Insurance options for 17yo son...

[IW365]

Hi all,

My son turns 17 next year and is desperate to get behind the wheel.

In terms of getting him into a car I think I'm down to the following options...

1, Buy him a cheap, slow shed to insure himself but worry about reliability and safety

2, insure him as a named driver on my 08 Civic type-R daily (I dread to think how much this would cost)

3, Sell the Civic and buy a more up to date Clio 1.2 or similar to share with him (this would be tricky as I work shifts, but would save on fuel costs v the civic)

4, any other options?

I'm not letting him anywhere near my 172 cup summer toy 🤣

I'd be grateful if anyone has any thoughts on my situation.

Cheers
Ian

 

[Jack!]

1.

Slow old shed probably won't be much less safe than the Type R, certainly less likely to bin it, plus reliability issues are a good chance to learn to fix some stuff which will aid in the rest of his motoring journey.

Plus 1 is just rite of passage.

 

[donnylad]

Buy him a cheap shitter 100%

A 107 ain’t even a shitter and will be miles cheaper to fix than type r, plus he won’t look like a chav 🤪👍

 

[Cub.]

If he’s going to do more miles than you, then 2 and 3 are fronting and so aren’t options.

1) would be my choice. You can get pretty reliable / safe cheap cars nowadays. A micra or 107 for example.

 

[J-J]

Definitely a cheap shitter.

On the one have he can make it his own and not be bothered about cleaning it before handing it back and as said it's a right of passage.

Also insurance is high for a reason, he'll bump it at some point, even if just into a car park post somewhere.

 

[Oggy997]

My old man paid for my first years insurance and took the money back off of me monthly (was 19% extra in installments with the insurer)

Saved me 19%, then come renewal gave me my money back to pay for the next year's and told me to always be a year in front of these things.

Buy him something for option 1 and do the same as above for his insurance - it gets him in a great position for the future.

 

[IW365]

Thanks for the replies, I'll get looking at auto trader 👍👍

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

My old man paid for my first years insurance and took the money back off of me monthly (was 19% extra in installments with the insurer)

Saved me 19%, then come renewal gave me my money back to pay for the next year's and told me to always be a year in front of these things.

Buy him something for option 1 and do the same as above for his insurance - it gets him in a great position for the future.

Good idea that.

Option 1. Little Pug/Citroen should be fine, cheap enough for parts and easy enough to work on.

See @Cookson s thread about a car for his lad. Loads of good options have been said.

 

[andybond]

You have to play the insurance game.

Some colours are more expensive than others.
Some engines ( even larger engines ) influence the premium
Some trim levels also affect the premium.
Various door etc.

For instance, my son who has a 2018 VW Up! ( 65 screaming PS ) with 4 doors, in red was something like £200 cheaper than a 3dr white.

I would avoid the black boxes like the plague. Cant fart in the car without it reporting back

 

[IW365]

You have to play the insurance game.

Some colours are more expensive than others.
Some engines ( even larger engines ) influence the premium
Some trim levels also affect the premium.
Various door etc.

For instance, my son who has a 2018 VW Up! ( 65 screaming PS ) with 4 doors, in red was something like £200 cheaper than a 3dr white.

I would avoid the black boxes like the plague. Cant fart in the car without it reporting back

Sounds like an absolute minefield! Thanks for the advice 👍

 

[IW365]

My old man paid for my first years insurance and took the money back off of me monthly (was 19% extra in installments with the insurer)

Saved me 19%, then come renewal gave me my money back to pay for the next year's and told me to always be a year in front of these things.

Buy him something for option 1 and do the same as above for his insurance - it gets him in a great position for the future.

That looks like a great way to set him up, cheers for the advice 👍

 

[R3k1355]

You can't be the main driver if it's his car and he's mostly driving it, you'll both get in trouble for that.

Should be able to have you and the Mrs as a named driver with him as the main and policyholder tho? Might knock a few quid off.

 

[Sash]

Get him his own policy get him building his own NCB.

As per Andy’s post, avoid black boxes wherever possible.

If he’s going to have lessons with an instructor you’ll probably be waiting a while if you’ve not already got on a waiting list. Get him to study for and book his theory ASAP. Practical tests are booked up for roughly 6 months currently and this can’t be booked without a valid theory certificate


If you’re going to take him out speak with his instructor about any issues you might come across - he may be having similar issues on lessons. Work with his instructor rather than against him

good luck!

 

[ayli carper]

(I'm sure you've already done this, but) You can search Insurance Group less than three on Autotrader. My son managed to insure a 18 plate Ibiza for £550 first year insurance with no black box. The one with the strangled 3 cylinder engine which is actually quite fun, like a 107 is. He's vacuuming it at the moment, bless him.

 

[thecrim22]

You can't be the main driver if it's his car and he's mostly driving it, you'll both get in trouble for that.

Should be able to have you and the Mrs as a named driver with him as the main and policyholder tho? Might knock a few quid off.

We did this with the wee one started her own policy as soon as she had a provisional and put me n the mrs on as name drivers the big thing we noticed was the estimated millage so try and keep it as low as realistic, no point insuring him for 20000 miles if he is iin reality doing 4/5k a year.

Ive always wanted to stick a black box in the car and have a right good time and see how fucked off the insurance would get🤣🤣