Student car insurance

As a student, you’re probably in the young driver or undergraduate age bracket. Unfortunately, insurance companies tend to see young drivers as a higher risk, which means getting cheap car insurance isn't always easy.

The location of the university you attend can influence the cost of your insurance too. As crime and insurance claim rates are often higher in the cities and areas students live, the cost of insurance may be higher than more rural areas.

The table below shows the average comprehensive policy price for a selection of the top universities in the UK. We've only included one central London university from the original list. It's worth noting that the prices shown below are an average across all age ranges, and not just students.

¹ Universities have been taken from the 2019 UniRank league table. We've excluded three London universities as all would show the same car insurance premium.
² Confused.com price insurance index Q1 2020

Insurers consider many factors when working out how much you’ll pay for insurance. This includes things like your age, where you live and the car you drive.

There are a few things you could do to help save yourself some money:

1. Shop around and avoid auto renewal
Comparing quotes is an obvious one but it’s the easiest way to save money. Insurers don’t always reward loyalty so there’s a chance the price they offer you will be more than last year – even if nothing’s changed and you’ve not made a claim.

Don’t worry if you’ve missed it though as there are still savings to be made. If you’ve received a renewal price, we guarantee to beat it. And if we don’t, we’ll pay the difference and give you £20! (T&Cs apply, must be like-for-like policy)

2. Think about the car you drive
Car insurance groups are one of the many ways insurers work out prices. There are 50 insurance groups, 1 being the cheapest and 50 the most expensive. Choosing a car in a low insurance group could help reduce costs.

Which group a car falls into can be influenced by things like how powerful it is (engine size), how secure it is (does it have an alarm or immobiliser fitted?) and how expensive it is to repair or replace.

3. Consider a black-box policy
A black-box or telematics policy bases your insurance price on your driving habits – often safer drivers benefit from reduced prices. To give you an idea of the potential savings, we found that for 17-year-old drivers, a telematics policy could be up to £1,747 cheaper vs a standard policy*.

Some telematics polices do have restrictions on when and how many miles you can drive. Depending on what you need the car for, it should be easy to work out how many miles you’ll drive in the year and whether any restrictions will be suitable for you.

4. Add a named driver
Adding an older, more experienced driver to your policy can help lower costs. You should always name the person who drives the car the most as the main driver. Otherwise that’s what’s known as fronting, which is illegal and can invalidate your policy. You should also only add drivers to the policy if they actually drive the car.

5. Temporary student car insurance
Temporary car insurance can be a good option for students who only want to drive occasionally or when they return home from university during weekends or between terms. Temporary car insurance policies provide fully comprehensive cover from 1 to 84 days and are a convenient way to borrow a friend or relative’s car without affecting their existing insurance policy.

6. Pay upfront
If you can afford to pay annually for your insurance, it works out cheaper. Insurers charge interest to pay monthly which usually works out to be 16% more expensive (based on Confused.com data - January 2020).

7. Estimate your mileage
Try to accurately estimate how many miles you think you’ll drive over the year. Over-estimating could increase your price. The average is about 7,000 but depending on what you use the car for you may find you drive more or less than this.

8. Increase your excess
Choosing to pay a higher voluntary excess can help bring down your insurance quote, but remember you’ll need to pay the excess if you make a claim.

*Average based on a telematics vs standard car insurance policy for a 17-year-old main driver. Confused.com data - February 2020.

There are three levels of car insurance to choose from: 

• Fully comprehensive: this option often works out to be the cheapest. It offers the highest level of protection, covering you and other drivers from damage caused by you.
• Third-party, fire and theft (TPFT): this protects you against damage caused to someone else’s property, but also includes cover for your car against fire or theft. 
• Third-party: this is the minimum amount of cover you legally need to drive. It covers damage caused to someone else’s property, but doesn't cover repairs, theft or fire damage to your own car.

Comparing car insurance with us is easy. All you have to do is fill in some details and we’ll compare up to 112 insurers to help you find a good deal. Having the following details at hand will help speed things up:

Personal details:

• Your occupation - or if you’re a full-time student we’ll ask what type and which course you’re studying
• Any previous claims or accidents from the last 5 years
• Details of any additional drivers you want to insure
• Your driving licence number
• Number of years no-claims bonus (if any)

Car details:

• Registration or the make and model of your car
• Details of any additional modifications (things like spoilers, exhausts but not tow hitches)
• Estimated annual mileage