The electric cars that are cheapest for young drivers to insure have been revealed by Confused.com. The Renault Zoe EV is the cheapest, in fact. Why? Because the average premium is £1,802 for a 17 to 21 year old motorist. The Zoe is a supermini class hatchback that has modern styling, decent range per-charge, and plenty of gadgets. Other electric cars that have cheap insurance include the:
- Smart EQ ForFour - £1,886 (city class vehicle)
- Volkswagen e-Golf - £1,889 (small family class)
- Peugeot 208 EV - £1,934 (supermini class)
- Renault Twizy - £2,088 (‘alternative’ city car).
How to minimise the cost of car insurance
It is easy to cut the cost of car insurance. Note first that your premium is based on how likely you are to claim due to a crash, theft, or other mishap. It is also based on the likely value of a claim. Naturally, therefore, if you are ‘very likely’ to make a large claim the premium is high to reflect the risk to the insurer.
In contrast, if you are ‘very unlikely’ to claim – and any claim is likely to be small – the financial risk to your insurer is more modest. Your premium is therefore low. On this basis, minimise any likely loss to the insurance company to lower the premium. But how?
Insurance group rating
The starting point is to recognise that a car has an insurance group rating from 1 to 50. The higher the rating the higher the premium. Influencing factors include the car’s price, speed (0-60 mph and maximum), and the cost to replace parts if there is an accident. So, pick a vehicle that has a low insurance group rating.
No claims discount
Furthermore, your insurance premium is likely to fall sharply in the first few years if you earn a no claims discount. This is an increasing percentage for every year you do not claim. Drive sensibly to cut the risk of collision, then. Do not park your vehicle where it is likely to be stolen. It might further help to:
- ensure your mileage allowance is no higher than required
- increase the excess (how much you pay towards each claim)
- take an advanced driving course (Pass Plus)
- pay annually rather than monthly to avoid interest charges
- add an experienced driver to your policy (named driver)
- avoid motoring convictions such as speeding
- do not add engine performance upgrades
- get multiple quotes from a price comparison website.