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They say that learning to drive starts when you pass your test. To get your driving experience off to the best start, there are a few things to keep under your bonnet. Here’s a quick guide to getting road savvy.

Buying a car

If you haven’t already bought a car, choose wisely. You will be sensible to choose a motor which is considered ‘middle aged’; not brand new but not too old either. Such cars are considered relatively low risk in terms of car insurance as they’re not the most expensive to replace and they are perhaps less likely to break down or require spare parts than older cars.

Consider the additional costs required to make a car road legal. Before deciding on the car make and model to buy, check the tax and insurance categories of the cars you have your eyes on. Generally the smaller the engine, lower the C02 emissions and the more environmentally friendly the fuel source of a vehicle, the cheaper it will be to tax. To this end, eco cars such as the Toyota IQ, are free to tax and cars that consume more fuel such as the Landover Freelander will fall into a more expensive group to tax.
When it comes to insurance groups, insurers categorise cars into groups based on their power, cost and availability, typically from 1 to 50. Cars classified in insurance bands 1 and 2 are the cheapest to insure due to their small engine size and ready availability of spare parts. Cars in groups 1 and 2 include the Citroën C1, Vauxhall Corsa, Toyota Yaris and Ford Fiesta. 

Buying car insurance

Insurance for newly qualified drivers is considerably more expensive than for experienced drivers. This is due to the perceived risk that comes with less practice. But as insurance is a legal requirement, this cost is something we have to bear. Yet there are measures that can be taken to reduce the cost. Here are some things to consider:

Determine the level of cover you require. There are three insurance cover options. These are ‘third party’, ‘third party, fire and theft’ and ‘comprehensive’ cover. ‘Third party’ insurance offers a minimum level of cover, insuring damage to other cars as well as injury to passengers and other road users. ‘Third party fire and theft’ is a slightly more inclusive level of cover, insuring instances of fire and theft to the owner’s vehicle as well as the cover offered in ‘third party’ insurance. The other option is comprehensive cover. This insures third parties, fire and theft as well as loss or damage to your vehicle, accidental damage and other benefits, depending on the policy. It’s worth checking the prices of each cover option as it doesn’t necessarily follow that the barest policy is the cheapest.

Compare car insurance providers using price comparison sites. Comparison sites do the hard work for you by comparing a large number of insurers in one search. Simply enter your details once and the comparison site will pull together a range of deals for you. Beware that the cheapest deals are not necessarily the best. To find out what each quote offers, simply click for more details.

Set a high voluntary excess. As a new driver you may have a high excess set as standard, but if the compulsory excess required by the insurance company is relatively low (say £250) then you can increase the excess you voluntarily contribute. By increasing the voluntary excess, the insurance premium is likely to reduce accordingly.  For example, in a recent comparison, a newly qualified driver saved £105.91* by increasing their voluntary excess from £250 to £500.

Add an experienced driver to your policy.  Adding an experienced driver as a potential ‘additional driver’ can lower your premium considerably. For example, in a recent comparison, a newly qualified driver looking to insure a 2001 Renault Clio on a fully Comprehensive policy could look to pay £1278.72* on insurance but with the addition of an experienced driver, this could cost £967.17*.

Don’t get caught out though. Adding an additional driver is very different to fronting on another’s insurance. Declaring yourself as an a named driver on another’s insurance, when you intend to be the primary driver, is illegal.

Pay in a one off payment. The convenience of paying for your car insurance monthly comes at a cost. If you have the money to hand, pay for your premium in one lump sum. To illustrate,one policy which costs £1278.72* to buy in a one off payment will cost £1521.36* in a series of ten monthly payments. Think before you claim. If you’ve had a small prang and the cost is close to your excess, it may not be worth making a claim. Any claim, large or small, is likely to increase your premium when you come to renew and if you have a high excess set up, the difference may not be massive anyway.

Avoid modifications. It may be tempting to add spoilers and wheel trims but they come at a cost to your insurance; customised parts are more expensive to replace. For instance, a car with a rear spoiler could cost £1341.97* to insure compared to £1278.72* for the same car without these modifications.

 

* Prices provided by Gocompare.com, correct on 11.02.2011. Prices based on a 23 year old female driving a Renault Clio Grande 1.2 engine having held a full licence for 2 months.