Insurance benefits of Advanced training?

[tigger1]

(Hopefully in the right forum!)

Am considering IAM, or something similar, mainly to improve my driving - but also with an element of wanting to reduce risk (and therefore insurance premiums).

ANybody have any rough ideas of how much courses like PassPlus (is this just for new drivers) etc will improve premiums by? (I'm 26, license for nearly 8 years)

[TonyHetherington]

Hi!

Passplus you are only able to take soon after you pass your test. I think it's 1yr but don't hold me to that! Either way, it's out for you.

As for the IAM, it all dpeends on your car. The companies that give me (26 yrs old, Lotus Elise) a discount for IAM membership will give me 15% from a £9000 policy. Great. Thanks

The benefits are far more numerous than money from insurance, though. The change it will instill in your driving, the benefits you will get from those changes, and the grounding it will give you to constantly work on your driving in the future will be inavaluable.

In short....DO IT!

[Don]

Elephant give a discount.

I found that an IAM pass and a Rospa Gold was worth about £50. That's about it.

You don't really do it for the insurance benefits...

[waremark]

You get the insurance benefits indirectly - you have fewer accidents so you are more likely to keep your no-claims bonus.

[IRM]

one or two of the private trainers either have or will shortly have discount schemes
with insurers after completing one of their courses

[ipsg.glf]

waremark said:

You get the insurance benefits indirectly - you have fewer accidents so you are more likely to keep your no-claims bonus.

I don't think it is as clear cut as that. I've seen plenty of IAM drivers who simply trained to pass a test and then went back to their own [bad] driving habits.

[tigger1]

waremark said:

You get the insurance benefits indirectly - you have fewer accidents so you are more likely to keep your no-claims bonus.

"Fewer accidents"? I've not had any, so that's going to be unlikey - if I pass tomorrow I'll almost certainly have more accidents after I pass...biggest risk to my inurance is damage in a car park or through theft.

So, the short term answer is that really it makes no difference to insurance, but I may become a better driver? Well, that's a start anyway - a good enough reason for me, but many more people would do it if there was a proper incentive.

[Mattt]

I found it insane that Pass Plus gave bigger, and more widely recognised discounts, than IAM did.

Pass Plus was a joke!!

[EmmaP]

tigger1 said:

[So, the short term answer is that really it makes no difference to insurance, but I may become a better driver? Well, that's a start anyway - a good enough reason for me, but many more people would do it if there was a proper incentive.

I think that I saved about 10% on my insurance. Becoming a better driver is the ultimate incentive I believe. I always analyse my performance and strive for excellence. I have bad days though, like everyone. That is part of being human. Doing the training gave me a heightened sense of awareness and thus enabled me to foresee hazards in enough time to put in place a strategy for avoiding a potential accident. It has also given me a far better attitude to other road users. Sometimes I'd get so mad I'd be like an Italian taxi driver having a bad day.

As Tony said, DO IT! You will not regret it, unless you choose to disregard everything that you have learnt. And I somehow doubt that you are going to do that.

[JonRB]

Indeed - as Don and others have said, you don't really do it in order to get cheaper insurance. If your insurer gives you a discount then it's a bonus.

However, it is without doubt worthwhile doing and you will have a lower risk of having an accident as the IAM training teaches you to recognise developing risk situations and make sure you don't end up in them.

So another vote for "do it!".

Edited by JonRB on Thursday 1st February 15:53

[Xenocide]

Pass+ is for a year after you've passed. I didn't do it, oops.

[JonRB]

I got refused a discount for IAM by one insurer but told they would give one for Pass+

That's like asking "have you got an O-level in Physics?
"No, I have a degree in Physics"
"Oh, no, sorry, you have to have an O-level in Physics".

Computer says no. [cough]

Mind you, that's not as bad as the Police Class 1 instructor who was told he had to have an IAM pass for a discount*.

(* - This story related to me by a Class 1 holder; could be apocryphal)