Car insurance for novice drivers
Finally: the driver’s license has been obtained and the first own car is just around the corner. Then the shock when you look at the premium for car insurance. Pretty expensive. But the price doesn’t have to be that high. There are a few tricks that new drivers and young drivers who are insuring a car for the first time can use to save money with little effort.
Why do novice drivers pay so much more?
Novice drivers pay the highest premiums for car insurance. Because the insurance premium is based on the individual risk of damage – and that is particularly high for young drivers. They are still relatively inexperienced, often misjudge situations in traffic, and are comparatively often drunk on the road.
These are not prejudices, but statistically verifiable facts. According to figures from the Federal Statistical Office, most of the accidents involving drivers between the ages of 18 and 24, in which other people are injured, occur because of excessive speed. Accidents under the influence of alcohol decreased slightly. From 1,849 in 2015, the number fell to 1,771 in 2016.
The insurers are arming themselves against having to pay damages for young drivers more often and calculate accordingly. As soon as novice drivers are also insured in their parents’ car, the average premium almost doubles, according to a 2018 Finanztip study.
This is how no-claims classes work
The amount of insurance premiums depends on many factors. In addition to accident statistics, tariff criteria also play a role. The insurance industry converts the findings from the statistics into the type and regional classes. There are also empirical values from the past for the tariff characteristics, which can lead to surcharges or discounts on the premium.
Another important component in the premium calculation is the no- claims class system. It practically works as a bonus; for every year without an accident, the contribution that you have to pay for the car insurance decreases. The principle is very simple: you start with class 0 or better and move up a step with every accident-free year. With each higher level, the premium rate drops – by how much, that depends on the insurer. At level 35 it is currently over.
And so that the contribution rate is really regularly lower, your contract must ideally have existed for the entire calendar year; There are separate regulations for seasonal vehicles.
If you have to take out your insurance after an accident, you will fall back a few notches – you will be downgraded. With this, you practically go back to the start and don’t collect any bonus. Instead, your contribution increases for the next few years. It takes about ten years to make up for this disadvantage.
How many no-claims classes you will be downgraded can be found in the insurance conditions. Every insurer handles this differently; a targeted comparison is practically impossible. It is all the more important that when you change your new insurance, you tell us how many claims-free years you had at the beginning of the year and how many accidents your insurer had to pay for. Your new insurer will then use its downgrade table to calculate the no-claims discount you start with.
The contribution in the lower classes falls more sharply than later in the higher no-claims classes, as the example of the Huk-Coburg discount scale clearly shows.
If you start as a novice driver in class 0, you pay 100 percent, i.e. the full contribution. With each claim-free year, the contribution rate drops. After two years, an average of only 56 percent is due in motor liability and 45 percent in fully comprehensive insurance.
However, there are a few ways in which, as a novice driver, you can get insurance a little cheaper from the start. We have put together ten tips for this.
Tip 1: Ensure the car as your parents’ second car
It is easiest and cheapest if your parents insure your car as a second car and register you as the driver. Alternatively, the car can also be insured through the grandparents or other relatives. However, insurance through parents is usually the cheapest option. This does not make the premium for the parents’ first car more expensive.
Insurance companies classify a second car in at least no-claims class (SF class) ½. Often they even grant an even higher class, in the best case they grant you the same no-claims class with which the first vehicle is insured.
Car insurance through parents has other advantages: They usually have better actuarial values because they own real estate or work in a particular job. The providers often grant further discounts for this. The premium is lower than if the novice driver insured himself. However, the inclusion of novice drivers in the group of drivers makes the premium considerably more expensive, as we found out in a Finanztip study in 2018.
By the way, parents don’t have to worry that their SF class for the first car will deteriorate if the child has an accident with the second car. In this case, the downgrade only applies to the second car.
Tip 2: Use family tariffs
Not all parents want to ensure their child’s car as a second car and be the policyholder for it. What sounds mean at first doesn’t have to be a disadvantage. As a novice driver, you become a policyholder right from the start and have your own no-claims discount. The parents’ contract can also be very useful.
Many insurers offer young drivers the opportunity to start with a better no-claims class than class 0 if their parents have insured their car with the same company.
With this variant, you insure yourself, the insurance policy then runs on you. This is usually more expensive than having second car insurance through your parents. But you can still save with it.
As part of our investigation into second-car tariffs, we found a number of these family tariffs. These are special second car regulations where the car may be registered for someone other than the policyholder.
Let yourself be registered as a holder and classified with the claim-free years that correspond to the duration of your driving license, but at least the SF class ½. This is particularly worthwhile if you drove a moped or motorcycle before you got your car driver’s license because these times also count.
The family rates you can not lock in comparison portals. You have to inquire directly with your parents’ insurer.
Tip 3: Take part in accompanied driving
For a number of years now, young people have been able to get a driving license for their car at the age of 17. The prerequisite is that you are always accompanied by an experienced driver in the first year – so you are not traveling alone.
From a statistical point of view, novice drivers who take part in accompanied driving cause fewer accidents – after all, it is usually the parents who sit in the front passenger seat and take care.
This controlled driving pays off. In 2016, we calculated the premium for motor vehicle insurance for three different scenarios in a random sample: In the first case, the novice driver uses their parents’ car, in the second car of their parents, and in the third case their own car:
For example, the insurance cost in the sample for the first year after the driver’s license for accompanied driving on average 31 percent less than after acquiring the driving license at the age of 18. The savings are particularly high when the newcomer to the driver’s license is registered on one of their parents’ cars. Then the family even saves a good 38 percent compared to the driver’s license at the age of 18.
In the following years, according to our research, the additional year of driving experience was reflected in lower premiums. If the 18-year-old is allowed to drive unaccompanied by his or her parents after a year, the car insurance costs on average 14 percent less than if the 18-year-old started without driving experience.
Especially when it comes to his own car, the 18-year-old saved money through experience. Providers granted a discount of 20 percent on average. Those who only wanted to ensure the car with liability insurance even saved almost a quarter of the premium in the 2016 Finanztip sample.
Tip 4: Take the SF classes from your parents’ contract with you
Every beginning is difficult – and car insurance costs so much premium, especially in the first few years after obtaining a driver’s license, because the premium rate is still high. Over time, however, the insurance becomes cheaper if you remain free of damage.
Then there is also a good moment to get into the car insurance contract as a policyholder. In the best-case scenario, you can have a no-claims discount from your parents’ second car contract transferred to you. Of course, this only applies to the number of damage-free years that corresponds to the length of time you have held your driving license. But it is important that you jump the hurdle of class 0 or SF class ½.
When you take out the new insurance, state that you want to apply your parents’ no-claims bonus. The insured parent must agree to this transfer in writing. You then start with the new insurance with your own no-claims discount. You can also switch to a new insurer and do not have to stay with the previous insurance company. You can find out how to do this in our guide to changing car insurance.
Make sure to clarify with the parents’ insurer beforehand under which conditions the discount can be transferred. Above all, ask which no-claims discount he gives you. Many insurers are straightforward in this regard.
However, some providers do not always allow the submission of no-claims classes when you switch to another insurer. Then you have to calculate whether it is cheaper to stay with the old insurer with the possible discount or to start with another with the SF class ½ – because you will then have the necessary three years of driving license.
Tip 5: Take over the SF classes from relatives
As a rule, you can also take on SF classes from relatives and life partners. This variant is particularly worthwhile for drivers who have had a driving license for several years but have never had their own car insurance. Check with your relatives whether they recently deregistered a vehicle or are planning to do so. This is particularly worthwhile if the grandparents can no longer or do not want to drive a car and can give you their high discount. Not all, but many insurers grant this transfer.
If a no-claims bonus is accepted, the old policyholder loses all of his SF classes in this contract. So it’s only worthwhile if a contract is no longer needed. If, for example, an 83-year-old driver from your relatives decides to forego driving a car in the future, you can use that for yourself and take over the relatives’ claims-free years.
However, only as many claim-free years can be transferred as the recipient already has the driver’s license.
Example: A 25-year-old driver who obtained his driver’s license at the age of 18 can take on a maximum of seven SF classes. At the age of 21, he bought his first car and insured it as a second car through his parents. He can therefore take on four claims-free years from this contract.
If at the same time there is the possibility of taking over more than four SF classes from a relative’s contract, this variant is cheaper for him.
The example shows: You can only take on as many classes as you would have achieved yourself if you had insured a car yourself immediately after passing the driving test. You can usually take over the SF classes six to twelve months after deregistering from car insurance. You should therefore also check whether your relatives have deregistered vehicles some time ago.
Tip 6: Use the SF classes of scooters and motorcycles
Not only can you transfer the SF classes from one car to another, but also from motorcycles and scooters to a car. This must be at least a scooter from 50 cubic centimeters. Perhaps your parents even insured a motorcycle or something similar a few years ago so that you can now take over their discount.
You can also always swap the no-claims discounts between your vehicles. The case that you have already collected several damage-free years with the motorcycle offers a good starting point for this exchange. The discount scale for motorcycles is not as long as that for cars, it currently only goes up to SF class 20 and is much flatter: It starts in class 0 with 90 percent of motor vehicle liability insurance after a claim-free year the contribution rate drops to 50 percent.
With the exchange, you transfer a very good no-claims class to the car and significantly lower the premium there. And your motorcycle is classified as a second vehicle in the no-claims class ½. At Huk-Coburg, for example, 65 percent of the premium is payable for motor vehicle liability and 85 percent for fully comprehensive insurance.
Tip 7: Use the times of car sharing
If you take part in car sharing, you regularly drive a car without owning it. This is a very good opportunity, especially for novice drivers, to gain practical experience without having to dig deep into their pockets for cars and insurance.
But if at some point you need your own car because you want to commute to work or be more independent, you don’t have to start from scratch with insurance. Just as some insurers count the accident-free times of the company car as pre-insurance times, some providers also accommodate car-sharing users. We found that out during our investigation into second car insurance.
If you have the required number of days and kilometers driven, you will be credited with the corresponding claims-free years. The car-sharing provider must confirm this information in writing.
Especially if you can bridge the critical years between no-claims classes ½ and 4 with car sharing, it is worthwhile. Then after these four years of having a driver’s license, you can enter SF class 4 instead of SF class ½.
Tip 8: Use telematics tariffs
With telematics tariffs, car insurers offer discounts for a safe driving style. Usually, in combination with a plug or sensor, an app on the smartphone evaluates acceleration, braking behavior, and speed, for example. With a very good driving style, novice drivers can save 20-30 percent. But even an experienced driver hardly ever gets the highest discounts, also because factors that are difficult to influence are often included in the score, such as trips in larger cities during rush hour.
Nevertheless, the telematics discount can at least somewhat cushion the disadvantage of the lack of a no-claims class for young drivers. So take a look to see if your insurance company also offers a telematics option.
However, you should be aware that you use telematics to pass on a large amount of your driving data to the insurance company.
Tip 9: Do not choose a typical novice driver
Whether VW Polo, Opel Adam, or Ford Fiesta: These cars are recommended by car dealers to new drivers who are looking for their first car. However, these models are more likely to be involved in accidents. This is reflected in high type classes – and makes insurance more expensive. Basically, the higher the type of class, the higher the risk of damage, and the higher the insurance premium.
The type classes in liability insurance range from 10 to 25. Which type of class a vehicle is assigned to depends on many factors, for example, the respective year of construction and the engine.
Before buying a car on autoampel.de or on the website of the German Insurance Association (GDV), check the respective type class of your car and compare it with similar vehicles. Pay particular attention to the exact type designation of your car, because the type classes of a Golf IV differ by up to four levels, depending on the number of horsepower and year of manufacture. Choose a car with a lower type of class to save money on insurance premiums.
Tip 10: Avoid comprehensive insurance for very old cars
Liability insurance is required by law for every car in Germany. Comprehensive insurance, on the other hand, is voluntary. There is no point in taking out fully comprehensive insurance for older cars with a low residual value. It is usually only worthwhile if the car is less than five years old. The question of partial comprehensive insurance remains. There are three main factors you should pay attention to the residual value of your car, the price of the partially comprehensive insurance, and the question of whether you will get into financial difficulties if it is stolen.
Compare offers with and without partial comprehensive insurance. And weigh up whether the additional costs are in a reasonable proportion to the residual value of your car. Also, consider whether you can choose a higher deductible to lower the premium. In a Finanztip study from 2018, we found that retention of 500 euros per claim saves a lot of money. If the residual value of the vehicle is still significantly higher than what you have to carry yourself in the event of a claim, then the partial coverage is definitely worthwhile.
Note that partial comprehensive insurance usually only covers the following cases of damage:
- Theft,
- Fire, explosion,
- Storm, hail, flood
- Collisions with the feral game.
How do I find the cheapest car insurance?
You can only find the cheapest car insurance if you compare several providers. We have examined for you how this works best in our large motor vehicle insurance test. The result: always make two comparisons! You can save the most with a combination of a comparison portal and a direct insurer.
Our recommendation is, therefore: First calculate an offer on State Farm or on Metromile. Then make an additional query at Allstate to see whether there is an even cheaper tariff there. and then take out the cheapest tariff.
Making two comparisons may seem tedious to you. But it’s worth it. In this way, you will find a tariff that is either already the cheapest on the market or at least very close to the cheapest tariff. Because with the combination of portal and direct provider we recommend, you minimize two risks:
If you rely on only one price query from only one portal for your search, you will quickly pay too high a premium. After all, no common comparison portal lists all providers.
If, on the other hand, you only rely on individual providers – even if they are overall cheap – you always run the risk of catching an exceptionally worse tariff. Our test series shows that you can reduce this risk of tariff outliers with two comparisons.
At the moment you usually get the cheapest tariff with the combination of Verivox and State Farm- the average deviation is 1 percent. With the combination of the Gabiportal and the direct insurer Allstate, we found a slightly higher average deviation of 2 percent at the best price in our current evaluation.
You can read more results about the investigation in our test article Motor Insurance.
Comments
Post a Comment