First time driver insurance

Car insurance is a legal requirement for first time drivers whether you’ve passed your test or not. Being caught driving without a valid policy is likely to land you with a fine and points on your licence. So, it’s important to get your first car insurance policy before you hit the road.

When you get your your quote, we’ll ask you what level of car insurance cover you want. There are 3 different levels to choose from:

• Third party only covers you against damage to other people, cars and property.
• Third party, fire and theft covers everything that third party does, but also covers your car if it’s in a fire, or stolen.
• Fully comprehensive is the top level of cover and has everything the other levels of cover include. It also covers you against injury and your car and possessions against damage or theft, even if you’re at fault.

It’s always worth checking the price for each level of cover, as comprehensive insurance sometimes works out cheaper.

We’ll also ask you how you'll use your car. You have a few options for these classes of use:

• Social use lets you drive your car to the shops, visiting friends, or for fun
• Social and commuting covers you for social use as well as to one permanent place of work
• Business use is split into 3 sub-classes, depending on how many drivers there are and whether you’re carrying other people’s goods.

Given that prices for first time drivers tend to be higher, it’s worth looking for ways to reduce your costs without compromising on cover. Some things to consider if you're looking for cheap first car insurance:

• Shop around
• Enhance your car security
• Increase your car insurance excess
• Pay upfront
• Limit car modifications
• Be accurate with your annual mileage
• Take an advanced driving course
• Add a named driver
• Choose the right car

• Shop around by comparing quotes with up to 142 providers we use. You’re likely to see a range of prices which can help you find a good deal.
• Enhancing your car security with alarms, trackers and immobilisers could help reduce the likelihood of theft. This in turn could help keep your car insurance costs down.
• Increasing your car insurance excess could give you lower prices. Bear in mind that you might need to pay this amount if you make a claim.
• Pay upfront instead of monthly if you can. Most insurers will charge interest or an admin fee if you choose to pay monthly and could end up costing you over 12% more¹. So, if you can afford to pay upfront, you could save a tidy amount.
• Limit car modifications. Anything that alters your car’s value or performance could hike up your insurance costs. If you’re in doubt, speak to your insurer before tinkering with your car.
• Be accurate with your annual mileage. Underestimating your mileage to get a cheaper price could invalidate your policy. But overestimating could mean you pay more than you need to.
• Taking an advanced driving course like Pass Plus could reduce your risk as a driver. And safer drivers tend to pay less.
• Adding a named driver with at least a few years of driving experience could help bring your costs down. But you should be on the policy as the main driver if you spend the bulk of the time at the wheel. Otherwise, you could be committing a kind of fraud called fronting.
• Choosing the right first car is crucial to getting a cheaper first time driver insurance quote. Check out our cheapest cars to insure for 2022 for some guidance.

For more tips, check out our guide on how to get cheaper car insurance

¹Based on Confused.com data August 2021 - August 2022

When you get a quote, we’ll ask you to estimate how many miles you’ll drive in a year.

The average annual mileage in the UK is 6,531² miles per year. To help our table shows different daily miles with estimated annual miles.

Think about your commute, how often you do daily trips to the shops or gym and if you do school runs.

First time driver insurance is based on risk, so insurers take mileage into account when calculating your price. You’d think a higher annual mileage might cost more than someone who drives fewer miles, but this isn’t always the case.

If you don’t drive often and have a low annual mileage, you could be viewed as being less experienced. It’s important that you’re as accurate as possible, because underestimating your annual mileage could invalidate a future claim.

²Based on Confused.com data August 2021 - August 2022