The tricks one young driver used to slash an astonishing £18,601 off their car insurance

Seventeen-year-old Conner Robinson was proud to have paid for his first car by himself and was raring to hit the road after he passed his driving test three weeks ago.

The apprentice welder, from Doncaster in South Yorkshire, always expected his first insurance cover to be expensive as a novice on the road.

But he was horrified when entering his details on price comparison website Go Compare to see that the only insurance quote available to him – from Insure247 – would cost him £21,601.

Conner does not own a Ferrari sports car but a modest second-hand Ford Fiesta that cost him £5,500. That means the insurance would be nearly four times the cost of the car itself.

He says: ‘I really love cars and was so excited to pass my test. I had bought the Fiesta in March with a loan as an incentive to ensure that I got behind the wheel.

‘But when I saw the quote I almost fell off my chair. It was such a horrible feeling having passed a driving test to suddenly find I was trapped and unable to enjoy driving. No other insurer even offered me a deal.’

Conner, who has proven motoring skills having completed a Young Driver Training Skills Day four years ago, could not understand why the price was so extortionate.

Research by comparison website Confused.com shows drivers aged 17 to 21 pay on average more than £2,000 for their car insurance.

But after speaking to a friend who was also a young driver yet had secured a far more palatable quote, Conner discovered a range of insurance tricks that would allow him to get cover for a tenth of the cost he had been quoted.

He also learned of the mistakes he had made that put insurers off even offering cover, so only the most expensive rate was available.

Money Mail was alerted to Conner’s plight by his grandfather, Darryl Robinson. The retired aeronautical engineer, married to Janet, 73, says: ‘Conner was so thrilled at passing his test and as a huge car enthusiast was excited at the prospect of the freedom of driving.

‘It is wrong the insurance industry can squeeze young motorist out of the market.’

On his friend’s suggestion, Conner called Hastings Direct, which specialises in helping young motorists and was told he could get a much lower quote if he cut his mileage down.

Without realising how much it would affect his premium, Conner had estimated he would drive 10,000 miles a year to cover a daily 40-mile round trip to Rotherham where he works.

Otherwise he must rely on taking a bus or getting lifts from his grandfather.

By using the car for social trips alone and cutting the mileage to 4,000 miles a year, he was told he could get cover for £3,400 from Hastings Direct.

Conner also discovered, when testing out different parameters of the comparison website Go Compare, that by waiting 12 days before starting the policy on September 1, the price fell to £2,800. 

This amounts to a £50 saving for every day he put off driving. Had he tried other comparison websites, such as Confused.com and Compare the Market, he might have got even better prices.

The insurance industry often offers the best prices for drivers willing to delay starting a policy for three or four weeks, because providers take advantage of drivers leaving it until the last minute or needing a policy to begin immediately to hike premiums.

Another cost-cutting measure that Conner was forced to make was agreeing to have a black box fitted to his car.

These devices use telematics technology to monitor when and where you drive – and if you are breaking the speed limit or driving erratically, such as braking too hard. More than one million motorists now have one of these devises fitted to their car – and they are particularly popular among younger drivers.

Comparison website Compare the Market says a black box can knock £500 a year off the cost of insurance, but for a younger driver savings can be as high as £1,000.

Rhydian Jones, motoring expert at Confused.com, says: ‘Having a black box fitted removes any assumptions made by insurers and means the price is calculated on how, when and how often they drive.

‘There could be some restrictions, such as a curfew or [a] mileage cap. Check the policy details to avoid falling foul of rules.’ Younger drivers typically bear the brunt of expensive car insurance because they have less experience, putting them at higher risk of making a claim.

According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI) trade body, motorists aged 17 to 19 make up just 1.5pc of all driving license holders – but they are involved in nearly 12pc of fatal and serious crashes.

This makes them hot potatoes in the car insurance world.

Another option for younger drivers is to add a parent to their policy as a named driver. If they are older and have more driving experience, chances are this could bring the price down. But new drivers shouldn’t consider asking a parent to take out a policy for them to get a cheaper price as it is called ‘fronting’ and deemed insurance fraud.

Conner found that by adding his 50-year-old father as a named driver he cut the final quote by at least £1,000 to £2,800. He had originally put his grandfather on as a named driver but took him off after realising insurers deem older drivers a higher risk than middle-aged motorists, so ramp up premiums.

The trick to finding the cheapest offer is to call providers directly to see if they can beat any quote you have found. The best insurers to haggle with include Admiral, the AA, Churchill and Hastings Direct.

Although Conner has limited his car usage, if he builds up a no-claims discount by avoiding being involved in any accidents, his annual premiums will soon tumble – so next year he could drive more and may be able to use the car to get to work.

The ABI website says: ‘No claims discounts vary from insurer to insurer but can be as much as 30 pc for one claim-free year – and 60 pc for five claim-free years.’

Some insurers also allow you to protect a no-claims discount that has been built up over several years for an additional fee – in some cases as low as £20 – just in case you must make a one-off claim and do not want to lose this great discount.

The type of car you drive will also have an impact: a small-engine, one-litre car is less likely to raise premiums than a three-litre sports car.

It is also worth paying for cover annually rather than monthly, because this works out cheaper over the year.

Choosing a higher excess – the amount you must stump up as part of the cost for a repair – will also lower premiums, but make sure you can afford this. Conner agreed to a £750 excess to get his insurance.

Fully comprehensive insurance, as chosen by Conner, is usually the best policy option because it not only covers against damage to your own car as well as others, but tends to be cheaper than third-party only.

This is because fully comprehensive insurance tends to attract fewer high-risk drivers than third-party only policies.

A week on Sunday, Conner will finally be on the road after securing his £2,800 insurance cover with Hastings Direct.

Insure247 did not respond to a request for a comment.