Car insurance - Tips & Advice - Car Insurance for young drivers

Going to university and just got your first car? It’s an exciting time; suddenly you’ve got a whole lot more freedom to go where you want, when you want. Just one problem – the car’s expensive to run and even more expensive to insure.

Here at Direct Line we can’t do much about the price of fuel, sadly, but we can offer a fair deal to younger drivers through our range of insurance policies.

Our website has loads of useful information about our car insurance policies, and you can get a free quote while you’re online. Arrange your car insurance online and you can save a further discount of up 10 per cent.

Thinking of buying a car? For a start, whether it’ll be new or second-hand, think about what car you’re going to buy and look for one that is in insurance groups 1 – 4, as these will have lower premiums. There are various sites on the internet that will help you to determine a car’s insurance group, such as the Association of British Insurers at www.abi.org.uk/carinsurance. These insurance groups are decided on a number of factors, including vehicle performance, repair costs and repair time, car value and security.

For value, investigate older cars, or smaller models. While older cars may be less reliable, they may also be cheaper to buy if the car is identical except for their age.  Also, if the car is valued at £5000 or less you can opt for a lower level of cover such as Third Party Fire & Theft.  If you choose comprehensive cover, an alternative to reduce the cost is to increase your excess – this means you pay a little more if you do have to claim after an accident that is your fault, but less upfront.

And with our uninsured driver promise, if you make a claim for an accident that is not your fault and the driver of the car that hits you is not insured, you will not lose your no claims discount, or have to pay any excess.
 
For more information on how you can reduce your car insurance premiums, for instance by being a named driver on your parents’ policy and accruing your own No Claims bonus, have a look at what we offer with our New Improved Car Insurance and get some help from the UK’s largest direct insurer.