A leading insurance broker has revealed youngsters looking to insure their first car may be wrong in thinking that an older car is the cheapest option.
Research by Be Wiser has shown that in many cases a new driver looking to insure their first car would find it cheaper to insure a brand new car than an older one.
In one example given by the broker they costed the premium for a 17-year-old in an average UK city to insure a 1.0-litre Volkswagen Up!, and at around £3,000 for a year it came out almost £1,000 cheaper to insure than a 20-year-old Ford Fiesta.
Stuart Jenkinson of Be Wiser offered an explanation of this phemonemon, saying: “New cars are likely to attract lower premiums for a number of reasons, such as better security and safety systems which reduce the chances of theft or injury in the event of an incident. Insurers also base their prices on how cars are driven and new cars are generally driven less aggressively than an older one.”
The broker warned young drivers looking to reduce costs against naming a parent as the main driver of the vehicle, known in the industry as ‘fronting’. “It’s tantamount to fraud if you’re saying you’re not the main user when really you are,” says Stuart Jenkinson. "If the insurance company discovers they have been lied to or misled they can refuse to deal with any claim.”
The broker suggested keeping cars free from modification, adding an experienced named driver to the policy, and accepting additional voluntary excesses as ways young drivers can legitimately get a better deal.
Click here to sign up for our monthly newsletter
| Popular news stories |
||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||
