The problem? Being able to buy and insure your own car. What to watch for.
Your age is the biggest influencer on the cost of your car insurance.
Does age influence car insurance? Yes. The price difference between a 17-year-old and a 20 year old -for each and every incremental year between those two points - can be huge. And the difference remains significant - right up to 25. So clocking up your birthdays helps – a lot!
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The second biggest influencer on the cost of your car insurance will be whether or not you have driving experience.
The magic number here is one year’s named driving experience. It doesn’t matter whether you gained this driving experience on your learner’s permit or on a full driving licence – the important thing is that it is documented by the insurance company and that you can produce this documentation when taking out your own car insurance policy.
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Some insurance companies will allow introductory no claims bonus discounts for proven named driving experience.
To prove you have been a named driver, we will often look for a letter from the insurance company concerned confirming that you have been named and accident free from date x to date y. Obviously the longer you are named on an insurance policy, the larger the introductory discount might be - you should aim to be named for at least one year. Again, insurance companies have different acceptance and rating criteria – some will only accept a minimum of one year, while others may accept smaller blocks of times on the recommendation of a local broker who knows the prospective client in person. In any event, any or all named driving experience that you can get, will help drive down the cost.
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The specific type of car that you drive may not make as much of a difference to your car insurance premium as you may think.
All other things being equal, there is little difference in the price to insure a 1.2 Ford Focus and a 1.6 Nissan Pulsar (March 2021). But of course, these cars are not dramatically different in terms of both value and performance. If we were comparing a Ford Focus with a powerful BMW, the results would indeed be very different. However, before buying your car, write down all the registration numbers of the cars you are considering and run them through our online car insurance calculator. Once you have all your details saved, it’s easy to go in and amend the vehicle and then compare the results.
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Does geography matter? Yes.
While the type of car you drive is within your control, your address is not. Where you live is where you live. Similarly, where you work is where you work. With the availability of big data, insurance companies drill down into counties, towns, villages and even streets. To illustrate the impact of this, we ran the same young driver risk details, as another sample case, through our quotation engine, changing only the address of the insured. The results were remarkable. It would cost €2,463 to insure in Dundalk, Co. Louth, €1,541 in Dublin 14 and €1,252 in Monaghan Town, Co. Monaghan.
*The key information used in this case was as follows:
Vehicle is a 2013 Ford Fiesta valued at €8K
Driver is an 18 year old student with holds a full driving license
The driver has one year’s proven named driving experience and is driving less than 12K kms/year.
Address and area of main use was specified as:
- Dundalk, Co. Louth
- Dublin 14
- Monaghan Town, Co. Monaghan
Quoted Premiums returned as of 25th March 2021.
Bear in mind also, that newer cars are cheaper to insure than older cars. While this is true, no matter what age you are, it is particularly relevant to younger drivers who pay higher premiums.
Don’t forget - adding on a parent or grandparent as a named driver can reduce your car insurance premium. Try it now on our car insurance calculator or give us a call.
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And the final but vital pointer – not all insurance companies make their prices available online to young drivers.
However, as a broker, we have access to these specialist underwriters. So a five minute call to us could make all the difference in the world in terms of finding a saving on your quotes. So call us. Nothing to loose, everything to gain!
The bottom line? Once you have that coveted Full Licence, you can get a quote for your own car insurance policy. Click on the button below or better still call us now on 0818 22 44 33 and we’ll do the hard work.
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