Cheaper insurance for new drivers

For young drivers, passing the test is the easy bit, paying to run your car is the hardest part of driving.

Driving is an expensive game for anyone, what with rising fuel costs, varying road tax depending on the 'greeness' of your car and the cost of servicing and repair we all have to fork out more than we want to just to keep our cars on the road.

But as far as insurance goes, young drivers are hard done by. According to driving statistics, one in five young drivers will have an accident in their first year, so according to insurance companies this makes them a high-risk group. So much so that many insurers simply refuse to take on the burden.

But what do young drivers do? For men under the age of 21with an average, although not altogether amazing car, insurance can hover around the £5000 mark and for girls its around half that. There aren't really any viable alternatives either.

Parents who want to come to the rescue of their children, can add them to their policy for significantly less, in fact well under £1000 and they can start claiming named-driver no claims bonus, which they can then use when they can finally afford their own insurance. With this in mind, parents should look for companies with high no-claims discounts. Many insurers offer up to 75% off after five or more years claim free, which in part, can be extended to named drivers.

However, it is a sad fact that around 250,000 young drivers are driving without insurance because it costs to much. Not only is this illegal but could end up costing more in the long run.

Instead of completely forgoing insurance, young drivers should look for a policy that combines a low premium, reasonable excess and extras such as breakdown cover and online discounts.

Take Kwik Fit Insurance for example. It offers 20% off when you take out one of its car insurance quotes online and as it started as a repair and parts centre, it offers 10% off at all Kwik Fit centres with all of its polices.

This means you can buy everything from exhausts to gearboxes at 10% off and you'll even get a free MOT. Seeing as all these extras only exasperate the financial problems for young drivers, saving money on them will mean they have more money to spare to buy the insurance cover they are legally required to have.