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CAR INSURANCE FOR OVER 70s

Keep on driving for longer with over 70s car insurance

Enjoy your independence with 3-year fixed-price* car insurance for over 70s

*If nothing changes, T&C apply.

If you want to carry on driving when you reach 70, you’ll need to have current car insurance cover, and you’ll need to renew your driving licence with the DVLA. And that’s it. There doesn’t need to be any other change or disruption to you, so you can stay just as independent and active behind the wheel.

Choosing car insurance for over 70s

There’s no maximum legal age for driving in the UK, so you’re free to continue driving as long as you’re fit enough to do so.

And more over 70s than ever are continuing to drive in the UK. According to the Government’s most recent National Transport Survey, in 2021 75% of adults aged 70 and over in England held a driving licence, up from 57% in 2010, and just 40% 20 years ago.

As a mature driver, you have different needs to the younger generation, so you’ll want to choose the best over 70s car insurance to suit what your needs are now.

What to look for in over 70s car insurance

When getting car insurance quotes for over 70s and comparing cover, it’s important to look at the benefits of each type of policy to make sure it meets your needs. Our policies are designed with over 70s car insurance users in mind and offer some key benefits.

With Saga Plus policies:

  • 3-year fixed price – your price will stay the same for the next two renewals, if nothing changes (T&Cs apply).
  • Accident Healthcare – for you and your spouse or domestic partner, you’re covered for up to £1 million medical cover, including private medical treatment.
  • Onward taxi travel – if you have an accident in the UK and your car's too damaged to drive, we'll arrange a taxi to take you wherever you were heading (within the UK) and all the places you might have been going to in between.
  • Key protection – we cover key loss or damage up to £2,500 per claim, including up to £250 for wear and tear. You don’t pay an excess and claiming won't affect your No Claim Discount.
  • Driver confidence course – with Legal Protection, if you lose confidence in your driving for any reason, we’ll pay for up to four hours of driver confidence coaching to help you get back on the road.

With Saga Plus and Saga Select policies:

  • Protected No Claim Discount – if you have four or more years of No Claim Discount, we'll protect it against two fault claims in a three-year period.
  • Vandalism promise – you won’t lose your No Claim Discount if you make a valid claim for damage caused by vandals.
  • Emergency any driver cover - if you have a medical emergency when you're driving, any driver can take over or drive your car home.
  • Two year new for old cover – if you’ve owned your vehicle from new and it’s up to a year old, we’ll replace it with a brand new one if it’s written off. Vehicles between one and two years old are covered up to 12,000 miles.
  • £1,000 personal belongings cover – you’ll be covered for valuable items such as wheelchairs or other mobility aids. Plus, in December we automatically increase personal belongings cover to £2,000, so if you’re taking presents to the family and things get damaged in an accident or stolen from your car, you won’t lose out.

With Saga Plus, Saga Select and Saga Standard policies:

  • Uninsured driver promise – if your car’s hit by an uninsured driver and it isn’t your fault (and you have their car reg and the accident details), we’ll refund any excess you’ve paid. And it won’t affect your No Claim Discount.
  • Voluntary work – you can use your car for voluntary work and still be covered, as long as you are volunteering for a registered charity.
  • Guaranteed replacement car – we’ll give you a replacement car while yours is being repaired after an accident anywhere in the UK, or until it’s declared a total loss if you use our repairer network.
  • Child car seat cover – if you keep a child’s car seat in your car for when you’re driving the grandchildren around it’ll be replaced following an accident, even if there’s no apparent damage.
  • Driving in Europe – drive your car in over 30 European countries for an unlimited amount of time (up to 90 days with Saga Standard), with the same cover as you have in the UK.

With Saga’s over 70s car insurance you can also choose from a number of additional extras, such as discounted breakdown assistance and replacement car extension.

Find out more about car insurance additional extras

Is car insurance more expensive for over 70s?

Does car insurance go up at 70? There isn’t an easy answer to this. As with any age group, the price you’ll pay for your car insurance will depend on the car you drive, where it’s kept and the people who drive it.

You may have many years’ No Claim Discount and experience behind the wheel, which will help to keep your premium down, and little history of making a claim. However, the average insurance premium does start to increase after the age of 70 as statistically the cost and frequency of claims rises.

To keep your costs down and aim for the cheapest car insurance for over 70s, choose a car to drive from a lower insurance group, drive fewer miles, increase your voluntary excess, and make sure your car has appropriate security in place.

Our 3-year fixed price feature for over 70s car insurance will help you budget ahead. With Saga Plus, as long as no changes are made, such as changing your car, moving house or getting points on your licence, the price you pay will stay the same for the next two renewals (T&Cs apply). Your price will even stay the same after most claims.

Who are Saga's car insurance policies underwritten by?

Saga’s car insurance policies, exclusively for people over 50, are unique products designed by us specifically for our customers. They are underwritten by a number of carefully selected insurers that provide high standards of quality and service.

Get a quote for over 70s car insurance

Driving over the age of 70

Renewing your driving licence

About 90 days before your 70th birthday, the DVLA will send you a letter to ask you to renew your driving licence. There’s no need to retake your test, you just need to return a form, either the paper or online version.

When you renew your licence, you’re confirming to the DVLA that you’ve no medical conditions that you need to tell them about, and that your eyesight meets the minimum requirements. You’ll need to renew your licence every three years.

Always use the gov.uk website if you are renewing your licence online, as other unofficial websites have been known to charge unnecessary additional fees on top of any statutory fees that may apply.

Meeting the eyesight requirements

If you’re approaching the time to renew your licence, it’s a good idea to make use of your free NHS eye test to ensure you have the correct prescription spectacles, if you need them.

It’s illegal to drive if you can’t read a number plate from 20 metres away, you can wear glasses for this. Not wearing your glasses – or wearing glasses with the wrong prescription – could invalidate your car insurance.

Declaring medical conditions to the DVLA

You’ll need to let the DVLA know if you have any medical conditions that could affect your driving. It’s not necessary to inform them of all conditions, look at the Government’s list of health conditions for full details.

If you have one of these health conditions, you might be concerned that it will automatically stop you from driving, but this isn’t necessarily the case. Depending on the condition, it might be that you must take a driving assessment to prove you’re safe to drive.

Failing to declare medical conditions to the DVLA could invalidate your insurance policy, and if you were to have an accident as a result of your condition, you could face a fine of up to £1,000 or even imprisonment.

Unless the DVLA restricts your driving or removes your licence, there’s no need to tell Saga about any medical conditions. You can just continue to enjoy driving, protected by Saga’s car insurance for over 70s.

How confident are you on the road?

It's probably been a while since you passed your driving test. If you're at all concerned about how safely you're driving, or decide you'd like a refresher, you could arrange a driving assessment course.

Organisations, including RoSPA and the IAM, provide driver assessments where you'd drive for an hour or so, in your own car, on roads you're familiar with so they can give you a report on your driving and advice on how you could improve your skills or drive more safely. It's not a test, but a way to check your driving ability and make changes to the way you drive so you can be safer on the roads.

If you lose confidence in your driving, perhaps due to having an accident, we can help you to arrange up to four hours of driver confidence coaching with an instructor of your choice. Driver confidence courses are available to customers who have Legal Protection – included as standard with our Saga Plus cover level, or optional with other cover levels.