Car insurance groups for young drivers
Quick answer
Target groups 1–7 for a first policy at 17 or 18, and up to around group 15 from 21 or once you have a year of no-claims. The group matters more to young drivers than to anyone else because the age loading multiplies it — on our estimates, dropping from group 20 to group 5 saves a 17-year-old about £875 a year.
Why the group matters so much more at 17 than at 37
This is the single most useful thing to understand about young-driver insurance, and it follows from how a premium is built. The insurance group sets a base cost for the car; your age band then multiplies it. Because the relationship is multiplicative rather than additive, the same reduction in group is worth far more cash to a young driver.
Put plainly: a 40-year-old choosing a cheaper car saves a little. A 17-year-old choosing the same cheaper car saves a lot. It is the one lever in the whole calculation that is fully within your control at the point of buying, and its value decays as you get older — which is exactly backwards from how most people treat it.
What each group realistically costs by age
The table below uses our own published estimate methodology — a six-year-old car, medium-risk postcode, comprehensive cover, no no-claims discount applied. These are comparison figures rather than quotes, and real prices vary widely by insurer, postcode and mileage.
| Insurance group | Aged 17–20 | Aged 21–24 | Aged 25–29 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group 3 | £710 | £500 | £355 |
| Group 5 | £825 | £580 | £415 |
| Group 8 | £1,000 | £705 | £500 |
| Group 12 | £1,235 | £870 | £615 |
| Group 16 | £1,465 | £1,030 | £735 |
| Group 20 | £1,700 | £1,195 | £850 |
| Group 25 | £1,985 | £1,400 | £995 |
Estimates only, not quotes. Central figures from our published methodology.
What dropping 15 groups is worth at each age
The same move — group 20 down to group 5 — priced across three age bands. The spread is the whole argument for taking the group seriously while you are young.
Aged 17–20
£875
estimated annual saving
Aged 21–24
£615
estimated annual saving
Aged 25–29
£435
estimated annual saving
Setting your own ceiling
Rather than hunting a specific number, decide the highest group you are prepared to pay for and then buy the best car at or below it. Two practical cautions when you do.
Check the derivative, not the model. A popular family hatchback can span twenty groups or more between its entry engine and its performance version. The model name tells you almost nothing; the engine and trim tell you everything. Our model pages show the range and the trims that sit at each end for exactly this reason.
Check the top of the range too. If you set a ceiling of group 10 but the car you are viewing is a trim that sits at 18, the ceiling has not been met. It is worth checking before you commit rather than after, because the group is fixed for the life of the car and cannot be improved later.
Where to go from here
This page is the explainer: which group to aim for and what it costs. The rest of the series takes it further in specific directions — the 17-year-old first-policy guide covers the policy levers that matter in year one, the low insurance group cars list is the ranked data on every car we cover with an entry trim in groups 1–10, and best first cars weighs safety and reliability alongside the number.
If you already have a car in mind, the fastest route is to check its insurance group by registration and see where it actually falls.
Frequently asked questions
What car insurance group is best for young drivers?
Groups 1 to 7 for a first policy at 17 or 18, widening to roughly groups 1 to 15 once you have a year or two of no-claims. The reason to aim low is multiplicative rather than additive: the young-driver loading is applied on top of the group, so each group you shed is worth more at 17 than it will ever be again.
What insurance group should an 18-year-old look for?
The same single-digit target as a 17-year-old — groups 1 to 7 — unless you have already built a year of no-claims, in which case low double digits become affordable. At 18 the age loading is still close to its peak, so the car choice is doing most of the work.
What insurance group should a 21-year-old look for?
Up to around group 15 is realistic at 21, and that opens up a much broader choice of car than the single digits. If you also have two or three years of no-claims by then, the group stops being the constraint it was at 17.
Is insurance cheaper in a lower insurance group?
Yes, reliably — and the saving is largest for young drivers because the age multiplier amplifies it. On our estimates, the gap between group 20 and group 5 is roughly two and a half times larger in cash terms for a 17-year-old than for a driver in their thirties.
Why is car insurance so expensive for young drivers?
Claims data: drivers in their late teens have materially higher accident frequency and severity than any other age group, and insurers price that risk. It also compounds — a young driver typically has no no-claims discount, a short licence history and often an older car, all of which push the same way.
Does a black box lower the insurance group?
No. Telematics measures how you drive, so it affects your premium rather than the car's rating. The group describes the vehicle and is unchanged by any device fitted to it — but a black box policy can still be one of the larger savings available to a young driver.
Can a young driver insure a high-group car?
Sometimes, but the cost is often prohibitive and some insurers will decline outright — particularly for powerful cars in the hands of a newly-qualified driver. Rather than assume, run real quotes on the exact derivative before you buy anything above the mid teens.
Does the insurance group matter more than the car's age?
Generally yes. Car age has a modest effect in both directions — brand new and very old cars can both price slightly higher than a five-to-eight-year-old equivalent — while the group moves the premium across a much wider range.
The rest of the young-driver series
Cheapest cars for 17-year-olds
Age-specific: first policy at 17, telematics, named drivers and what it realistically costs.
Cheapest cars for new drivers
For anyone newly qualified at any age — why passing late changes the maths.
Best first cars (not just cheapest)
Holistic picks: safety, reliability and running costs weighed alongside the group.
Low insurance group cars list
The data: every car we cover with an entry trim in groups 1–10, ranked.
First-car insurance tips
The policy side only — excess, mileage, telematics and the fronting rules.
Check your car's insurance group free
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Check my insurance group →Sources & further reading
- Thatcham Research — The motor insurers' automotive research centre. Co-runs the Group Rating Panel that sets UK insurance groups, and publishes the Vehicle Risk Rating (VRR) framework.
- Association of British Insurers (ABI) — The trade body for UK insurers. Co-runs the Group Rating Panel behind the 1–50 insurance group scale.
- DVLA — Get vehicle information — The official GOV.UK service for vehicle details by registration. Our checker uses the DVLA's Vehicle Enquiry Service API, the same underlying record.