Best car insurance for young drivers in the UK right now

If you're a new or young driver in the 17–25 age bracket, we've compiled a list of some of the best car insurance policies out there for young drivers.

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By

Danny Butler

Updated

Fact checked
Best young drivers car insurance See top providers
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The best car insurance for young drivers offers precise coverage at a competitive rate, ensuring support when it counts. By assessing numerous customer experiences and evaluating comprehensive policies, we assign a policy score based on their coverage extent. Our selection includes policies tailored to excel in various areas, such as multi-car or those designed specifically for young drivers. After compiling your options, comparing quotes can potentially save you hundreds, guaranteeing the best value for your coverage needs.

Summary: Best car insurance for young drivers in the UK 2024, by category

  1. LV: Best for cheaper rates
  2. Hastings Direct: Best for young drivers
  3. Churchill: Best for black box
  4. Endsleigh: Best for younger driver benefits

Best provider for cheaper rates

LV= Comprehensive

4
★★★★★

Finder score

Compare with Confused
We ran quotes for a range of different age groups and found that LV= tended to offer competitive insurance quotes across the board. This insurer also offers multi-car discounts (up to 20% on an additional vehicle), plus you can typically lower your premium by adding a voluntary excess. LV= also covers European use, damage by uninsured drivers, vandalism and accidental damage as standard with its over-50s policies. Insurance prices have generally been falling during the pandemic as people have driven less, so it's always worth shopping around.
Need to know: Terminating a policy within or after the 14-day cooling-off period will cost you a £40 cancellation fee.

Best overall provider for younger drivers

Hastings Direct Standard

4.1
★★★★★

Finder score

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We chose Hastings Direct car insurance as our top pick because it offers a range of reasonably priced policies for drivers aged 17-25, incorporating telematics (black box) and multi-car options. Its 5-star Defaqto-rated black box telematics policy, YouDrive, includes a courtesy car, an uninsured driver promise and personal belongings cover as standard. There's a 24/7 claims line if you're involved in an accident or another type of incident.
Need to know: The Hastings Direct website isn't easy to navigate.

Best provider for young driver benefits

Endsleigh Comprehensive

4
★★★★★

Finder score

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This insurer only offers car insurance to customers aged between 17 and 30, so its policies are understandably designed to suit younger drivers. It has policies tailored for learner drivers, students and new drivers, among others. Its features include black box insurance and finance deals for brand new cars.
Need to know: You will be subject to admin fees for the setting up and cancelling of your policy, as well as any changes you make.

Best provider for Black Box insurance

Churchill Comprehensive

4.3
★★★★★

Finder score

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Churchill's DriveSure telematics policy is available for 17- to 25-year-olds. You'll be guaranteed a discount on your premium with your first year of using this technology. It's one of the most affordable, intelligent and fair black box car insurance policies on the market. You'll be able to see your driving score on the DriveSure app – and will be able to claim another discount in the next year if your score is high.
Need to know: No 24/7 claim line (emergency line available).

Why these are the best car insurance providers for young drivers?

Danny Butler
Finder insurance expert Danny Butler shares our research

Car insurance policies for younger drivers can vary hugely in costs with different factors to account for such as the insurance group the car falls under, the driver’s experience, the driver’s age and the location.

To score the top five, we’ve taken into account a number of different factors that are relevant to younger drivers such as the discounts available, the age bracket the policies cater for and any specific benefits that are catered to young drivers.

Also, with customer service being a vital aspect in any insurance policy, we’ve included our customer satisfaction score as part of the weighting and this helps make up the final score. For our customer satisfaction score, we asked hundreds of car insurance customers to rate their insurer and we used that data to help compile our top five.

How to find the best young driver car insurance company for you

Car insurance premiums are highly personalised – a tweak to your job role or the amount of excess you’re happy to pay can make a big difference to your premiums. We explain more in our guide on how premiums are calculated. The key is to get the right cover level, plus good service at the cheapest price. This is why we survey customers. All our best picks are at least 3-star rated for service.

  1. Compare policies. Different insurers can offer the same level of cover for very different prices. Shop around and compare car insurance quotes with as many providers as you can to make sure you’re getting the best deal for you. Comprehensive cover can sometimes work out cheaper than third-party, so compare all options.
  2. If your quotes are too high, consider a higher excess. An excess is the amount you would contribute to any claim before your insurer will pay out. If you voluntarily increase your excess, your insurance company sees you as less likely to make a claim, which will help to bring down the cost of your premium (but always make sure you can actually afford to pay it should you have an accident).
  3. Consider different options, such as pay-as-you-go cover. Some providers, like By Miles, offer pay-as-you-go cover. This is good for people who don’t drive very often and don’t want to pay for annual cover.
  4. Review your provider’s quote every year. When renewal time rolls around, it’s crucial to shop around a few weeks before your policy starts. Consider switching as you’re likely to save – some people save hundreds of pounds. If you want to stick with your insurer, try haggling, as that’s common and usually effective.

Image of a blue car alongside the stat: Young drivers under 25 have a claim rate that's 27% higher than drivers over 25

Companies that offer black box insurance for new drivers

Black box technology has been available for many years now. Yet, there are still a limited number of insurers offering this technology to new drivers. See our guide on black box insurance for a full list of companies offering it.

We took a deeper look at all of the major insurers’ policies for young drivers in order to create this list of the best car insurance companies for young drivers.

Best cars for cheap insurance for young drivers

All vehicles are categorised based on their “risk” to insurers. This risk factor mostly considers the likelihood of a car being damaged and the cost of replacing it. There are 50 categories in total, with category 1 cars being the cheapest to insure and category 50 vehicles costing the most.

For your convenience, we have compiled a complete list of vehicles in insurance category 1.

Car insurance customer satisfaction league table 2024

RankProviderOverall satisfactionCustomers who’d recommend
1Admiral★★★★★93%
2NFU Mutual★★★★★89%
3Aviva★★★★★84%
4The AA★★★★★80%
5LV=★★★★★84%
6Saga★★★★★76%
7Direct line★★★★★78%
8Hastings Direct★★★★★78%
9Diamond★★★★★83%
10Churchill★★★★★79%
11Swinton★★★★★63%

Bottom line

Everybody’s circumstances will vary so car cover that might work for you might not work for someone else. Do your research, shop around and compare deals in order to find the best car insurance for you.

Frequently asked questions

Customer satisfaction scores

In December 2023, we ran a customer satisfaction survey on insurance providers. We had 750 responses about car insurance providers.

The survey asked respondents how satisfied they were with their current insurance company (on a scale from 1 to 5 and also whether they would recommend the brand to a friend or not). We turned the results into star ratings and shortlisted the top-performing brands for our awards. If there was a draw, we used the recommendation score (that is, the percentage of customers who said they would recommend the brand to a friend) as a tie-breaker.

Full details of our star ratings for this sector are on the insurance ratings methodology page.

Car insurance scores

★★★★★ — Excellent
★★★★★ — Good
★★★★★ — Average
★★★★★ — Subpar
★★★★★ — Poor

Finder scores, in blue, are based on our expert analysis. We also show reviews from users, where we've received more than 10, with a score in yellow. We gather more reviews from customers every year in Finder's customer satisfaction survey.

To find out more, read our full methodology.

The offers compared on this page are chosen from a range of products we can track; we don't cover every product on the market...yet. Unless we've indicated otherwise, products are shown in no particular order or ranking. The terms "best", "top", "cheap" (and variations), aren't product ratings, although we always explain what's great about a product when we highlight it; this is subject to our terms of use. When making a big financial decision, it's wise to consider getting independent financial advice, and always consider your own financial circumstances when comparing products so you get what's right for you. Most of the data in Finder's comparison tables has the source: Moneyfacts Group PLC. In other cases, Finder has sourced data directly from providers.
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Written by

Danny Butler

Danny is a publisher at Finder specialising in insurance and investing. He previously worked at the global insurer Aon and has appeared in national media giving advice on insurance. Danny holds a BA in International Business from the University of Plymouth and has undying loyalty to his average-poor football team, Portsmouth FC. See full profile

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