Getting car insurance for the first time

If you want to drive for the first time then car insurance, unlike many other forms of insurance, is something you cannot get out of — not without breaking the law…... And unfortunately it's not going to be cheap.

Legally you must have some form of insurance cover before you drive a car for the first time on the public roads. This is so that if you are involved in an accident, there will be financial cover for any damage or injuries that occur. Motor insurance is expensive for young drivers primarily because of the relatively high accident rate of young and inexperienced drivers - 1 in 5 young drivers will be involved in a motoring accident in the first year after passing their test, four times the rate of more experienced drivers.

There are 4 types of car insurance:

Provisional Licence Insurance
Third Party
Third Party, Fire and Theft
Comprehensive (often referred to as "Fully Comprehensive" or "Fully Comp")

Provisional Licence Insurance

If you can get additional time behind the wheel between lessons it'll help you get to driving test standard quicker but there's a problem - you need insurance cover to drive the car and that is likely to be pricey. To drive a family car or your friend's car (if they're old- and qualified- enough to take you out) you need to be added as a named driver and that could add between several hundred- and several- thousand pounds to their existing premium.

Alternatively you could take out a separate insurance policy through Provisional Marmalade for between £90 and £100 a month (depending on where you live) or through Collingwood Insurance.

Third Party Insurance

At a minimum you have to provide insurance cover to 'third parties' (that's other people in insurance-speak) — motorists, pedestrians, cyclists etc — and their property — car, fence, lamppost etc. With this type of insurance you and your property (your car for example), are not covered. So if you are involved in an accident that is all, or partially, your fault, then you won't get any money back to pay any of your medical expenses or to fix or replace your car. This is the reason that it is the cheapest form of car insurance, not that it'll be 'cheap' for most first time drivers.

If you are involved in an accident that can be proved to be somebody else's fault, e.g. the 'other driver', then you can claim the costs of your repairs and medical costs from their insurance company.

Third Party, Fire and Theft Insurance

The next cheapest form of car insurance is 'Third Party, Fire and Theft' - this adds cover if your car catches fire or is stolen. There are certain restrictions to this so you should be very careful when taking out this (or any insurance for that matter) type of insurance to read and understand the small print.

Comprehensive Insurance

This is the most expensive type of car insurance. It is the most expensive as it offers the most cover - you are covered even if the accident is your fault. It will cover you and your car in many situations. Generally the more expensive the car, the more sense it makes to have this type of insurance. Imagine taking out that brand new Merc SLR that you've just bought with your lottery winnings for the first time, wrapping it 'round a lamppost, then realising that you've only got Third Party insurance … your sense of humour failure will be related to how big your lottery win was, as you'll be getting nothing back from your insurance company.

You could also consider.....

Gap Insurance

If you have bought a new car, you’ll almost certainly need to have Fully Comprehensive insurance so that you don’t lose everything in the event of a shunt. You might also want to consider ‘gap insurance’ so that in the event of your car being written off in an accident, you get the difference between the current market value of your second-hand car (that's what it became as soon as you had it registered in your name) and the cost of a replacement new car. That way you're likely to be back in a new car rather than visiting second-hand car dealers to get you motoring again.

Consequences of driving without Insurance

If you get caught and convicted of driving without insurance the consequences can be devastating to your wallet and to your driving licence.

A conviction means you'll find it impossible to get cheap car insurance for a long time
6 to 8 points on your licence - if this happens in your first 2 years of driving you'll lose your licence and have to retake your driving test
A fine of up to £5000
Your car is likely to be impounded. You'll have to pay £150 to get it back, once you have insured it.

If you think there is little chance of getting caught, the Police claim to seize nearly 500 vehicles a day for being driven without insurance and they end up crushing or selling 40% of those seized. The increase use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras means that the chances of getting caught are only getting bigger.

Also from 2011 a scheme called "Continuous Insurance" will be introduced in the UK. The registered owner of a vehicle will be reminded by letter that insurance is a legal requirement and that a fixed penalty, as well as removal of their vehicle, will result without a record of insurance on the database. This is to target people who cancel their insurance policy, stop paying or just forget to renew it.

Insurance information confirmed by