I dont understand why insurance has ever been allowed to go up. Whenever I question why to my insurance companies they always say its because there are more accidents for them to pay out on these days as there are more cars on the road. But surelyif there are more cars then there are more insurance premiums being paid as well? They dont have an answer for that one.
I'm assuming the rate of accidents, and the costs of them, go up more with an increased number of cars than purely the number of cars? I do know that the insurance sector as a whole is currently running a net loss, and is expected to do so until about 2014!
To the OP:
GoCompare is by far the single best site I've found. Depending on your wishes, if you want her daughter to get a no claims bonus then have her as the main driver of the car, and add you and your wife onto the policy (I did this for a quote, dropped it from about £1500 to £1100, so makes a big difference).
You've definitely not done something right, for a girl at that age, particularly with a garage you should be able to get insurance for something about £1000! It only cost my little brother £1100 for his current car, which is a 1.6 citroen berlingo MPV. It might also be worth looking outside the box for a first car - smalller cars like fiestas and KA's are often bought by first time drivers, who have accdents, and make them seen as a high risk car. My cheapest quote (male, age 21, just passed) was for a 2.0L petrol Ford Focus, which was about £950 parked on the road in Leicester!