If you’re here, reading this article, it won’t surprise you to know that young drivers pay through the nose for their car insurance. According to the latest Confused.com price index published on 20 October 2022, on average the prices are:

• £1,351 for 17 year olds

• £1,581 for 18 year olds

• £1,488 for 19 year olds

This is quite a bit more than your parents and grandparents might be paying, as the average overall cost in the UK is £586.

So how can young drivers cut the cost of car insurance?

1. Become a better driver

Yeah, ok – this is an obvious one for us, as Driverly Insurance is all about rewarding good drivers… But it’s true! With Driverly Insurance, you just need to download our app to let us see how you drive. The better you drive, the more discounts and rewards you’ll get – win, win.

Being a better driver usually means things like not accelerating or braking too suddenly, and not going over the speed limit.

Some insurance companies give you a black box to fit into your car to monitor your driving, which you might want to look into. But we’re biased – we think an app is much easier!

2. Choose a sensible car

One of the factors affecting the cost of young drivers’ car insurance is the car you drive. Generally, smaller cars with smaller engine sizes will be cheaper to insure than larger, more powerful cars.

We know, we know… You had high hopes that your first car would be bigger and faster than the car you learnt to drive in. But it makes sense to spend a few years with a smaller, cheaper car. You can then make the leap to a bigger car as you get a bit older, and car insurance prices come down a bit because of your age and driving experience.Also – *bonus* – a smaller car is generally cheaper to run. Especially in terms of fuel.

We’ll do some number-crunching around cars once we have some more data. But in the meantime, here’s a useful article with the cheapest cars to insure.

3. Keeping your car safe

If your car has an alarm, immobiliser or tracker then it’s less likely to get stolen, so your insurance quote might be lower.

Some insurance companies ask where your car is kept in the daytime and overnight. You might find that parking in the garage (if you have one – we know they’re getting rare!) could give you cheaper insurance than parking on the drive. Although, just to confuse you, some insurance companies charge lower for parking on the drive as you’re more likely to scrape the car on the way in and out of the garage. 🤷

4. Adding a named driver

If you’re the main driver of your car, you need to put yourself down as the main driver. You can’t put your parent as a main driver, as tempting as it is – it’s illegal (it’s known as fronting) and would invalidate your insurance.

The good news is that adding one or two named drivers who have years of driving experience (eg your parents) can bring your insurance cost down. Do try getting a quote without as well. Sometimes young drivers are penalised with higher prices for adding too many named drivers – especially if they’re young drivers too.

5. Increase the excess

There are two types of car insurance excess:

Compulsory excess: This is how much you’ll have to pay out if you need to make a car insurance claim

Voluntary excess: You can choose an amount (different insurers offer a different range) to pay on top of the compulsory excess.

Typically if you increase your voluntary excess, it should reduce your young driver insurance cost. But don’t choose a figure so high that you’d struggle to afford to pay it if needed!

You can find out more about car insurance excess here.

6. Tweak your job title

As with all of our other tips, we’re not encouraging you to lie and invalidate your insurance. But ‘tweaking’ your job title can affect your car insurance price – just make sure it still truly reflects your job! The Moneysavingexpert website has a handy tool for this.

Read all our tips and ready to go? Test drive the Driverly app, and get pointers on how to become a safer driver!