With insurance costs predicted to rise by £1,000 for young motorists, what can you do to drive down the cost of your car insurance?

According to the BBC, the average cost of insurance for a 17-20 year old is a whopping £3,878 a year – and young drivers should brace themselves (and their bank balances) for an increase of up to £1,000 a year extra if you’re aged between 17-22.

Why? The government has recently made changes to the injury compensation rules that will see accident victims being paid more in compensation. The first wave of increases were introduced last month with more expected in July 2017 and January 2018. It all means that the insurer will have to cough up more – and where will that extra money come from? Us, the humble driver, via our swollen premiums.

And inevitably it means that young drivers will bear the main brunt of the increases because they are statistically more prone to have accidents than any other age group. To help combat the rises, here are our top tips for driving down car insurance costs for new drivers:

  1. Buy a car that is cheap to insure – there are 50 different insurance groups and you should aim for one in Groups One to Five

2. Have your car fitted with an insurer-provided black box; this monitors your driving habits including your speed and braking and can lead to a 20%+ drop in annual premium costs

3. Take advantage of schemes offered by some carmakers that are aimed specifically at young drivers. For instance, check out this excellent list of new cars that come with 1-3 years worth of free insurance.

4. Add a more experienced driver as a named driver to push down costs – but don’t make them the main driver because that’s called ‘fronting’ and is illegal

  1. Consider third party-only insurance that is cheaper than comprehensive insurance but beware – in the event of an accident, third party insurance covers the claims and costs of the other driver and their vehicle only

6. Don’t be tempted to modify your car in any shape or form; even a shiny new set of alloys could see a hike in your premium price. Instead, splash the cash on adding an alarm or immobiliser (if not already included) because those are the kinds of mods that insurers love.

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