Institute of Advanced Motorists - Skills for Life course. Worth the £139 fee?

liverpoolste

Hi all

Many years ago (I'm 32 now), I had a flyer for the IAM Skills for Life course. If I remember correctly it was £59. Obviously time moves forward and fees/costs inevitably rise and as I've rekindled my 'want' to partake on the course I have found the new fee is £139..... Is it worth it?

The reasons/incentive to do the Skills for Life is to reduce my insurance premium further and to show myself I am the good driver I always profess to being!! :rotfl:

Can anyone please give advice, and especially those that have taken this course and what it has done to/for you?

For those who wish to look, here's the link to their website: http://www.iam.org.uk/

Would anyone know about the 'Special Assessment' too? Is this taken once I have passed the Advanced Driving Test (I will before anyone picks me up on that! )

And lastly (phew!), would anyone know or kindly have any discount codes/offer pamphlets in their possession they could tell me about? I had the original flyer after doing my Pass Plus and getting a little bag of goodies afterwards

Thanks all and bye for now,
Stephen

Quentin

It's worth it for the techniques you will learn, but don't do it for the insurance discounts. They can easily be bettered by shopping round. (And you have to keep your membership current if you use one of their associated insurers - that itself costs around £30/year - so you would need a big discount to start making any savings!

They do give you an assessment if you do the course, and this is done as part of the course (ie before the test)

The "special assessment" is different, and you have to wait at least a year sfter passing the advanced test before taking that, and have a good history (no fault accidents in the previous 2 years/no convictions etc etc)

skiddlydiddly

I did a 2 week advanced course last year then the advanced test. followed by a 1 weeks assessors course.At the end of the 1st course I was tested by a serving traffic officer(has to be a serving or retired traffic cop that does it).You basicly have to drive damn near perfect for about an hour with a commentry thrown in.You have to drive defensively and pay much, much more attention than would be considered normal.
Its all worthwhile stuff and will stay with you for life, whether you choose to use it or not.BTW the special assessment just looks like bragging rights to me.

Quentin

skiddlydiddly wrote: »

You basicly have to drive damn near perfect for about an hour with a commentry thrown in.

I wonder if this wasn't the IAM test?

An IAM test lasts 90 mins, and the commentary isn't compulsory.

tomstickland

http://www.iam.org.uk/the_advanced_programme/theadvancedprogrammeaskillforlife.html

Looks pretty good value for £139 really.

missile

In my opinion, IAM is well worth the money. It may help save you an accident or even your life. Several IAM nominated insurance companies offer discount to members, but I have never found their quotes to be competitive.

You often find an IAM stand at motoring / motorcycling events and shows, where you can speak to IAM club members and get a discount on the package.

The standard required to pass the test is not very high.

There are many other providers of advanced driver training.

e.g. ROSPA sets a higher standard, but lacks the social activities.

msmyth18

I was looking at doing this course too! Im a young driver so my premium is naturally horrendous, By doing this course it would knock off £200 from my premium- that was thru admiral insurance.

Roughly how long is the course?

missile

msmyth18 wrote: »

I was looking at doing this course too! Im a young driver so my premium is naturally horrendous, By doing this course it would knock off £200 from my premium- that was thru admiral insurance.

Roughly how long is the course?

It is however many observed drives/ rides you need to reach the required standard. Some local clubs augment this with classroom sessions.

If you think you are good enough, you can just book the test

skiddlydiddly

Quentin wrote: »

I wonder if this wasn't the IAM test?

An IAM test lasts 90 mins, and the commentary isn't compulsory.

The one I did was through work, with the tester coming on the last day of the course.The instructors were IAM trained and one was an ex traffic officer himself.
Looking at the IAM site it says something along the lines of a commentary is expected unless you have a speech defect.We'd all being doing it anyway so it was no big deal.

Quentin

skiddlydiddly wrote: »

Looking at the IAM site it says something along the lines of a commentary is expected unless you have a speech defect.We'd all being doing it anyway so it was no big deal.

No.

The normal IAM test does not have a compulsory commentary.

You are referring to the commentary the IAM do ask for in their "special assessment" which is quite different to the test.

It seems yours was a special driving course arranged by your employer.

liverpoolste

Thanks everyone for the replies so far :j

I'm glad too that everyone still feels it's worth the fee

Missile, I have stumbled onto the ROSPA yarn (somewhere!), so will Google that and see what it tells me about their courses too....

And I also wasn't holding out for any of the affiliate insurers to quote me happy. But did think upon mentioning it to other insurers they make look on me favourably? Or am I being optimistic? :rotfl: