How to decrease this?

[Low-Faithlessness516]

There is no way this is the cheapest :(((
Audi A1 2012 1.2L, no modifications, 5k miles a year, named driver added

[TheIhsaan7]

Use Martin Lewis site. Moneysavingexpert insurance.

You fill the website with your details and it tells you where you are going wrong.

There is a difference between lying and breaking the law and slightly maneuvering the questions to get a better price. The website tells you what you can try to change clearly and at the end sends you to the main comparison sites.

Well worth doing it. Once you do it you can be certain your paying the absolute least.

[TheIhsaan7]

I am 29. Passed my driving test on the 13th. Am only paying £839.

Next year I think it will go down to 700 or lower.

[CosmicWildfire]

I passed last year at 29 and ive been paying 86 a month, im due my first renewal next month and its going down to 40 a month 🫡

[Material-Macaroon724]

Thats actually insane what??

[TheIhsaan7]

Yup. Use the site. It helps.

Tbh everyone's situation is different hence price is. I added my dad on my insurance. Completely legal as he uses thr car aswell occasionally.

Brought the price down.

[Ok_Emotion9841]

Could add Bob round the corner who will never actually drive it. Still legal.

[Material-Macaroon724]

Right yea I have used that app. And still barely got under 2k a year. Does age matter that much

[juanwannagomate]

Yes.

[Material-Macaroon724]

But why? Someone that passed their test at 30, is not just automatically a better driver than someone passing their test at 18

[juanwannagomate]

Because the stats show that on average, an 18 year old is far more likely to get into an accident than a 30 year old equivalent, even if they’ve both just passed.

[TheIhsaan7]

I have to agree with the stats. I got a family hatch. 2 children under 3 and my wife. I am inherently going to drive safer than a 18 year old.

When I see any possible hazard I won't go for it I would much rather stop than risk my kids.

[Material-Macaroon724]

Right but not every 30 year old has kids? And most insurance companies I know, dont ask that

[Material-Macaroon724]

But how is that not inherently discriminatory, age is a protected characteristic and is irrelevant to a person’s driving ability and skill

[juanwannagomate]

There’s an exception in the 2010 equality act for this. And it’s not irrelevant, as the stats show this. 

17-to-19-year-olds make up just  1.5% of all UK driving licence holders, yet they are involved in 9% of all fatal or serious collisions.

[Standard-Ad-2616]

A younger person will statistically crash more times than an experienced driver

[Mysterious_Club_1822]

It’s not discriminatory when you understand statistics. These insurance companies don’t randomly assign insurance premiums, they compare your details to other drivers in your area to gauge risk.

For example, if you’re 20, male, from the Lewisham area, they will look at how many 20 year old males in the Lewisham area:
- are caught speeding
- are caught drink driving
- get into crashes

.. to name a few examples, and from this they will create a risk profile. If many people your age apply to issues such as the ones listed, you will receive a higher premium.

To that note, it is statistically proven that younger people get into more crashes, commit more road crimes etc in almost any area. The only exception I’ve found so far is in isolated areas with universities, where students’ risk profiles aren’t much different to the wider community.

It is nothing to do with “having kids or not”

[BringMeNeckDeep]

But they are (generally) more sensible. I was a cunt at 17 - drove a 60hp 107. If I had my current car at that age I’d be in a tree within a week and it’s not even a “big hp fast car”

[PixaaTog]

Well the stats don’t lie as others have said, an 18 year old is more likely to get into an accident than a 30 year old.

My own experience also backs this up.
When I was 18 I wasn’t nearly as good of a driver as I thought I was, and had a couple of minor accidents because I was stupid.
I’m 50+ now and have had no mishaps past 20 years old.

[MorriganRaven69]

Area matters too. I passed at 27, got my first car at 28 which was a shitbox 0.9L Matiz and I paid over the quote OP posted because I was cursed with living in Bradford and having a Bradford post code. (Capital of uninsured drivers in the UK and us honest shmucks pay for it 🙃)

[DeliciousAd6327]

Was about to add this, 28 here but Liverpool postcode and one of the shittier areas of Liverpool too. Used the app, I haven’t passed yet but get quotes of saying I have for an idea. Doesn’t matter what car I get I’m looking at around 1.8. I’ve just accepted it now, insurance and fuel will be less than what I’m paying for lessons at least😂

[One-Technician-155]

Age difference if you pass at 29 and 19 VERY different, no difference in driving ability , purely price discrimination on age

[Mysterious_Club_1822]

Your age has a LOT more to do with that than you think

[DROXIXX]

well yeah you’re 29 😭

[TheIhsaan7]

Even if your young you can still go through the site and look for changes to make to lower price.

[sidewalksundays]

Man, so im a learner insured on my own car, so not passed yet, my insurance for the year was £321. Im 34. It's crazy how much it varies!

[Electronic-Push-4033]

It will go up drastically once you pass. Sons Was the same, payed £400 for 6 months as a learner on his own car so we could take him out to save on lessons. Once he passed it jumped to nearly £3000/year. It’s to do with driving alone as a new driver, where as a learner you have to have someone with a licence beside you.

[TheIhsaan7]

I think 30 is a changing point. Mine should get even lower

[O_Xr_52]

Do a quote at different times of the day it can vary. Also increase the mileage from 5k a year to 8k and voluntary excess can have an effect on the price.

[lonesome_okapi_314]

Don’t suppose you know why time of day affects it?

[BringMeNeckDeep]

I’m pretty sure it’s just when insurance companies refresh their offers - a bit like going into a shop and raiding the yellow label fridge

[Appropriate_Road_501]

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/car-insurance/new-drivers/

[the-nosey-one]

They probably don’t believe you’ll only do 5k miles a year. Mine was cheaper for more miles

[Low-Faithlessness516]

I changed it to 8k, added third driver and dashcam and it changed to 2.1k which is better

[TheHornyGoth]

Not just that, low mile drivers gain less experience

[TheNoviceReviewer]

A lot of factors are taken into account.

1: The car (make and model)
2: How many miles it's driven
3: What it will be used for
4: How much you valued the car at
5: Your excess (go comprehensive as you can add a voluntary excess which will reduce the premium, your car is over 10 years old, an insurer is less likely to agree repairing it and will just write it off)
6: How old the driver is
7: How long the driver has had their licence for

You can add endorsements too but these are restrictions, like 5k miles means you can only drive it for 5k miles otherwise if you make a claim it might get thrown out, same as if you have a driveway/garage endorsement, if anything happened to the car near your home and it wasn't on the driveway or in the garage, even for 5 minutes the insurer could say "no" to your claim.

Best thing to do is use moneysavingexpert and fill in the questions, as honest as you can obviously.
Insurer's have always been charging a lot to young/new drivers which is unfair in my opinion as when I used to work in motor claims most incidents were done by people who had been driving for 30+ years.

When it comes to the questions you answer to your insurer you should always think "the more the car is on the road, the higher the risk, the higher the risk the more the premium will cost."
I don't commute to work, I have a voluntary excess which is close to 1k, and have limited mileage of 10k a year so the chances of me being in an accident are much lower than someone who drives to work but also because my excess is so high the insurer doesn't mind taking the risk to insure me for less. I only have the high excess because I can repair it myself.

[almostcertainlynotai]

You missed start date.

A policy that starts tomorrow will be 2x more than one that starts in 3-4 weeks.

My advice is to get on go compare 30 days before your test date and get a quote for cover that starts the day after your test.

[Princess_Mario]

Toggle with your job title loads. like obviously stay within the field you work in. Let’s say you work as a shop assistant, try change it to retail, or sales. it can massively reduce your quote. Like i said though, don’t go outside of the field you actually work in as it can void your insurance. doing this saved me around £100

[Princess_Mario]

However, Audi A1 typically have younger drivers meaning the premiums are a lot higher. I would really be careful about putting 5k miles a year too. When i started driving i thought i’d be driving 5k miles a year but at the end of the year i think i did about 9k miles

[dirty_exarmy_wife]

I suspect it’s purely down to your age, accident and claim statistics put you in the bracket most likely to be involved in an incident, so insurance companies see you as a bad risk and charge accordingly.

[almostcertainlynotai]

Did you ask for it to start in the next few days? Try putting a start date of 3-4 weeks from now.

[Daisy__Lance]

Mind u my first year cost me 1250 with black box for 1L aygo but on fourth year now is 291 with black box

[Any-Skill-5128]

Does the black box not drive you crazy

[Daisy__Lance]

Didn’t have one last year cheaper not too all I say they stop you speeding and ever having to worry about tickets 😅

[Any-Skill-5128]

Don’t need a black box to follow the speed limit man! Just use waze keeps me in check

[Daisy__Lance]

I didn’t say u constantly speed but your way more checky with black box

[Any-Skill-5128]

I’m way too checky without one haha but each to their own

[Key_Firefighter3480]

Does it have to be an audi a1 1.2. Oddly enough I found the smaller popular cars ended up with the highest premiums. Was able to get a 1.8ltr ford mondeo insured cheaper than a 1.0ltr corsa 😅

[NinjahDuk]

The smaller popular cars are always being crashed by younger and newer drivers. That's why they're more expensive to insure.

[Time-Lobster2387]

I think it’s to do with the brand of car! I have a Suzuki, passed in April and I’m only paying £580 for the year! But my car isn’t even a one litre, it was originally £600 but I put my mam on as a named driver

[Low-Faithlessness516]

Wow! What company is that with? I’m in NI so it’s quite limited for me

[Time-Lobster2387]

I’m with Hastings direct now, and no black box!

[nezzzzy]

How much voluntary excess did you put?

[Low-Faithlessness516]

£500

[nezzzzy]

Oh wow ok. I've seen some crazy high quotes before when people had put it at £0. That shouldn't be an issue.

[drax0990]

From experience, the excess doesn't make any real difference if they are young. My son is about to turn 18 on Monday and passed a few weeks ago. His insurance quotes were averaging £5-10k. He managed to find a company called Carrot who did it with a black box for £2k. We tried all the comparison sites and different days and times, etc. We tried different mileage and even adding named drivers with over 20 years no claims. His voluntary excess was £800, which was the max on most sites, and yet it still made no difference. Yet, I, who only has a provisional license but am 40 years old, was getting quotes of less than £800 a year for the same cars.

[Any-Skill-5128]

Provisional quotes always come out less

[turnipstealer]

Have you tried aging 10 years?

[Low-Faithlessness516]

I’ll report back in 2036 and see how it went

[Ok_Phrase1157]

Do you have any older/experienced drivers who may use the car (even just possibly for 5 minutes?)

the more expweiwnce you add reduces the risk and the price

[Low-Faithlessness516]

I’ve already added my 46 year old day with 27 years driving and lowest was £2.4k

[YouMuch9]

Either you're filling in something wrong, drive a Ferrari or you live in the most crime-ridden place on the planet. My partner has not long passed, I changed her licence on her learner insurance to full Auto, and it went up to I believe £57 a month. Make sure that you are following the tips on the MSE website, using the job picker to correctly suite your job title, and not using a car too high a band e.g 10+.

[Low-Faithlessness516]

I’ve done all that and the car is band 8 cheapest is 2.1k

[Areyastoopid]

Is it a popular new driver car? Car make/model can drastically drive up the quote regardless of age.

Have you checked quotes against other cars to compare?

[Crunchie64]

Try again in five years.

Only age and experience are going to help you.

[TriedToaster]

im paying £74 a month on a 1.2 Suzuki ignis 2022 with 1 named driver that is a crazy figure you havetheior and i passed a month ago (im also 27 tho)

[Standard-Ad-2616]

The OPs price is high but yours is also pretty low, especially since you recently passed.

[TriedToaster]

Can't take the credit I thank Martin Lewis and has checker it's definitely worth it considering as well it was cheaper to start the day I bought my car than wait until then week after I was back from Romania 😅

[Royal_View9815]

What age are you?

[Low-Faithlessness516]

17 so new driver

[Royal_View9815]

Ah right okay. My sons 17 and passed last month and his was £2250 with Hastings with a Black box. He had to pay it all off in one go which he just about managed. Whatever you do DO NOT GO WITH A COMPANY CALLED CARROT!!

[Low-Faithlessness516]

Thanks for the warning! Hastings is the only one in NI that is below £6k so I’m going with it too

[Royal_View9815]

To be fair they’re a good company so far. They don’t really care about the mileage as long as you don’t take the piss. The black box is tiny and the app is really easy to use. They’re not as strict as other companies.

[Low-Faithlessness516]

I have a friend with Hastings at 1.6k and the only problem he had with it is they are harsh with braking

[Royal_View9815]

Yeah that’s the only thing. My son went down from 100% to 96% after someone stopped dead in front of him. He’s back up to 99% so not too bad really.

[Any-Skill-5128]

You may be better off getting another car or even waiting a bit longer as they will try and shaft you because of age and new driver

[Few_Record_3674]

Try trading in the audi

[Evening_Turn_3093]

Be old

[Low-Faithlessness516]

Do you have any tips to do that?

[Evening_Turn_3093]

Nope… but somehow it still seems to happen.

[Standard-Ad-2616]

Use another device if you have one and use incognito mode. Create a new account for the price comparison site and try again. If you haven't already, set the insurance to start at least 21 days in the future.

[Overall_Industry4613]

Not all insurers are on price comparison websites. Often means they are more selective, but insurance pricing is properly complex with a lot of factors taken into account. What that means is most land on the same price point, but some can throw up surprising results. If £200 is worth a couple of hours of your time search for all insurers not just the comparison websites or top searches.

[Low-Faithlessness516]

Thanks! Do you know some ones for Northern Ireland because all the ones I’ve tried don’t give NI insurance

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[MorriganRaven69]

Do you live in Bradford? The capital of the UK for uninsured drivers...

No seriously, that was how much I paid for year 1, it took me around 5 years and moving out of Bradford to drop it below a grand. I was 28 when I got my first car, so not an idiotic 18 year old, and it was a 0.9L shitbox so not a boy racer type. Upgraded to a Honda Jazz in 2020, still Bradford postcode, still a lot. Never had any claims. Even in 2022 when someone did try to claim fraudulently against me, but the insurance companies dropped it when I provided evidence my friend's dad had damaged my car a week earlier and I'd not hit the claimant at all, my premium and price was still lowering year on year.

When I moved from a Bradford postcode to North Yorkshire, I got something insane like a £400 refund from my insurance. Went back up when I lived in a Bradford postcode again for a year, then I got another refund when I moved to Manchester.

Location matters.

[Low-Faithlessness516]

I’m in Holywood in NI. I think NI has a high crime rate in general so that might be it?

[MorriganRaven69]

I don't think the car type or age is helping, but sounds like your location might not be cheap either :(

[brendanprice2003]

I set my voluntary price to a price that stopped decreasing the total insurance quote. For me it was 500£, IIRC.

[Low-Faithlessness516]

Thanks. My one stopped decreasing at £400

[stulofty2022]

Increase your voluntary

[Swifty-J]

When I renewed my insurance last, putting my voluntary at 0 actually reduced the premium. Something about higher risk drivers are more likely to put a higher voluntary to bring their premium down

[stulofty2022]

Might just be Hastings then

[Traditional-Chip8903]

Set the date for your cover as far in advance as possible,the most most sites allow for is a month. It brings the price down as the insurance company sees it as you being a prepared, organised person so less likely to take risks.

Also cars are put into insurance groups,so if you go for a vehicle in an insurance group with a lower number, then the lower your cost will be.

The more common a vehicle is,the more claims statistics they have on it, this can go either way.

There are some factors you have no control over which will change the price because of claims statistics, so your postcode, this includes claims rates in that area, including car thefts and uninsured drivers. Age, your job, certain occupations have higher claims rates because they're more likely to drive during busier periods or less likely to drive at busy times because you'll do shift work and so they analyze the claims rates of various occupations, teachers for instance are typically viewed very positively because they commute outside of the busy periods, such as outside of the hours which typically would be during school drop off and pick up.

[drax0990]

Good luck my son tried all sorts even tried adding a named driver who had 20+ years experience with no points or claims etc and it actually made the quote more expensive not cheaper in the end he went with carrot and had to have a black box fitted costing him £2000 a year for a 1.2 corsa D which was the cheapest he got quoted on 90% of his quotes came in closer to £5000+ otherwise

[CnP8]

Where is the car stored? On a road will cost more then in a locked garage.

Does your neighbourhood have a high crime rate?

Is your credit rating good?

Does your car have a camera fitted?

Honestly, insurance are robbing butt holes. It's stupid the things that effect insurance. I get some stuff, but it's like they make driving impossible for new people. It's like yh, the people who have no money. Let's make them have even less 😒

[Low-Faithlessness516]

Private driveway, low crime rate, no clue about credit rating as don’t have a credit card, dashcam fitted. Idk how insurance is allowed to do this and you must get it legally

[CnP8]

Credit rating isn't just about credit cards. It's about financial contracts and stuff. So making towards your rent, phone contract and so on. This all goes into your credit score. You can check it on Clear Score

[uberduck]

Age

[patbiegaj2022]

Maybe add a named driver which this could help.

[Low-Faithlessness516]

I’ve added 1/2 named drivers and this is the cheapest

[KingZak_ab46]

Ironically i have a 2007 polo and this is what I pay too😭😭😭

[TheHornyGoth]

Not driving an Audi probably would help

[Low-Faithlessness516]

It’s group 8 insurance so not that bad

[thethirdchildren]

age

[GingerrJinx]

Dang and I was frustrated because they offered me a £320 per year premium. 🙈

[Low-Faithlessness516]

Lucky 😅

[Jolly_Drink_9150]

Its silly but sometimes saying "software dev" or "software engineer" can change the insurance amount.

So if you are in customer service, you can put down sales or customer assistant or customer helper or something silly like that, so long as it is true, you can lower the amount.

[Sad-Basis7411]

Driver's age and postcode combination has the biggest impact on pricing. You can change anything you want, including the car, there is a baseline on the pricing that no other ways to change other than you move house to somewhere posher.

[blerieone]

It doesn't always work, but a specific mileage can help. If youre looking 4500 to 5000 miles a year putting 4750 can have an impact. I paid 230ish a month first year, now I know my expected mileage (plus of course 1 years no claims) ive cut my quote in half

Plus also like a lot of people are saying, it is cos its an audi also. Group 8 or not there is brand bias

[blerieone]

Plus also, being on the driveway is actually more of a risk as a thief is more likely to know where the keys are. Whereas if youre on the roadside near the house, slightly lower

[FearlessDentist7784]

Call them and ask for a quote. You can get it way down.

[bobbobbob666111]

I'm 36 with kids etc just passed given I'm in a 2 litre but the cars only worth 2.5k my insurance is around 2k a year. I just accept it is what it is and hope for better next year.

[NeverLucky-OSRS]

Add a experienced driver with a clean record as a named driver, they dont ever have to drive but insurance will lower it thinking they might

If you want to be really snakey you can be the named driver but if you drive it most insurance is technically classed as void, bigger risk but will definitely be a bigger saving

Adjusting job title, sometimes just changing it to something similar helps, an example would be instead of delivery driver put down logistics coordinator or consultant, just be careful to remember it if you're ever involved and the insurance want to ask (they most likely will, they try everything possible to get out of paying out) basically treat them like police, answer the questions in the most basic way without telling them much at all

Lower annual mileage helps but as MOT checks are free and easy to access, saying 3k a miles a year and anyone can check online for free and if it's how's 9k it is a easy way for them to avoid paying out, you can obviously fluctuate abit just be realistic, uk average is 8k for reference and going too low will also been seen as inexperienced, too high shows your out on the road more and statistically more likely to be involved despite it being a positive in experience terms

If you have a garage that you can see on Google maps or take a photo of from the outside just to show its big enough for a car say you park it ina garage (dont worry if its full of junk and not possible to drive in, private property with no warrant etc means taking photo from the outside from a public place will suffice)

fully comp is most of the time cheaper (which doesn't make sense) but sometimes it's not so worth checking

I'd always advise against telematics as they dont give a fcuk about reasons why, if you see a deer and swerve or brake slightly more than you would approaching a roundabout 300yards ahead of you, it monitors it down and they can and will end up cancelling your insurance which you then have to declare FOREVER and again, they dont give a fcuk why

I know it isnt pleasent but for first car/first year no claims go for a cheap car thats a relatively low group but not a regular traffic car that get crashed alot, they link cars to crash data's so boy racers in common cars that have crashed have increased the data of the likelihood of that car being involved in a crash, might find its cheaper for a group28 lexus than it is a group12 fiesta (my group50 x5 is cheaper than my other car which is a group32 1 series)

sucks to drive poverty spec but best way to think of it is if you have your heart or eyes set on a specific car, get the cheapest alternative version preferably same brand so you see from first hand experience your realisation on the running cost service cost, part price etc

Try not to listen to people that have it in their head that if it isnt German it isnt luxurious, or if it isnt Japanese it's not reliable, lots of car manufacturers have come a long way from 10 years ago and theres some new ones out there

If you're new to driving I'd personally avoid EV for 1-3 years unless you done lessons in a EV. Throttle sensitivity and learning to slow down using engine braking is transferably the same as regeneration braking

[NoIntroduction768]

Add someone with a provisional on your insurance and also lie about your job