Alongside being considered a young driver, there are a few other factors that can impact the cost of your car insurance. For example, where you live can affect the price, as can your choice of car, your job, and how often you use your vehicle.

Young driver car insurance tends to be much more expensive than cover for over 25s. However, there are a few ways you can reduce your premiums:

• Obtain a full license — as soon as you’ve passed your driving test, insurance costs will reduce.
• Choose the right car— a car with a low engine size (under 1.4L or 1400cc) is likely to come under a lower insurance bracket. It’s also best to go for a vehicle under 10 years old. They usually have better safety features, which can keep insurance prices down.
• Named driver experience— if you drive your parent’s car for a year, the named driving insurance will show insurers that you have a good driving history. This validation can lower insurance costs.
• Add a second, low-risk driver to your cover —  adding a more experienced driver to your policy can lower insurance costs as it indicates you use the vehicle less.
• Consider an advanced driving course — as well as having a full license, passing an advanced driving course will help prove you’re a safe driver and reduce your insurance premiums.
• Pay annually — paying upfront for the year can work out cheaper than monthly instalments.
• Increase your voluntary excess.
• Compare deals —  shopping around (or letting an insurance broker do this for you) can help you find the most affordable options.

Any driver aged 17 to 24 is considered a young driver. Many drivers under 25 are new to the roads, making it challenging to find car insurance that offers excellent cover at an affordable price.

Fortunately, at Campion, we’re here to do the hard work for you — we can search policies across Ireland to find great-value insurance tailored to you.

If you are the car’s registered owner, you can get insurance in your own name. Then you can build up a no claims bonus in your own name. This will stand for you when you go to renew your policy each year. You may be entitled to a discount if you’ve been a named driver for at least a year on someone else’s policy and are claims-free.

Historically there was evidence to suggest that women were safer drivers than men and that men under 25 have more accidents. Therefore, in the past men, especially younger men, were typically charged higher premiums than women. However, since the implementation of gender equality legislation in 2012, it is no longer permissible to discriminate based on gender. Therefore, pricing discrimination for insurance is no longer legal, and you should never have to pay more because of your gender.

Penalty points are used to enforce the road rules and improve road safety and driver behaviour. Penalty points range from 1 to 3 points depending on the motoring offence committed. For example, you will receive one penalty point for driving on a cycle track and three penalty points for speeding.

Penalty points can affect your car insurance in different ways. Having points on your licence can increase your insurance premium and, in some cases, make it harder for you to get cover. Therefore, to simplify getting a car insurance quote, it’s important to keep your driving record as clean as possible. Generally, having less than two penalty points won’t affect your car insurance, but practice differs among different insurance companies.

However, if you’ve had fixed penalty points applied to your licence, you must tell your insurance company. If you don’t, this could affect your ability to make a claim, which can leave you seriously out of pocket.