A learner driver has been quoted a staggering £17,000 to insure his £2,000 Vauxhall Corsa. Student James Hayes, who turns 17 next week, saved for months to buy his modest one-litre car but has been astonished at the sky-high quotes for insurance. He will have to work flat out over the summer to pay the premiums. His case highlights how insurers are increasingly using prohibitive premiums as a weapon against young male drivers. The failure of insurers to offer reasonably priced insurance is being blamed on an explosion in uninsured drivers, which drives up the cost of cover for others and leads middle-class parents to commit a crime by putting themselves as the main driver on their children's cars. This reluctance to insure young men is based on accident statistics. Men aged 17 to 20 are almost ten times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on the roads than older drivers, while one in five new drivers has a crash within six months of passing their test, according to road safety charity Brake. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) says the average claim of a younger driver is also three times more than older drivers. But their refusal to cover male teenagers for affordable premiums has led to almost a quarter driving uninsured, according to Brake. And this ends up costing all motorists as they foot the £500million annual bill for accidents caused by uninsured drivers. Fines for driving without insurance can be as small as £200 plus six points on the licence. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1298150/17-000-insure-teenagers-car.html?ITO=1708&referrer=yahoo#ixzz3SATsCI57
After I was hit by a drunk driver when I was 18 and had my car totalled - not only by the initial impact but by being rammed off the road afterwards so that the cretin could make his escape - I was quoted £4,000 a year to insure an 11 year old £500 Skoda Favorit even though the police report stated that I was not at fault and could not have possibly avoided the accident. That's a pretty similar ratio. All the insurance companies want to see is that you're a teenager, a male, and have been in an accident (at fault or not) and they have the perfect excuse to gouge you (or your parents) for having the audacity to be on the road. Sometimes insurance companies can be a good thing. In my personal experience, however, they've been rather predatory and unhelpful. All the best, Andrew.
My son is 18 and was quoted up to £4,500 TPFT on a £750 1.0 Corsa, and he is still a learner and I would be with him in the car at all times. Eventually went with these guys http://www.collingwoodlearners.co.uk/ £1050 fully comp. but only valid until he passes his test.
getting insurance in Britain is tough and expensive...but trying to get them to pay is sometimes neigh on impossible! A friend of mine had his car insured to an agreed (key) value of £25000. Car was stolen 8 months later, bunch of investigations and 8 months go by, and he gets paid out the grand total of £8500 'because according to our research your car is only worth that amount at this time'. So not only did he not have a car for 8 months (in theory), he couldn't buy 'the same car' either if he found one. Scum of the earth.
Yes, I still think in the UK we should do what they do in the US and I think in Europe or at east some of it anyway which is, to insure the car not the driver so no matter how old you are the price is always the same for that car, obviously the more powerful and the large the engine the car has the more the insurance will be but it means if you can afford the car you can afford the insurance. Much better system IMO but it won't happen because the insurance companies make so much money from people from 17 to around 21 which is the first point which the cost decreases.
With an Agreed value, if you suffer a loss, you and the insurer have already agreed that your car is worth X, and there's no debating. A Stated value policy just means -you- think its with X, and they use it in part to set the premium. If you suffer a loss, THEN the insurer starts to think about what THEY believe your car to be worth. I can guarantee you won't agree.THATS THE LAW HERE IN THE STATES, I WOULD HIGHER AN ATTORNEY TO RECOUP THE DIFFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!
They had an Agreed value, because the car was extensively modified (600bhp+ engine, AP racing brake kit, Zeal coilovers etc etc). He couldn't afford to hire an attorney to debate it, even though IMO you can basically do the case yourself. And then the UK insurance companies wonder why people drive without insurance after they get treated like this, after paying ££££'s each year!!
That's interesting. Could work, but then I assume it'll be third party only? Because every idiot on benefits would be buying cars every day and tell the insurance company the car was stolen... I have thought about it, I recon you can make good money if you could find a way for the fire/theft of a car. The market for under 21s would be all yours.
Yeah...... Won't happen, the insurance companies make to much money out of young drivers usually male that crash a lot.
Interesting idea; but I'd venture that the person driving is as much, if not more, responsible for an accident than the vehicle itself and therefore it makes more sense to have the premium based on the person as well as the vehicle. Does the US system apply any loading to the policy premium based on the driver circumstances? Edit to add: I'm glad I'm not 17 and trying to insure a car. You all have my sympathy with the prices being charged these days.
my insurers tried the same thing with me (on a smaller monetary scale) on a porsche 924.. agreed value policy/fully comp blah .. agreed value = x payout took 9 months while the car deteriorated in a salvage yard suggested payout = x/3 after some probing questions I found that their "valuer" was a lad who looked on ebay to see what stuff was on at, averaged it and arrived at his professsional opinion of "current market value" I listed my other 924's with optimistic prices and emailed him screenshots of the auctions I cracked when the offer doubled, fixed the car for a ton and went to glastonbury
Scum aren't they? Especially the 'valuer'. They did exactly the same, they basically said 'well we looked at autotrader and the average is £7999 so we're not paying you £25000 matey'. They refuse to pay out for so long because the money you've paid them is invested by them into something else. On a small scale it won't make a difference but what if you have 100000 people paying you £150 a month? all of a sudden that does make a difference if you can hold on to that money for as long as possible .
After many years of paying my premiums, I now conclude insurance is a waste of money. Motor cover is legally required but all the rest is pointless. I have never had a claim of any sort - if I was burgled I could buy my contents several times over with wha I have paid those parasites. Building costs are a fraction of the cost of the land. If you are young and don't waste your money. And as observed above, motor claims are disputed or underpaid.
