Young drivers/gps tracked insurance

[david1701]

Hola all, has anyone had anything to do with the gps tracked insurance which notifies the company of any poor driving/braking/accelerating/speeding ect?

I'm looking at Young Marmelade who I stumbled across on google and will give me a (variety of) 3 year old cars on finance, insured, for less than the insurance on a 10 year old xara estate so seem quite sensible. I'll need to sit down and work out if I can keep to 10k a year with any margin for error and find out how badly they look on using it for getting to and from jobs (hell if I just had to swap cars with someone at home for proper work it wouldn't be a massive issue).

Its the gps tracking that worries me, living out in the sticks there are the usual twisty turny bits and animals in the road and I'm worried I might end up classed as a boy racer liabilty and have my policy cancelled never to get another :s anyone that can tell me that they're actually fine?

Btw I'm not a boy racer, if I want the thrill of going fast I'll take my bike

 

[Bobtoo]

Are you sure you're getting the insurance thrown in? I looked into Young Marmalade for my son a few months ago and they seemed to be putting the first year's insurance on three or five years finance, which leaves you trying to pay subsequent years on top of the finance payments.

I really don't know the answer though, I'm glad I'm not a teenager trying to get a car now.

 

[XmisterIS]

Personally, I think the whole motion tracker idea is seriously flawed - it only measures what, in effect, the vehicle "feels". Next time you're in a car as a passenger, try shutting your eyes for a bit - if there's sudden braking, do you have any idea why, unless you open your eyes? No! It could be anything - bad driving (braking too late for a red traffic light, etc) or it could be good driving (successfully avoiding a collision with a bad driver!) - but if the tracker will classify it as bad driving, no matter what actually happened.

 

[david1701]

it is Bob but I think its a rolling policy, either way its 1500 a year for the first year where other places are quoting 3k on old cars :s

I'm with you completely Xmister, I can anticipate incidents of harsh braking for avoiding tractors that bomb round the lanes ect. Their description says you get so many red journeys in the year before they start adding money to the premium so I guess if they're very infrequent it could be ok :s I think I need to talk to my driving instructor about it who has a tendency to be blunt

 

[oldfatfool]

depends on the algorithm used to decide wether the driving is bad. Reading the blurb an incident of bad driving increases cost by £250 the next by £500 and then a cancellation of the policy, as they point out it will then be very difficult for you to find an insurer at all, but you will still be left paying them to the end of the contract!

Personally I would avoid if I could both from a parents prospective and if I was 17

 

[XmisterIS]

I agree entirely with the poster above, sounds like it could very well be a licence to print money! ('scuse the pun!)

If I were you, I would go with the smallest, cheapest car that you can get and have it ensured the normal way.

If you do a google search for "Insurance Group 1 cars", you will find plenty! Just use a price comparison website to find out the cheapest one for you, and go for it.

Interestingly, as a mature driver who is looking to downsize from his barge 2 litre Ford Mondeo to something much smaller and cheaper to run, I find that it doesn't matter if I chose an IG7 car or an IG1 car, I still get quoted the same price! And the difference between an IG7 quote and an IG14 quote isn't that much.

E.g. the quote for something like a VW R32 Turbo (which I think is IG25, or something silly like that) is only about £200 more than the quote for my Mondeo, and the quote for a Yaris (which is what I am thinking of getting) is only £150 less than the Mondeo!

It would be interesting to see if you, as a young driver, will be quoted much less for an IG1 car compared to an IG7 car, for example.

 

[oldfatfool]

Another top tip, try adding more experianced and older family members to your policy, it will be a lot cheaper than insuring just yourself, even if they never drive the car.

Don't be tempted to do this in reverse though and get a parent to front for you, it will inevatibley lead to you being classed as uninsured when they find your dads main car isn't actually a 10 yo saxo with pimped out interior.

 

[david1701]

bugger

part of my issue is a group 1 car is of almost no use to me, I'd just use the bike

I need it for those 100 mile round trip shoots where it'll be packed to the gunwales (a friends focus usually gets used for this and is properly full even for equine work :s)

oh and the practicalities of bikes

I need to start again looking I thought insurance was meant to be cheaper at 21 espesh as its me paying :s

 

[XmisterIS]

bugger

part of my issue is a group 1 car is of almost no use to me, I'd just use the bike

I need it for those 100 mile round trip shoots where it'll be packed to the gunwales (a friends focus usually gets used for this and is properly full even for equine work :s)

oh and the practicalities of bikes

I need to start again looking I thought insurance was meant to be cheaper at 21 espesh as its me paying :s

Surely you can fit more in a group 1 car than you can on a bike?

Unless you're this guy:

Don't forget that you can attach a roof-rack and top box and a bike carrier - that will give you lots more storage!

Also, I don't know how licences work nowadays, but back in the dark ages when I did my car test, my full licence automatically came with entitlement to pull a trailer.

 

[david1701]

not putting camera kit in a roof box

unfortunately one of my fundamental requirements is the ability to fit a 9' tube inside the vehicle without opening a window or boot, and being able to fit a peli 1510 flat next to my dyesub or even long term one of the proper big pelis, like a 1610 or 1650. So , fiesta/corsa size are maybes but very very tight, and 207/golf more viable, seem to be like group 4-5 cars :s

 

[david1701]

oh and trailer is a second test but again I'm scared for my kit

 

[david1701]

interestingly I just priced up a similar car on autotrader for about the same price as they sell it (5k5), then I can insure it for about the same using compare the market if I have a voluntary 500 excess (1k5) but without it the policy costs another thousand

 

[david1701]

So basically to use these people I trade having finance for having a gps in my car (with needing my mum to be involved in the insurance). Seems like I just need to work out the finances on my end as those people aren't fundamentally any cheaper

its that or go for something brand new with free insurance but those are expensive too bleh got 2 months before I really need to worry about it

 

[Broughtonblue]

Looked into these tracker policies for my 18 year old lad, be careful as some you have to pay to get it removed at the end of your insurance(a considerable sum) we went with Admiral multi car policy in the end, where mine and the wife and his are insured on one policy, saved him about £1000! Only trouble with this is the renewal date for all three cars fall on the same date.

 

[mcshroom]

How often are you looking to use the car? If it's just for a few 100 mile trips then you can get a lot of hire cars for the sort of insurance prices you're quoting