Young Driver Insurance

[IanIOM]

It doesn’t really affect me as my car is paid for, and insurance on the IOM is peanuts. However young driver insurance comes up time and time again, and as I work in this industry I find some of the ideasi hear ……….well amusing to say the least.

However here’s a suggestion that has been made which I am keen to hear your thoughts on.

Any driver below the age of 21 to have Tachograph fitted to their vehicle to monitor their driving behavior.

In LGV`s this works perfectly, in event of an accident a record of speed etc would be easily accessible which would be of HUGE benefit to the insurer and the third party to resolve claims much quicker.

As it would be a fully fledged tachograph with digi card it could be used in a court of law unlike the black box system currently being tried.

Well?

[Steve]

Seems like a good idea to me, anything to encourange the scroats to stop speeding.

[JockWeiler]

Seems perfectly logical to me. So why curtail the experiment to under 21's

[G4VHD]

Although this is a good idea, and would work.

Would you like one fitted to your car? Would you be happy?

Not all under 21's/new drivers are idiots.

If this was fitted to my car, I was doing 35 in a 30 zone, I have to execute an emergency stop and got hit from behind.

Would I be insured because I was speeding if my taco was investigated?

We all speed at times, none of can deny it, but we do it sensibly in sensible places.

But if the scenario above happened, would this be fair?

[IanIOM]

Gav very true, and no your insurance is not invalid if your speeding, The only people who wouldn’t like this being fitted are the people who cost everyone money, the honest folk wouldn’t really mind. And yes if you hit the brakes for no good cause, I.E you were speeding and you had just noticed it so hit the brakes without doing your mirror checks to ensure your actions were safe(as per the driving test) then yes the 3^rd party could claim it is your fault. The only person who controls your speed is you, we all know the law,

We have all seen hikes in the recent months, Mostly down to PPI claims, However if I said on average your insurance goes up 19% PA because of younger drivers, why should YOU pay for THEM?

I personally like this Tachograph idea it is far more sensible than the “limit the engine” rubbish as a 1.1 saxo can still crash into a wall at 70-just like a BMW can

[prestige interiors]

I think it should be the person that is insured not the car why should I have to pay car and van insurance when I can only drive one at a time !

[M1 KES]

YES prestige... I totally agree!! Iv got 5 cars... 4 of them i cant afford to insure!

I went to Corfu for a few months and i personally got insured... And got to drive all sorts of cars.

Insurance in this country is one of the main reasons i wanna leave the country...

Even been tempted by gun ridden America. A V8 affordable as an everyday car? Yes please =D

[Nick528]

The tacho is an interesting thought - I work in an industry with data recorders and it is easy to recover and review what was happening in fine detail not only for "incidents" but also to investigate performance problems or support technical investigation.

There are products out there already that will hold the last x minutes prior to an incident on some cars I believe. I suspect Data Recorders in cars would improve some peoples driving - you'd need to have controls on access so that there had to be grounds for data recovery and no "fishing missions". I would suggest it was reasonable for police to access data in the event of an accident, and for an insurer to seek the data in the event of a claim. To make it effective you'd need the insurer to be unable to refuse 3rd party liability on the basis of the data, but able to reduce or refuse claims by the insured in the event of patently stupid driving.

An interesting challenge is what form the device and data take - you'd need to ensure a common format but also security to prevent a back-street industry developing in "digital record correction" like we appear to need "digital mileage correction" at present.

Interesting territory - the sensible should have nothng to fear.

Nick

[smithycompact]

i have just turned 20 and since i passed my test 3 years ago i have spent nearly £5700 just on insurance. its criminal i havent had one accident. the minority spoil ut for the majority like always

[bonner 330ci]

Money for old rope i say!! pay it then if all good u should get a full refund at the end of year if not a rollover!! companies would make enough from intrest just another money making scam!! like u say they peenalise ya for other drivers mistakes!! u pay the insurence not that ive made a claim but why should you have to pay an exess?? my insurence went up by £20 a month by moving 5 minits up the road to a peacefull area!! i lived in town b4 hand,i had my pride and joy smashed up parts stolen and they recon it was less of a threat to were i live now?? tacho! good idea bud!!!!

[Guest DazH]

YES prestige... I totally agree!! Iv got 5 cars... 4 of them i cant afford to insure!

I went to Corfu for a few months and i personally got insured... And got to drive all sorts of cars.

Insurance in this country is one of the main reasons i wanna leave the country...

Even been tempted by gun ridden America. A V8 affordable as an everyday car? Yes please =D

Me and Ian where just talking about that at the kent meet. America has it worse then us insurance wise.. Ian is the best to explain why

[IanIOM]

Lol I remember nothing!

[Ugly bob]

Insurance companies are just a bunch of bankers.

We are all paying for scams and hungry lawyers.

Young people are being totally shafted across the board no matter how well they drive.

Puting tell tails in cabs is out of order ( think how you did it at there age)

Third party is the only way for young ones, cannt afford a claim.

Many companies are doing multi-car policies, in my sons case it halfed what he was paying , which allowed him to upgrade.

[bonner 330ci]

your not wrong!!! just had alook and renewals and one company offered me insurence half the price as long as i had some sorta tracker or sumit inside to monitor the driving behavier and earn points per month just another big brother, good in someways i suppose but fun is out of the question?

[Ugly bob]

We bought a Peugeot 106 1100cc for my son aged 18 it cost 950 quid, he found Aviva was the cheapest for 3rd party at 1380 quid. It was the same the second year. ( he had pass plus )

He's now 20 and has now bought a 1.8 Astra convertible.

Me and the mrs started a multi car policy with admiral, both saved dosh on our cars however the young yin got 3rd party for the astra for 930 quid.

From what I can see its the car, also it helps to have a mature female on the policy as a named driver.

[v NForce]

I'm 19 years old and I've been driving for 2 years accident free... in fact a large proportion of my friends have been driving without a problem at all! But yet we're still getting the blame for the majority of accidents! It really is just a minority of young drivers who are having the accident.

There has been a few accidents around my area since I've passed... 8 of which were caused by the same 3 people, so statically it's still classed as us young drivers.

Of course there are a higher number of fatalities at our age, have you seen the type of cars people are driving then they first pass? Like the old Vauxhall Corsa, Citroen Saxo, etc... they clearly lack the safety equipment such as the number of airbags, ABS, traction control that we'd find on newer cars! I'm not saying that it's a substitute for bad driving but if you know that the under 21's are the most likely to have an accident, then why not decrease the premiums for newer and safer cars like the new VW polo, Ford Fiesta, or the Peugeot 208, which are much, much safer! Sure, they are worth a lot more but with aids to prevent accidents in the first place and more importantly the severity of crashes, don't you guys think that's better in the long run?

As for the tachograph, I'd prefer to have one of them dash cams as well as a tracker fitted to reduce premiums. I'm not too keen on being monitored 24/7 as well as having curfews.

Since insurance is compulsory, these companies are taking advantage of it... I mean how is it that my quotes can range from £800 to over 15k?! It's ridiculous!! Like Aaron I'm going to pay about £6k purely on insurance for these 3 years... that's the same as me throwing my car away every year...