Interesting. Was just considering new insurance (and some sort of vehicle) for my lad. He's just 18 and is half way through second year at college training as an electrician. In the next three or four months he needs to find a placement. In fact he's on site with a firm this week and they've more or less offered him a place in the next couple of months so that part loooks ok. But he has to be mobile - which means a car or maybe a car/van. He's been driving his mum's car as a named driver for the last 12 months but that doesn't gain him much credit. So I wondered whether a car/van type thing would be better insurance wise. Something like an Astra van?
It does feel like a bit of a kick in the teeth when he puts in all the effort - had the presence to get himself sorted with a ECS card so he'd be well placed if anything came along - gets himself fixed up with an offer - but can't move because car insurance companies want two thirds of his annual pay as an apprenctice to insure him.