Getting cheap car insurance deals for young and new drivers

So you’ve just got your full driving license and you are excited knowing that you are now able to drive the car which you’ve barely managed to buy. Well don’t get your hopes up too soon because the moment you start looking for cheap young driver car insurance, you’ll start pulling all the hairs on your head off. Why? Because car insurance for new drivers is ridiculously high! You are looking at £2500 on average to insure your car! Don't worry though as there are ways to reduce new driver insurance quotes and you'll learn them next.

I’ve just passed my driving test and the young driver car insurance quotes I am getting are too expensive, how can I get cheaper car premiums then?

What people used to do not so long ago was to put down an experienced driver as the main driver on the insurance policy and to nominate the young or new driver as the second driver. Usually Mum and Dad are more than happy to put down their names on their children's policy and this will help to significantly reduce the insurance quote of the new driver. I've seen cases where the insurance quote for a young driver was reduced from £2900 down to £1200! I do not condone the use of this technique and should therefore warn you that this has been made illegal now as it is called 'car insurance fronting'.

It is also necessary for me to say that being on someone's else policy (ie not being the policy holder or main driver) means that many car insurance companies will not give you any No Claims Bonus while you are a named driver. And unfortunately for me, I found out that Churchill does not provide the facility of letting named drivers build their no claims separately and this meant I, as a young new driver, had to start back at square one when I decided to take insurance in my own name. So make sure you choose a company which will give no claims discount to named drivers when you buy your policy if you will not be the policyholder.

The next thing you can do to further lower your car insurance is to opt for a higher excess on your premiums which is also known as a voluntary excess. So instead of getting a standard excess of £250, tell the agent that you want to increase your excess to the maximum you are able to get - most probably the insurance company will allow you up to £500 in excess but in return you will get a cheaper car insurance quote. What it means though is that if you are ever involved in an accident where you're found guilty and you a make claim to your young driver insurance company to get your damaged car repaired, then the first £500 must be paid by you and the rest by the insurance company.

Also most insurers will offer you discounts, of up to 35%, if you have completed a Pass Plus course within 12 months of passing your test so make sure you complete this advanced training to get the best deal on your new driver car insurance. Just so that you know, there are no tests as such to pass for this course; you are just required to drive on different roads and under different conditions.

You should also know that top of the range cars cost more to insure because if the car itself is expensive, then the costs of repairs will be high as well and insurers will make you pay more for the premiums because of the risks involved. Therefore you should probably consider getting an average car to start off with and get whichever car you want after you’ve become an experienced driver.

So which insurance company is offering the best deal for young & new drivers at the moment?

Well I know exactly how disappointing it is to get these expensive quotes just because you're a new driver as I was in the same situation 2 years ago! Therefore I've researched a lot on how new drivers can get better deals for car insurance so that other young drivers who are going to take their first car insurance can find the cheapest car insurance company straight away without having to spend a lot of time getting quotes from different insurers. I cannot stress enough that it's only in the first year that car insurance tends to be really expensive for the new driver and in the second year, it goes down significantly (mine went down by £800 in the 2nd year).

The following companies are giving out the best deals for young new drivers:

• Direct Line Car Insurance