collingwood insurance

mealeys

Hi - I am trying to sort out some car insurance for my 17 year old son who is on a provisional licence at the moment, Collingwood are the cheapest, does anyone know what happens when the driver passes their test, the details on the policy says 'they can withdraw cover' - I have a phone number to ring them but they're not open today.
Anyone had any experience of Collingwood?

Many thanks for any advice.

huckster

They only Insure learner drivers, so the policy needs cancelling when they pass their test. There is a choice of short term policies which you pay for a fixed period of cover or an annual policy which can be paid monthly.

This is from the Collingwood site and relates to the annual policy option. I presume the cancellation pro rata refund only applies to annual policies i.e. you would not get a part refund on a short term policy option.

What happens when I pass my test? Am I still covered?
You must notify us as soon as you have passed your practical driving test. Your policy will be cancelled, and a refund of unused premium will be returned to you providing no claims exist. How To Cancel Your Policy.

They are a fairly popular option for learner drivers, as their rates appear competitive compared to others. The benefit of these learner policies, is that you have cheaper cover as a learner, can cancel when you pass and then are free to shop around for a policy as a full licence holder. If you went with a normal Car Insurance and passed the test within 6 months, you are often quoted very high rates for a midterm policy change to a full licence. And then if you decided to cancel, there are cancellation rates/charges to pay.

Alison_B

I was going to ask the same question. My youngest will be 17 next month and we have been getting quotes. One of them came up as £1200 with Collingwood and the next was £2500 for TPFT with Budget. Not sure if the Budget one will load extra on after test has been passed or not. With our other son, we went will Quinn Direct but they seem so much more expensive this time around. Again, not sure if they load on once the test has been passed like they did for my other son.

huckster

Alison_B wrote: »

I was going to ask the same question. My youngest will be 17 next month and we have been getting quotes. One of them came up as £1200 with Collingwood and the next was £2500 for TPFT with Budget. Not sure if the Budget one will load extra on after test has been passed or not. With our other son, we went will Quinn Direct but they seem so much more expensive this time around. Again, not sure if they load on once the test has been passed like they did for my other son.

Yes they will load the premium on passing their tests. You can get a rough idea doing quotes with and without a full licence, but often the loadings applied mid term can be higher.

bouncydog1

Advantage with Collingwood is the kids can use the family car to learn in, but the family bonus is protected because the Collingwood policy provides cover for the kids to learn.

Disadvantage is that if they pass their tests in 4 months, you then have to start from scratch with a new insurer so they have effectively then have to start from scratch with NCB, when they could have started from day 1.

mikey72

Colloingwoodannual are cheap, but cancel insurance as soon as you pass. It's a pro rata refund though, so you don't lose.
Most companies are either cheap as a learner, and expensive when you pass, or vice versa, so cancelling and taking out new insurance isn't too bad, especially if you pass quickly.
My daughter passed in three months, then took out an annual policy elsewhere, but only paid £50 a month to insure her own car when she was learning.

oscarward

Our son used collingwood while he was learning, the advantage was you can get cover on a weekly basis after you have had the initial month.

So things like half term can be covered but you don't have a policy running when it isn't needed.

In our case our son had about 10 weeks of cover over a year. He was taking driving lessons at weekends and after college so we just put him on cover for holidays to drive 'his' car, registered and insured in his mothers name as a spare car.

Because you don't get no claims accrued we decided it wasn't worthwhile taking an annual policy if you aren't going to use it.

The disadvantage is you're just putting off the day when you have to take out a normal policy to earn NCD and pay big time......:eek:

mikey72

oscarward wrote: »

Our son used collingwood while he was learning, the advantage was you can get cover on a weekly basis after you have had the initial month.

So things like half term can be covered but you don't have a policy running when it isn't needed.

In our case our son had about 10 weeks of cover over a year. He was taking driving lessons at weekends and after college so we just put him on cover for holidays to drive 'his' car, registered and insured in his mothers name as a spare car.

Because you don't get no claims accrued we decided it wasn't worthwhile taking an annual policy if you aren't going to use it.

The disadvantage is you're just putting off the day when you have to take out a normal policy to earn NCD and pay big time......:eek:

The advantage of using the collingwood annual site was the car can be insured by the 17 year old, in their name, with a parent as a named driver, they can then tax it on the collingwood policy, it doesn't need any other insurance, so no need to put it in a parents name and pay for more insurance.
It was a lot cheaper than the weekly policy, and we could go out every night to practice.

Alison_B

My head is spinning. Spoke wth Collingwood and they confirmed that it is learner insurance only but if it takes 10 months before they pass their test, then they can get a years no claims.

Have been using the comparison sites and they are coming up at around £2500 for learner driver insurance but once they have passed the test, then they will bump up the premium but they cannot tell me by how much. Have done dummy quotes as though my son has passed his test and is looking to buy insurance and the cheapest it is coming up is £5000. It is no wonder that a lot of people drive around without insurance. My FIL was on about this at the weekend and in his local newspaper it stated that they only got £100 fine for not having insurance.

So now my head is spinning. Not sure what to do. Take out the Collingwood insurance at £1200 and then start from scratch one test has been passed or go for it first time and start earning no claims from the beginning but have the higher cost. Wish it was simple.

Prices seem to have doubled since my eldest passed his test 2 years ago.

mikey72

The only problem with taking a policy with a provisional licence, then hoping to convert to full is the cost.
Some insurers hike the premium up to an un-afforable level, so you have to cancel and move anyway, losing the ncd.
It's rare to find one insurer that is competitive for both.
Collingwood is at least "a bird in the hand", and he may pass his test quickly.