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Young Drivers Insurance
Young drivers face the problem of obtaining affordable car insurance and you need to shop around to get the best deals from insurers that are sympathetic to young drivers.
The risk to an insurer is high when insuring a young and inexperienced driver who tends to drive at faster speed and poses a higher risk to the public, other road users, their passengers and of course themselves. Young drivers are not exactly a low risk for insurers.
Young drivers' lack of experience and road sense behind the wheel of a modern high speed and 'nippy' reactive car can be a lethal combination, in particular with young men, who pose the highest risk to other drivers.
Unfortunately, young male drivers have the worst record for accidents according to the ABI. Young drivers, particularly young male drivers, make more claims which are on average more expensive than those by other motorists. This is because young male drivers are statistically more likely to be involved in more accidents and they tend to have more accidents at weekends in the evenings, when accompanied by their friends as passengers, whilst driving too quickly and in competition or whilst negotiating bends. This is why young drivers pay higher insurance premiums than other drivers and this damaging statistic affects all young drivers irrespective of their driving ability and safety standards.
One of the leading insurers offers incentives to young drivers to rapidly build up a no claims discount, helping the young careful claim free driver to build up a valuable no claims discount. The insurance policy runs for only 9 months instead of 12 so that the young driver can build up a no claims discount that much quicker. The young drivers have to remain with the same insurer, and to qualify they have to be aged between 17 and 29 and they also must be insuring a group 15 or under car.
Young drivers are going to find obtaining competitively priced car insurance difficult and far more expensive than other older motorists. The cheapest way for young drivers to obtain insurance is to become a named driver on their parents' policy. However, the young driver doesn't build up their own no claims history and parents are often cautious of this as any accidents will adversely affect their premiums.
Young drivers really have to accept the fact that the cost of car insurance has to be met with optimism and that the young driver pays attention to careful driving and avoids expensive and sporty cars until they have acquired the experience of years of driving behind them.
Young drivers will see a dramatic reduction in their car insurance premiums once they pass their 25th year and, as long as they have avoided making any claims and not received any convictions, they will see a steady reduction in their car insurance to bring them in line with other motorists.
Young drivers, especially young males, are more likely to be involved in an accident. The causes of this statistic involve three elements - vehicle handling skills, road awareness, and most importantly a sensible attitude to road driving. Most often young drivers lack the driver's experience of awareness of road hazards and often possess poor attitudes to the road.
Young drivers often drive in a more risky way, paying less attention to potential hazards which, combined with driver error and misjudgements, will lead to road accidents. Every young driver needs to better understand the risks of driving and we would encourage all young drivers to take additional road skills courses where available at your local council and to keep safe and enjoy driving into your eighties.