Telematics or black box policies are usually aimed at younger drivers and can help make insurance more affordable.

Some policies ask you to fit a small box to your car, while others use an app to monitor driving. This allows the insurer to monitor and analyse your driving habits, looking at things like speed, acceleration and cornering.

Insurers then use this information to work out your insurance price. If you can prove you’re a safe driver then it could result in cheaper car insurance.

It all comes down to risk. Statistically, young drivers are more likely to be involved in a car accident. One in four 18-24-year olds have an accident within two years of passing their test**.

A higher risk means younger drivers are more likely to make a claim on their insurance. However, accident statistics and age are not the only factors insurers take into consideration when calculating car insurance prices. They also look at: 

• The car you drive
• Your occupation
• Where you live
• How you use your car (private or business use)
• Your excess
• How many miles you driver per year (annual mileage)
• Who is insured to drive your car
• Your policy type (comprehensive, third-party or third-party fire and theft).

Our guide on how car insurance is calculated explains things in more detail

**According to data from the road safety charity, Brake.

There are three levels of car insurance cover to choose from:

• Comprehensive car insurance gives you the highest level of protection. It covers damage to your car as well as other people and their property.

• Third party-only offers the most basic level of protection and it’s the minimum amount of cover legally needed to drive. It insures against any damage you might cause to someone else’s car but it doesn’t cover damage to your car.

• Third party fire and theft is the same as third-party but also covers your car for repairs or a replacement if it's stolen or damaged by fire.

Comprehensive cover can often work out the cheapest of the three but it’s always worth checking the price for each level of cover.

Our data shows the following cars are some of the cheapest to insure for 17-year-olds.

***Based on Confused.com data, Jan 2020 - Dec 2020.