What Types of Insurance Should a Young Driver Have?

Young drivers face huge insurance premiums before they can get behind the wheel of their own car. Some insurance policies are cheaper than others, but may not give you the protection you need as a young driver. There are a number of factors to consider when choosing your insurance policy type.

First of all, it is worth emphasising that car insurance coverage is a legal necessity in the United Kingdom. Because young drivers are forced to pay high premiums, many young people have been caught driving on the roads without proper insurance. This is a crime and having this kind of notation on your licence can damage your driving record, thus potentially increasing your future premiums even more.

Types of Cover

Third party cover is a great budget policy which provides you with protection from liability if you get into an accident and damage someone else's vehicle or cause the other person injury. This is the very least coverage you can get away with on UK roads. However, as a young driver, you are more likely to be in an accident as your reactions are slower and driving skills less advanced than for experienced drivers.

You may be able to negotiate a discount on your insurance if you can promise to not drive your car long distances. The longer your journey the more likely you are to end up in an accident, so this kind of provision on a policy can lower your premium a little. You may also be able to earn a discount if you agree not to drive your car at night. This is a time when more accidents occur, so by not driving at night you decrease your risk of being involved in an accident, which should in turn provide you with a cheaper premium.

If money is not such an immediate issue, you could look into a policy with more features, such as third party fire and theft. This policy will provide you with cover if your car is damaged or destroyed by fire. It will also give you protection against your car being stolen.

It might be useful to try to assess how likely your car is to be stolen by looking at your neighbourhood, where you need to park the car, or the value of your vehicle, before deciding whether you need this type of cover. You may find that you can protect yourself against theft by making sure you have a good alarm system and immobiliser installed in your car. But this will probably not give you the same piece of mind as making sure that your car is fully covered in case of theft.

Fully comprehensive cover is the priciest type of cover but it gives you the biggest variety of features and the best coverage. Fully comprehensive policies can cover you for repairs to both your own car and the other vehicle involved in the accident, in addition to all the protection given by third party fire and theft. It may also cover the contents of your car and give you breakdown cover.

You can try to secure a discount even on this expensive type of cover by ensuring that your car is as secure as possible. In addition to the alarm and immobiliser, adding a tracker to your car should reduce your premium as this makes it highly probable that the police will recover your car if it is stolen. This makes you less of a risk to insurers and should be reflected in the reduced cost of your premium.

" This site taught me a lot about shopping for my first insurance policy, and helped make it easy to get some quotes too. "

Oliver D
Wales UK