learner driver advice please...

joylikes2shop

My daughter will be 17 next month and plans to start taking driving lessons ASAP.

I need advice on cars and insurance please.

My car is too big, new, and lovely for her to learn to drive in.
My OH's car is automatic.
Granny-who lives nearby-has a 10 year old Ka which she is willing to let daughter use to learn to drive in.
Friend I work with is selling a 9 year old Micra (998cc) at good price.I don't know whether it's too soon to buy it now ???
My insurance company aren't open till tomorow to ask advice from so in the mean time I'm hoping some of you can offer some advice on the following...

Generally is it cheaper to get insurance for learner drivers by just adding them on to their parents policy ?

Do you go for 3rd party or fully comp at this stage or does this just depend on the value of the car ?

I was told (but cant check it out till insurance company open tomorrow) that sometimes it's not much more expensive to take out insurance for teenage learner drivers in their own right ???

Any idea if granny's insurance company would even consider adding a teenage learner driver to her policy and how this rates in terms of costing ??

Any tips or suggestions welcome...

elfen

Look at the Ka, I'm a learner and that's the car I want. Small, reliable and cheap insurance. Might be too soon to buy now but you could get the Micra (decent small car) and ask friend if she had anywhere you could put it for now...

Insurance will vary with age of learner and NCB of other drivers. Might be an idea to look at comparison websites for her

star222

I dont know about adding her on to your insurance but I used collingwood insurance, specially for learners. £180 for 3 months in my dads corsa. They do packages for a week, month and 3 months and you can top up as and when needed.

joylikes2shop

brilliant, thanks...I'll check it out tomorrow :beer:

anotherginger

your daughter would probably be better off in an instructors car to begin with to get used to things, and once more confident it would be good to get in some extra practice in one of her grannys car.

personally, as someone who didn't pass first time, it would have been a waste of money to have my own car before i passed, as then i would have needed insurance, mot, tax etc, and also pay for lessons/tests!

when i was learning i was a named driver on my mums policy, and once i passed i had an old car which was insured third party.

Tobyruby

Well said anotherginger. I passed my test when I was about 19 or so, but didn't actually drive until 20 years later! I wanted to do my test again, but everyone told me I'd flunk it so I didn't bother! Haven't had any problems, although for about a year I sh** myself every time I got into the car!

Babybio77

Having only passed my test 2 years ago I would have to agree that you would be better off paying for a driving instructor with a car.

I say this because, with the instructor's car your daughter will be driving a brand new (or at last 1 year old) vehicle, which will be regularly serviced and most will have dual controls meaning, should she panic in traffic, the instructor can at least take over the brakes.

The other reason to use an instructor and their car is the test. The car provided must meet certain criteria and must be fit for the purpose. During my test(s) I saw at least 3 people driving their parents' or their own cars and being told that they could not take their test as their cars were not suitable (for whatever reason). With an instructor's cars, with dual controls, the examiner feels more relaxed as they feel safer with the additional brakes. The instructor will also know what the examiner is looking for during the drive and will show your daughter how to pass the test rather than how to drive (you learn more about real driving in the first 6 months after passing your test i.e. interpreting the way other people drive, etc).

I did buy a car before I took my test and insured as a learner driver, third party. It wasn't the cheapest way to do it, but it meant I started accruing my no-claims earlier. However, I only drove the car once while I was learning as I felt much more comfortable with the instructor (mainly because they have more patience lol).