Learner Driver Insurance

[Wardy78]

My 18yr old niece has just brought herself a car to learn in. Her mum, my sister, is trying to sort out insurance. Learner insurance is cheap, (£200 per year, fully comp) but mostly from companies we've never heard of. (Sterling, One Call, achoice, Collingwood)

Anyone got any experience/tips/recommendations? I know it's going to increase 10x on passing.

Thank you.

[andrewpandrew]

Collingwood are well known, as are Marmalade and Reygo.

[Mammasaid]

Wardy78 said:

My 18yr old niece has just brought herself a car to learn in. Her mum, my sister, is trying to sort out insurance. Learner insurance is cheap, (£200 per year, fully comp) but mostly from companies we've never heard of. (Sterling, One Call, achoice, Collingwood)

Anyone got any experience/tips/recommendations? I know it's going to increase 10x on passing.

Thank you.

They're all ok, just specialised for learners. We went with Sterling and they did ask for a driving licence code for each driver (mum and dad added as well as the learner), and as soon as the learner passes, then the insurance is terminated (not cancelled).

I'm thinking that when the test is coming up, to use the comparison sites about 3/4 weeks in advance to get a quote for the learner once passed, and then retrieve the quote if they pass.

[Robertb]

Nothing specific. Just bear in mind that the moment she passes her test then she will most likely no longer be covered under that policy.

The annoyance is that typically, the insurer that covers the learner will either not cover a new driver at all when they qualify, or will not be the most competitive quote. It may be worth exploring now with a prospective insurer whether they will offer cover to a new driver, and the likely cost as it may be better to pay a bit more for the learner cover with a view to saving once she's passed.

My daughter took over a year to pass her test (lockdown), so at least she accrued a years NCB.

Admiral have always been surprisingly competitive for my daughters as new drivers.

Usual rules apply, such as adding lower risk drivers eg parents as named drivers to bring the cost down, maybe even limit mileage.

[Wardy78]

Mammasaid said:

Wardy78 said:

My 18yr old niece has just brought herself a car to learn in. Her mum, my sister, is trying to sort out insurance. Learner insurance is cheap, (£200 per year, fully comp) but mostly from companies we've never heard of. (Sterling, One Call, achoice, Collingwood)

Anyone got any experience/tips/recommendations? I know it's going to increase 10x on passing.

Thank you.

They're all ok, just specialised for learners. We went with Sterling and they did ask for a driving licence code for each driver (mum and dad added as well as the learner), and as soon as the learner passes, then the insurance is terminated (not cancelled).

I'm thinking that when the test is coming up, to use the comparison sites about 3/4 weeks in advance to get a quote for the learner once passed, and then retrieve the quote if they pass.

Thanks, reading reviews the cancelled/terminated is a big thing, plenty of insurers take a year's premium, then charge you a £3-figure cancellation fee for cancelling when you pass, but won't insure you as a passed driver (or charge 2x/3x what others do).

I've tried running quotes as if she had passed, none of the learner policy providers are in the cheapest 20!

[alscar]

We found for all 3 children getting them insured as learners on their own policies on their own cars with Admiral was the easiest and cheapest option over the period of learning and then when they had all passed ie for the first 2 years.
Admiral did and I think still do give 1 years NCB irrespective of when the test was actually passed.
Adding yourselves as named drivers ( assuming ok records ) helps as does restricting mileage to say 7k.
The threat of me stopping paying their premiums versus them not getting to that 1 year NCB helped.

[Wardy78]

Robertb said:

Nothing specific. Just bear in mind that the moment she passes her test then she will most likely no longer be covered under that policy.

The annoyance is that typically, the insurer that covers the learner will either not cover a new driver at all when they qualify, or will not be the most competitive quote. It may be worth exploring now with a prospective insurer whether they will offer cover to a new driver, and the likely cost as it may be better to pay a bit more for the learner cover with a view to saving once she's passed.

My daughter took over a year to pass her test (lockdown), so at least she accrued a years NCB.

Admiral have always been surprisingly competitive for my daughters as new drivers.

Usual rules apply, such as adding lower risk drivers eg parents as named drivers to bring the cost down, maybe even limit mileage.

alscar said:

We found for all 3 children getting them insured as learners on their own policies on their own cars with Admiral was the easiest and cheapest option over the period of learning and then when they had all passed ie for the first 2 years.
Admiral did and I think still do give 1 years NCB irrespective of when the test was actually passed.
Adding yourselves as named drivers ( assuming ok records ) helps as does restricting mileage to say 7k.
The threat of me stopping paying their premiums versus them not getting to that 1 year NCB helped.

Thanks. I've put me down as a named driver as my sister has points and a claim, I'm remarkably claim and point free for 20 years.


Sadly, I wouldn't let her touch Admiral if they paid us to be insured by them having been screwed over to the tune of £5000 last year, a case still with the Financial Ombudsman Service.

[Geffg]

Daughter went with collingwood and they offer a years no claims discount if have it for 10months. Lucky enough it was just on the 10months when she passed her test. The one year no claims discount did make quite a substantial difference too.

[fooman]

Robertb said:

Nothing specific. Just bear in mind that the moment she passes her test then she will most likely no longer be covered under that policy.

The annoyance is that typically, the insurer that covers the learner will either not cover a new driver at all when they qualify, or will not be the most competitive quote. It may be worth exploring now with a prospective insurer whether they will offer cover to a new driver, and the likely cost as it may be better to pay a bit more for the learner cover with a view to saving once she's passed.

My daughter took over a year to pass her test (lockdown), so at least she accrued a years NCB.

Admiral have always been surprisingly competitive for my daughters as new drivers.

Usual rules apply, such as adding lower risk drivers eg parents as named drivers to bring the cost down, maybe even limit mileage.

A learner is (or should be) under instruction of an experienced driver which is why learner insurance is cheapish. One they pass, they can drive by themselves without that benefit so risk and price goes up.

[Skyedriver]

We used Sterling when we bought (not brought) a car for son. Sterling is part of the Adrian Flux group.