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Insurance for a 17 year old
ewan - 11/4/07 at 06:49 AM

Can anybody help me?

I'm trying to get insurance for my 17 Year old son, and the prices I'm being quoted are more than the car is worth......! It's a Ford Focus which has been lowered and has tinted window and a performance exhaust. What modifications do you have to tell the insurance companies?

One company mentioned that if he did his pass plus the cost would be £1200.00 but the car must be standard.

Any help would be helpful.


tim windmill - 11/4/07 at 07:02 AM

hi ewan
im in the same position with my son, trying to insure his saxo vtr, the best deal we got was from QUINN DIRECT


02GF74 - 11/4/07 at 07:06 AM

quote:
Originally posted by ewan

It's a Ford Focus which has been lowered and has tinted window and a performance exhaust. What modifications do you have to tell the insurance companies?




that is quite easy - anything that was not fitted to the car as standard so in this case it lowered springs, tinted windows, performance exhaust, blue LED washers etc:

From what has been said of recent, be prepared to give your wallet a good bashing.


Mr Whippy - 11/4/07 at 07:12 AM

Totally agree with the above, if your going to have any chance the car must be standard. That spec reads ‘Boy Racer!’ and who wants to cover one of those?!


ewan - 11/4/07 at 08:09 AM

I know the roads round Aberdeen have become a death trap in the last year.

This is one of the worrys I've got about having a teenager that wants to drive....!

I could always chain him to the computer and it would save me some money.


mike smith1 - 11/4/07 at 08:09 AM

quote:
What modifications do you have to tell the insurance companies?


You need to tell the insurance company of any mods on the car, a mate of mine was stopped by a traffic car about 3 months ago and the copper had obviously had a bad day, my mate was driving with in the speed limit and sensibly, the copper pulled him for a "routine stop", he has tinted windows, alloy wheels, lowering springs, performance exhaust etc, the copper asked if the modifications were declared on the insurance and he said yes, guess what happend next, the copper called his bluff, the next day a letter lands on his doorstep telling him that his insurance is void and if he wants to renew it, he will have to pay £1200, this is with 3yrs no claims.

The car is for sale now! Its really not worth it, especially if you have a traffic department like our area!

Mike


pathfinder - 11/4/07 at 08:12 AM

To be honest that quote isn’t that bad, almost everything is £1000 + to insure for a17 year old. I didn’t bother having my own insurance until I was 21, Dad was always the registered keeper of my gt turbos and this brought the premiums down no end, perhaps a little dishonest but never mind!!!


Danozeman - 11/4/07 at 09:00 AM

A focus being 16v will always be highish.

Bear in mind i paid 800 quid for a 1275 mini when i was 17 with my mum as the second driver. Third party f&t. And the same for a 1.4 peugeot 306 on my own.

Its not cheap. You can see why so many people drive without it!!,.

A lad i work with was paying 1500 quid with his dad as first driver on a 1.4 16v rover 214. Just to give u an idea......


Ghee60 - 11/4/07 at 09:25 AM

insurance is stupid, when I was insuring my 1st car (1979 mk1 golf 1.1) back in 2002 it was costing me just over a grand a year tpft


Mr Whippy - 11/4/07 at 09:35 AM

quote:
Originally posted by mike smith1
quote:
What modifications do you have to tell the insurance companies?


You need to tell the insurance company of any mods on the car, a mate of mine was stopped by a traffic car about 3 months ago and the copper had obviously had a bad day, my mate was driving with in the speed limit and sensibly, the copper pulled him for a "routine stop", he has tinted windows, alloy wheels, lowering springs, performance exhaust etc, the copper asked if the modifications were declared on the insurance and he said yes, guess what happend next, the copper called his bluff, the next day a letter lands on his doorstep telling him that his insurance is void and if he wants to renew it, he will have to pay £1200, this is with 3yrs no claims.

The car is for sale now! Its really not worth it, especially if you have a traffic department like our area!

Mike



Yip I always inform them as well even if it's just a call as if they think you are being dishonest they could simply end your policy there and then saying you breaching contract, mind all that small print... handy when you've just had a prang with a Ferrari


matt_claydon - 11/4/07 at 09:37 AM

It's not stupid really. The cost reflects the likely risk and consequential expense of a young driver having an accident. It doesn't matter that the car is small and low powered, when someone drives it into a new beemer it's going to cost a lot of money. Young drivers are VERY likely to have a crash in their early years (been there, done that) and as such have to pay for it! Yes, insurance companies make a decent profit, but so does everyone in this world.

The fact that the premiums are so much higher than the penalties for not having insurance leads to a lot of people driving without. You can't solve this by making insurers reduce premiums though because they'll make a loss on every inexperienced driver they insure and will therefore just refuse to insure them.

Going back to the original question, people who drive cars with mods tend to have more accidents, hence higher premiums. If you want cheap insurance don't barry up your car

Matt.

P.S. And no, I don't work in insurance!


tweek - 11/4/07 at 09:42 AM

HAH! You think you guys have it bad, come over to good old Northern Ireland! When I just passed my test at 18 (in 2001) all the quotes I got were in the region of £3000 for a bog standard 96 Clio 1.2RL!

Only now at 24 are things starting to get anywhere near sensible. Add on that half of the insurance companies still don't cover NI!

I know we have as many neds/chavs (known as spide's over here) but surely we can't be that much worse than the rest of the uk!


sorry rant over


ewan - 11/4/07 at 10:08 AM

Just got the best quote yet, £1499.00 3rd Party Fire & Theft, it would have been £1800 with me as the second driver.

This is because of the modifications.


Ghee60 - 11/4/07 at 10:34 AM

im just glad my insurance has dropped, now paying 332 fully comp for an Audi 80 1.9 tdi at 22


Mr Whippy - 11/4/07 at 11:16 AM

quote:
Originally posted by tweek
HAH! You think you guys have it bad, come over to good old Northern Ireland! When I just passed my test at 18 (in 2001) all the quotes I got were in the region of £3000 for a bog standard 96 Clio 1.2RL!

quote:


going by that then this -

'dreaming of a 4wd v10 super middy locost thingy'

might be a tad expensive to cover...


TGR-ECOSSE - 11/4/07 at 11:53 AM

On a similar note does anybody know of an insurance company that will insure a 17 year old to drive a locost? My son is 17 this year and guess what he wants to do?


speedyxjs - 11/4/07 at 11:59 AM

RAC allowed me 3 modifications on my civic and on my current jag, and im 20. They were also by far the cheapest.


NS Dev - 11/4/07 at 12:19 PM

I just don't get the "modifications" bit at all!!!!

I HATE "boy racer" "mods" but most of my cars have something non standard about them.

I lost confidence when in 1996 I insured my opel manta, fitted with an XE 2.0 16v engine on jenvery throttle bodies and making a little over 200hp.........................

I was asked about modifications, so i listed them. After reading it all out, several times, to somebody that clearly had no clue what I was on about, I was then asked if it was lowered or had alloy wheels.....................

I asked what the standard ride height was, as I had forest spec springs fitted and bilstein forst spec shocks....................

more dumb silence from the other end of the phone

After a lengthy conversation I was no wiser whether I was covered on the policy they were selling me or not. I specifically requested that ALL the mods I declared were on some paperwork from them but they said that was not possible as none of the mods had a suitable box on their computer system.........................

The car was a constructive writeoff in my possession after a lorry drive into the back of me in a queue of traffic (yes the brakes were modified too, but I had been stationary for some time) and to be fair the insurance agreed to pay the base value for the car and then let me keep the salvage so I could keep the value of the modifications.

If I had been at fault who knows what would have happened.

PS my brother now records the phone calls he has with the insurance company after informing them that he is doing so (just like they do) so we have evidence that mods have been declared.

[Edited on 11/4/07 by NS Dev]


omega 24 v6 - 11/4/07 at 12:25 PM

quote:

On a similar note does anybody know of an insurance company that will insure a 17 year old to drive a locost? My son is 17 this year and guess what he wants to do?



Likewise for me in a years time. Think it'll only be on a trackday as my wallet has a 75 digit security code on it (ask Calvinx)


escort_innit - 11/4/07 at 02:59 PM

Quinn Direct are young and new driver friendly, but I didn't think that they insured anything modified...

Adrian Flux are meant to be good for insuring modded cars as well as classics, give them a go.


DIY Si - 11/4/07 at 03:44 PM

I found going through HIC to be the best bet when I was young (er). My first cars were minis, all modified and all <£800 to insure. They also let you (or did) have 10 bhp of mods for free, which on a 998 mini, means a fair bit.


tweek - 11/4/07 at 11:08 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
quote:
Originally posted by tweek
HAH! You think you guys have it bad, come over to good old Northern Ireland! When I just passed my test at 18 (in 2001) all the quotes I got were in the region of £3000 for a bog standard 96 Clio 1.2RL!

quote:


going by that then this -

'dreaming of a 4wd v10 super middy locost thingy'

might be a tad expensive to cover...


Tell me about it and with my ever expanding student loan it's looking further and further away.

Not to worry though, that lottery win is just around the corner....

<sigh> definately still dreamin

Still, the insurance over here is pretty ridiculous, even now it will cost me £600-£700 to insure anything.
my license is 100% clean by the way

cheers


Peteff - 11/4/07 at 11:56 PM

The Saturday lad round at the bike shop pays £1200 third party insurance for a standard 1100 Fiesta worth £300 tops. Try the Co-op.


trogdor - 12/4/07 at 10:54 AM

insurance is crazy alright, it also depends majorly on your location and sex.

to illustrate i tried to insure my saab 96 when it was a standard car, the cheapest quote i got fom CIS (who are atcually pretty good for modern cars) was £2000

when i changed the location from runcorn, a boy racer paradise to southampton at my student house it dropped to £1000 when i put my girlfriend as the policy holder and me as a named driver in southampton it went down to £440!

guess who insures our little micra now?

it cost us £550 this year to insure, this us both over 21 etc and is only a 1 litre micra with 4 gears. hoping to get it down to below £400 this year


trogdor - 12/4/07 at 01:13 PM

i;m afraid to say that our insurance is with diamond for woman! but then it was the cheapest by far for us.

i am glad it wasn't with shelias wheels don't think i could face the shame if i ever had to give a driver my insurance details


speedyxjs - 15/4/07 at 05:50 PM

quote:
Originally posted by tweek
When I just passed my test at 18 (in 2001) all the quotes I got were in the region of £3000 for a bog standard 96 Clio 1.2RL!


I know how you feel. I was quoted the same reigion for my mums 1999 1.25 fiesta when i was 18, But 1800 for a 1994 3.2 ltr Jag xj6. A couple of years later im paying 1200 for my 1997 xj6. Its so stupid how a group 15 jag could be £1200 less than a group 6 fiesta.


ukbaggio - 15/4/07 at 06:08 PM

quote:
Originally posted by pathfinder
To be honest that quote isn&#8217;t that bad, almost everything is £1000 + to insure for a17 year old. I didn&#8217;t bother having my own insurance until I was 21, Dad was always the registered keeper of my gt turbos and this brought the premiums down no end, perhaps a little dishonest but never mind!!!


i did the same my dad was the main driver and it went down alot done it till i was 25 it did save.....