Cheap Car Insurance for Young Drivers

If you can't wait to get behind the wheel of your first car, the cost of car cover could put a damper on things. That’s because car insurance quotes for young drivers tends to be more expensive compared to other age groups. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find a good deal—it’s all about knowing where to look.

• Cheap car insurance for young drivers
• How to make car insurance cheaper for young drivers
• Cheap cars for young drivers
• Cheap car insurance for young drivers no black box
• Methodology

To help you get great value for money, NimbleFins analysed quotes from over 50 car insurance providers available on two major comparison sites. From here, we found the cheapest comprehensive plans for new, young drivers.

Cheap young car insurance

The cheapest auto insurance for young drivers in the UK is Admiral, according to a study by the car insurance experts at NimbleFins. The team analysed hundreds of young driver quotes and found Admiral to be the cheapest, and have the most appetite for insuring young drivers by a mile (pun intended!) with a wide range of cover options and brands (e.g. Admiral, Bell, elephant and Diamond).

In fact, the data revealed Admiral Essentials was 45% cheaper compared to the average for the 20 cheapest young driver quotes we found, and less expensive than the average cost of young driver insurance.

Note: Admiral is the UK’s biggest car insurance company. Of the large insurers, you might find that larger parent companies offer better deals and larger savings through their subsidiary brands. For example, Bell may be a cheaper offering from Admiral; General Accident will usually be cheaper for young drivers than the main Aviva offering; and both Churchill and Privilege are part of Direct Line, and are typically cheaper for young drivers.

What is young drivers car insurance?

Young driver car insurance is essentially the same as standard car cover, but policies are designed specifically for new drivers under 25. You’ll be able to choose from three levels of new driver car insurance cover:

You might think that comprehensive cover would be the most expensive, but it's still worth comparing rates for that as it may actually be cheaper or at least comparable to the lower tiers. Why? Drivers who want insurance to protect their own car tend to be safer drivers (e.g. they take care with their car).

What is an excess?

Almost all insurance policies come with an excess. This is an amount you have to pay if you want to make a claim. It’s vital that the excess you agree is affordable because if you can’t pay it, your claim simply won’t go ahead.

There are two types of excess which will apply to your policy:

How to make car insurance cheaper for young drivers

To get cheaper car insurance for young drivers, here are tips from the NimbleFins car insurance experts:

1) Choose your car carefully

The make and model of your car can have a dramatic effect on your premium (and you might be surprised by the cost differences). For instance, the ever-popular Ford Fiesta costs on average £200 less a year to insure than the Ford Focus.

To compare how different cars stack up against each other on cost, take a look at our article on What Does it Cost to Insure the UK's Most Popular Vehicles?

2) Add a responsible driver to your policy

Adding a more experienced named driver to your policy, such as your mum, dad or other relative, could cut premiums by as much as 50%. Just remember that to get the lowest quotes, named drivers should not have any driving convictions or have made any recent car insurance claims.

3) Install a telematics device

A NimbleFins data study showed that young drivers can save around 13% on their car insurance with a telematics policy.

Telematics policies base premiums on the way you drive, rather than just generic data for your age group. If you take out telematics insurance, a device will be fitted to your car and linked to your insurer. The device will collect data on your driving style, including, speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering. Some insurers may also monitor the times of day that you drive. If you drive consistently well (based on the data gathered) you could see premiums fall much faster compared to standard car insurance policies.

4) Avoid fronting

Fronting is when you take out a policy and say someone is the main driver instead of you, in order to get cheaper car insurance. It can be an easy enough mistake to make but the consequences can be serious. Not only can it invalidate your policy, it’s a form of insurance fraud and can lead to prosecution.

Cheap cars for young drivers

Among the cheapest cars for new drivers to insure are the Fiat Panda, Kia Picanto and Citroen C1. In NimbleFins market tests for a young driver, these three vehicles were at least 20% less to insure than other popular vehicles including the VW Polo and T-Roc, Skoda Fabio and Ford Puma.

When looking for a cheap car to insure, young drivers should consider two primary factors:

There is some correlation between these two factors, in that a car with a lower market value is likely to have a lower insurance group, and vice versa. But there are also many other data points factored into the insurance group. Regardless, both of these factors impact an insurance quote.

Simply put, a lower market value means a lower max payout on comprehensive policies for accident damage or theft—because insurers won't pay out more than the market value, a lower market value means less risk for the insurer, and a lower premium.

Another important factor for young drivers to consider is the engine size—given the higher rate of accidents amongst young drivers, cars with smaller engines and less vroom are likely to have lower insurance premiums.

Cheap car insurance for young drivers no black box

NimbleFins market tests found that the Admiral Essential policy was the cheapest car insurance for young drivers with no black box. In fact, this policy was £1 cheaper than Admiral's black box policy (Admiral LittleBox).

That said, our study on how much you can save with telematics showed that among insurers offering both types of cover to young drivers, the telematics plan was typically 31% cheaper on average.

One reason that the Admiral Essential (no black box) policy is cheaper than the Admiral LittleBox (black box) policy is that the Essential policy is lacking in some features that are included in LittleBox, such as personal belongings, windscreen cover, new car replacement, etc. So you can get a no black box policy from Admiral for around the same price as a black box policy, but you'll give up on features to do so.

Note, this analysis reflects our sample 20-year-old in Bristol; car insurance rates are highly variable from one situation to the next, so use this information to help guide you in your own search for the cheap young driver cover.

Remember, going for a telematics plan now doesn't mean you'll be tracked forever—it's only for the time you have that particular policy. And once you get a bit older you'll be able to find a cheaper rate without telematics. As you can see in our analysis of the cost of car insurance, rates drop significantly as a young driver gains experience.

Best insurance companies for young drivers

As mentioned in the previous section, opting for a company with black box policies might be a young driver's best bet for getting more value for money—that is, more features for a cheaper price.

For example, while Admiral Essential (no black box) was £1 cheaper than Admiral's LittleBox (black box) policy, it comes with fewer features. By opting for the black box policy with Admiral, young drivers would get access to features like personal belongings, windscreen cover, new car replacement and more. So the trade off is features for tracking. Which is best for you?

Cheap car insurance for young drivers by area

Our research has found that not all providers are available in all parts of the UK, and a handful of providers simply don’t offer young driver car insurance in some areas. For instance, we discovered that young drivers in Manchester were offered 45% fewer quotes compared to under 25s in other major cities. You can read more about our findings in our article on comparing the cost of young driver car insurance by area.

Car insurance for young drivers under £1000

As you can tell from the pricing analyses above, finding car insurance for young drivers under £1,000 may or may not be possible. First, keep in mind the tips listed above to try to bring your young driver car insurance under £1,000. Also, take stock of how much you actually plan to drive.

If you won't actually drive a lot, you might find it more cost effective to buy a low-mileage policy (e.g. By Miles) or pay for temporary car insurance, which you can purchase by the hour, day, week or month (get a quote above).

Of the factors in your control, choice of vehicle may be the most effective way to get young driver insurance under £1,000—unless you already own a car.

Note: temporary (short-term) car insurance is NOT cost effective if you end up buying it over and over to cover the majority of time. It only works if you need sporadic cover. Be sure to check prices and consider how often you'll need to buy it before going that route.

Temporary car insurance for young drivers

Temporary car insurance for young drivers is useful if you're learning, borrowing someone else's car, driving a new vehicle home or just getting cover while you're home from uni. It can be set up in minutes and doesn't require a black box.

You can either buy short-term car insurance for young drivers from a company that has one product, or from a broker that has a few offerings at different price points. For the latter, click on the blue button below to get quotes from our partner, Go Shorty. They work with household names such as LV= and Ageas, as well as specialists like Mulsanne and KGM.

Van insurance for young drivers

It's particularly important to compare rates for van insurance before you buy if you're a young driver. Why? Van insurance is typically more expensive (than car insurance) and young driver insurance is typically more expensive (than for more experienced drivers)—combine these two and young drivers of vans can pay a hefty premium. For short-term van insurance for young drivers, you can get a quote from Go Shorty. For longer-term cover, compare quotes here.

Methodology

All figures in this article are meant for educational purposes only. Car insurance rates are highly variable from one person to the next. Also, insurers can change their pricing at any moment, becoming more expensive or cheaper.

To find quotes and understand what a young driver might pay for comprehensive car insurance, we gathered quotes for a sample 20-year-old male driver with a full UK licence, driving a 2019 Fiat Panda (one of the cheapest cars to insure for a young driver).

In total, we collected over 100 quotes for a driver living in Bristol who parks on a private drive. Quotes were based on driving 7,000 miles annually and gathered from the following providers: