If you used Clearing in 2024, how did you find it?

Car Insurance issues

Hi, here's some context before I start:

-I am 20 years old (turning 21 in September) and I am going into my third year of University at Uni of Nottingham. I live in London but I live in Nottingham for the academic year.
-I have been trying to get a car since I got my license in 2022 in September. Obviously, car insurance has been ridiculously high for the last year or so, and I had no money to buy a car with.

-Now, I have enough money to buy a car (currently looking at a Mazda 3/Honda Civic). My issue is I'm having trouble with getting a quote for my address for next year.

My issue is that everytime I try and get a quote using my address for next year, the quote is either significantly higher than previous Nottingham addresses/my London address. For instance, using Comparethemarket and MoneySupermarket, I've had quotes STARTING from £17,000, which is ridiculous. Only when I added my Dad as a named driver, did I start to get more realistic quotes, e.g. starting from 3k. Admiral, the site I want to get myself insured on won't give me a quote for this specific address. It throws up an error every time saying they couldn't get me a quote. I know for a fact that this address is causing issues. It's an NG9 address, and other NG9 addresses are giving me 1.5k for insurance, which is what I was expecting. Even my London address is 1.5k maximum. After using MSE, I got it down to 2.5k, but this is still 1k more than insurance for a street that is two streets away from one with 1.5k insurance. I have checked this street. It's very quiet, no crime at all in the area. The only thing I can think of is there is a tram network running on the street next to it. Even my housemate has had trouble with this new address and they are ALSO getting high prices.

Anyway, I phoned up Admiral and the person on the phone would not tell me why this address is causing me issues. Instead she suggested MultiCar insurance as my Dad has a policy with them already on his own car. She said that I could register my new car in London even though I'd be in Nottingham because I am an immediate family member. I wouldn't mind this, I was just wondering if this would come out to be more expensive.

My question is:
-Am I doing something wrong; does anyone know why this address in particular may be causing me issues?
-Is MultiCar my only option? I would like to spend £1500 MAXIMUM on insurance and I know this is possible for the cars I've looked at at the different addresses.

Thanks for your time.

Reply 1

greentiger

Get a black box, life savers. Not sure if you’re already looking at this but it’s really not worth not having one as you save so much money. And besides, why would you want to speed everywhere anyway? It’s for your own safety and finances.

Maybe look at getting a cheaper car? Typical quicker cars like civics usually cost more to insure because of the ‘type’ of boy that usually drives them, and you still fit the age bracket for the stereotype. What about getting a car like a Toyota Starlet or a mini? Clio’s are popular options too alongside similar cars to these which would help drag down your insurance costs.

It varies area to area based on age, gender, how new to driving you are, how many crashes happen in the area etc. Some of these characteristics and factors which come into play with quotes are wrong, but unfortunately it is what it is.