in a higher risk class.

Roughly for a polo, micra, yaris fiesta, all (1.0-1.2L) I was looking at €2,200.

I saw a 1.4 seat Ibiza 100bhp, sport. Chanced it for the craic, €1600, asked why and he said its not a common car for young drivers.

gooner99

garv123 wrote: »

When I was 20, I was looking for my first car on a learners permit,

I searched plenty cars and got plenty quotes, what I found was, common cars that young people drive are in a higher risk class.

Roughly for a polo, micra, yaris fiesta, all (1.0-1.2L) I was looking at €2,200.

I saw a 1.4 seat Ibiza 100bhp, sport. Chanced it for the craic, €1600, asked why and he said its not a common car for young drivers.

Yeah, insurance is bizarre in this Country.

homosapien91

I'm 27, in my third year of driving with a full licence, the quotes I get on renewal are ridiculous! Liberty seem to have been the most reasonable for me the past few years so I have stuck with them, my premium is slowly but surely going down every year! On speaking with friends in their 20's Liberty seem to be the most reasonable all round for young drivers

garv123

homosapien91 wrote: »

I'm 27, in my third year of driving with a full licence, the quotes I get on renewal are ridiculous! Liberty seem to have been the most reasonable for me the past few years so I have stuck with them, my premium is slowly but surely going down every year! On speaking with friends in their 20's Liberty seem to be the most reasonable all round for young drivers

Same age and same as yourself with liberty, no one else will even quote me for a 04 2.0 4x4.
Changing my job title also saved me a few quid, any bit of a step up to a better position changes the quote, I went from Technician to supervisor and it went from €800 to €650

JohnBoy26

Vic_08 wrote: »

The ridiculous 10 year cutoff only applies to a few insurers, Aviva is one of them AFAIR, don't be bullied into avoiding older cars by these fukkers.

The cut off is for 15 year old cars and applies to a lot of insurers. Some start loading premiums on cars 10 years or older though but all will insure them afaik.

selectamatic

As above.
A sub 1.2L car doesn't necessarily mean cheap insurance even for cars less than 10 years old. Only way ye'll know is through trial and error getting quotes on different cars.

In my experience 105bhp or 100bhp tdi skodas tend to be pretty handy insure.

Either way a 21 year old with 1 year claims free named driving experience is looking at around 2k give or take a few hundred to insure anything.

Also make sure at least 2 older people with full ncb's are named on the policy as this usually knocks a few hundred off.

younggalway

Im 25 and this is my third year with Axa, still couldn't believe I was getting quotes for over a grand with 3 years no claims in my own name. If he's going to be paying monthly they have a StudentFirst policy where the payments are spread over 12 months equally with no interest added which I've found handy. I was still technically a student when I renewed last summer so this will be my last year getting this. Well worth it if you're paying monthly.

Out of interest I got quotes on much more expensive/ newer cars with the same details and got the same price or less on them so I'd say im getting a loading for driving an 05 car. Mind you I'd say I rang every insurance company at the time and the quotes were all about the same so I don't know if they all apply a loading on old cars but seems so.

gooner99

Yeah that's the thing here. Different insurers have different criteria and some of it is just plain odd. In our case we need to change car anyway. So insurance quotes will have some say in that.

homosapien91

younggalway wrote: »

Im 25 and this is my third year with Axa, still couldn't believe I was getting quotes for over a grand with 3 years no claims in my own name. .

I can't seem to get a quote for less than a grand with 3 years no claims in my own name, I tried Axa and I actually felt insulted with what they quoted me!