By Suzi Dixon
Adding an additional driver to your car insurance policy? Most people do, as the pace of modern life makes it convenient to have a parent, partner or friend who can take to the wheel if you can’t. Plus many add additional drivers when they car-share to cut household expenditure.
Experience pays
Adding someone to your policy doesn’t always result in higher car insurance premiums. Especially where young drivers are concerned, adding an experienced driver to your car insurance can actually result in cheaper quotes. If you have a parent or older friend with a clean licence and you know they will be driving your vehicle then you can compare with Confused.com to see if your premium is cheaper. You’ve nothing to lose and, if your car insurance quotes go up with the additional driver, you can easily remove them and get new quotes with minimum effort.
What drives a car insurance quote?
The main factors that will affect the price of your car insurance policy are: driver details such as age and gender; your driving history; and where you live. Other variables include the make and model of the car; whether you use a garage, alarm or immobiliser; your job description and distance travelled to work; annual mileage overall; and additional drivers. On Confused.com, you will only be asked for these details once - it’s easier and less time consuming than approaching companies separately.
Offset the cost
If you do need to pay extra to add an additional driver, can you make a saving elsewhere to offset the cost? For example, fitting extra security, such as an alarm or immobilizer, could drive down your car insurance quote, as could hiring or borrowing a garage to store your car in overnight.
Level of cover
In the UK, the only compulsory car insurance is third party only (TPO), but TPO could leave you with a large bill to pay if your car is written off, even if it’s not your fault, while comprehensive cover usually covers any qualified driver who borrows your car with your permission on a TPO basis.
Up your cover to comprehensive and it make work out cheaper (and certainly more convenient) than adding lots of additional drivers.
Only temporary
Do you need an additional driver for the whole year, or could you just add them for a short while instead? A temporary or short-term policy can last from one to 28 days and only covers the additional driver for this period. It would cost more over 12 months but, if you only need an additional driver for long trips such as occasional holidays or special events, it may work out cheaper.
Check the no-claims bonus
Some car insurance policy providers allow additional named drivers to build up their own no-claims discount – this is an ideal way for young drivers to keep their car insurance costs to a minimum when they take out their first policy as the main user of the car.
Top tip
In the time it’s taken you to read this article, you could have completed the easy-to-use Confused.com form and have a list of quotes for adding an additional driver at your fingertips. Got another five minutes? Compare car insurance quotes now or bookmark the page for later.
