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How can I save money on car insurance for 17-year-olds?
While car insurance is expensive for 17-year-olds, there are things you can do to help lower the costs:
- Shop around
- Add an experienced named driver
- Take an advanced driving course
- Limit modifications to your car
- Build up your no-claims bonus (NCB)
- Buy a car in a lower insurance group
- Increase your voluntary excess
- Estimate your mileage accurately
- Don't pay for your insurance monthly
- Shop around for the best deal by using our comparison service. We can scour the 140 insurance companies we work with to find the best value car insurance for 17-year-olds.
- Adding an experienced named driver can sometimes lower the cost of car insurance for 17-year-olds. Having another driver able to use the car, theoretically, means you'll spend less time behind the wheel, reducing risk for insurers.
- Taking an advanced driving course , will show your insurance provider you can be safe on the road. This could result in cheaper car insurance.
- Limit modifications to your car as they can increase insurance costs, especially performance-based modifications. If in doubt, speak to your provider first.
- Build up your no-claims bonus (NCB) to get discounts. For every year you don’t make a claim, you’ll build up your NCB and you could get a discount on your policy.
- Buy cheap cars for insurance. The car you drive affects the price you pay for insurance. Cars are grouped 1 – 50 and generally the higher the group , the more you’ll pay for insurance. Smaller, less powerful cars tend to be the cheapest cars to insure for 17-year-olds.
- Increasing your voluntary excess can reduce costs. An excess is the amount of money you pay towards the cost of the claim. However, 17-year-olds need to be confident they could afford to pay their excess in the event of a claim.
- Estimate your mileage accurately. The average yearly mileage is around 6,5002. Unless you're driving regularly for work, 17-years-olds are likely to have below average mileage.
- Pay for your policy in full if you can. Some insurers will let you pay monthly but this can ending up costing up to 16%2 more than if you pay annually.
Find out more ways to cut the cost of your insurance.
2Based on Confused.com data May 2022 - Oct 2022
Need more help?
Can I get added to my mum's or dad’s insurance?
If you’re driving your parents’ car, they can add you as a named driver and this can be a good way of keeping costs down. Or you can get them added to your policy as a named driver. However, your parents need to be aware that if you make a claim, it will affect their no claims bonus.
It’s also important that any named driver on a policy isn’t the main driver of the car. ‘Fronting’ is illegal and could invalidate your policy.
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Types of car insurance
Black box car insurance
lets you prove you’re a safe driver, and save money on your policy, even if you’re inexperienced or seen as high risk.
Classic car insurance
offers cover for owners of classic cars. For insurance purposes, a classic car can be any car that’s older than 15 years.
Business car insurance
covers you if you use your car for work, including travelling between offices or across the country.
What our car insurance expert says
Getting your first car insurance policy at 17 can be expensive. This is because insurers traditionally see new drivers as higher risk. There are ways you can help bring the cost down though. For starters, consider a black box policy just for your first year or two driving while you build some experience. Or if you're on the lookout for your first car, think about choosing one with a less powerful engine in a lower insurance group.
Car insurance expert
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