Recently in the news again was the issue of the huge cost of insuring teenage drivers and how unfair it is.
Insurers were accused of profiteering at young drivers expense and failing to offer certain discounts.
For example, after passing their driving test, new drivers are often told they will get discount on their insurance if they take a "pass plus" course.
After some research by the UK's Daily Mail it seems that very few insurers actually offer this discount, so it would appear to be a bit of a con.
Naturally, the insurance industry takes a different view.
Now that the pass plus course has been around for a few years, there are enough claims statistics to show that taking a pass plus course has absolutely no effect on teenage accident rates, and so insurers see no reason to offer any discount for this.
Pass plus does not make a safer driver.
As for profiteering, teenage insurance rates are always going to be high, simply because they are the highest risk group to insure.
Parents often complain,"But the car isn't worth that much!" when faced with a large premium for their child's insurance.
Unfortunately, what they forget is that the value of the vehicle has very little to do with it.
It's all about risk.
As an example, men between the ages of 17 & 21, driving after 11 at night, are 17 times more likely to have an accident than the average driver.
During the day, this drops to "only" 7 times.
It's very easy to see from this that teenagers cause far more damage and injury to other people than those from higher age groups, and it's the insurance companies who pick up the tab for this.
Teenagers on the road are an inherently high risk, and that's what causes sky high premiums.
So what can you do to brings prices down? Some parents take out a policy in their own name and then put their child on as a named driver, but this can cause problems in the event of a claim.
Besides being illegal, insurers are wise to this and may require proof that the parent, as the main driver, drives the car more often before paying out damages, and in flagrant cases may even prosecute for insurance fraud.
What many parents fail to realise, is that they can make a saving legally, by simply doing it the other way around.
By naming themselves on their child's policy, the insurer will then see the teenager doesn't drive the car 100% of the time and will treat the policy as a lower risk, and therefore charge a lower premium.
Insurers were accused of profiteering at young drivers expense and failing to offer certain discounts.
For example, after passing their driving test, new drivers are often told they will get discount on their insurance if they take a "pass plus" course.
After some research by the UK's Daily Mail it seems that very few insurers actually offer this discount, so it would appear to be a bit of a con.
Naturally, the insurance industry takes a different view.
Now that the pass plus course has been around for a few years, there are enough claims statistics to show that taking a pass plus course has absolutely no effect on teenage accident rates, and so insurers see no reason to offer any discount for this.
Pass plus does not make a safer driver.
As for profiteering, teenage insurance rates are always going to be high, simply because they are the highest risk group to insure.
Parents often complain,"But the car isn't worth that much!" when faced with a large premium for their child's insurance.
Unfortunately, what they forget is that the value of the vehicle has very little to do with it.
It's all about risk.
As an example, men between the ages of 17 & 21, driving after 11 at night, are 17 times more likely to have an accident than the average driver.
During the day, this drops to "only" 7 times.
It's very easy to see from this that teenagers cause far more damage and injury to other people than those from higher age groups, and it's the insurance companies who pick up the tab for this.
Teenagers on the road are an inherently high risk, and that's what causes sky high premiums.
So what can you do to brings prices down? Some parents take out a policy in their own name and then put their child on as a named driver, but this can cause problems in the event of a claim.
Besides being illegal, insurers are wise to this and may require proof that the parent, as the main driver, drives the car more often before paying out damages, and in flagrant cases may even prosecute for insurance fraud.
What many parents fail to realise, is that they can make a saving legally, by simply doing it the other way around.
By naming themselves on their child's policy, the insurer will then see the teenager doesn't drive the car 100% of the time and will treat the policy as a lower risk, and therefore charge a lower premium.
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