Advanced Drive - Insurance Discounts - Is it worth Taking The Course

Trebor16

Road_Hog wrote: »

It is quite simple, the sort of people who take these courses are, as someone has already mentioned, plastic policemen. Not everyone, but you get a higher proportion.

They are the sort that will sit in the fast lane at 70 mph refusing to move over (because they are already doing the maximum speed limit) or who 'police' the 50 mph limit in roadworks.

This means, that whilst they do not actually do the 'crashing' themselves, they put themselves more often in a situation where they frustrate other drives and therefore cause more accidents. Obviously at some stage they are probably going to end up in contact with someone that they have frustrated and end up being part of the crash.

Therefore the insurance companies don't see them as safer, they see them as higher risk. Just like when you claim on your insurance and the other party admits liability, your premium still goes up. Because even though it was not your fault, the fact that you were involved in an accident tells the insurance company that you are a higher risk. Before someone starts arguing with me, it's all done on stats, and that is what the stats say and why the insurance companies load the premiums.

I'm wondering how much thought you put into your post as it doesn't appear to be much more than a nano seconds worth, given the generalised nonsense you have spouted.

You state it is based on stats, but have you seen the stats for every single insurance company? I think there is more chance of me walking on the moon than on you having seen the relevant information.

Premier_2

Stanthedog wrote: »

...Anyone any experience and does it justify the course cost £180?

£180??? :eek: Who quoted you that price? :huh:

The IAM themselves offer an all in price, including the test fee itself, the books, the training, 1 years membership, etc. for just £139

http://www.iam.org.uk/motorist/the-advanced-programme80

But to be honest, even that can be lessened.

Join your local IAM group (maybe £10-20 p.a.), Get some free advice from voluntary obsevers there, and then pay for the test yourself (£95 including 1 years membership).
Borrow the books from the local library.

Annual membership is just under £30 which you'll get back should you fail the test.

Road_Hog

Trebor16 wrote: »

I think there is more chance of me walking on the moon than on you having seen the relevant information.

20 years with a UK car manufacturer says that you are wrong. And no, they don't publish it on line, just like credit companies don't tell you how they do their credit scoring.

But don't take my word for it. If the course is so good and makes everyone a much safer driver, why are insurance companies not rushing to offer discounted premiums to 'safer' drivers and why do they up the premium for people who have 'no fault' accidents that are paid out by the other insurance company.

Have a think about it, there's a logical answer. I think you spent less than a pico second on your reply, but even that must have been taxing for you.

Yut_Man

I have been a member of IAM for 20 years now, and have never been able to save money on my car insurance directly. comparison sites do better. however if you find the course improves your driving then the effect on this will lower your insurance overall with better no claims discount. In the 10 years leading upto the course I have been involved in 3 accidents all of which have not been my fault but still caused much heart ache. however in the 20 years since I have had not one accident. so the course obviously helped me become less of a target. It also brought some of the fun back.

mikey72

Road_Hog wrote: »

20 years with a UK car manufacturer says that you are wrong. .................

How does that give you stats for claims on insurance companies?

Trebor16

Road_Hog wrote: »

20 years with a UK car manufacturer says that you are wrong. And no, they don't publish it on line, just like credit companies don't tell you how they do their credit scoring.

So you were talking rubbish then. Thanks for confirming it.

Road_Hog wrote:

But don't take my word for it.

I won't since you have spectacularly failed to back up your claims.

Road_Hog wrote:

If the course is so good and makes everyone a much safer driver, why are insurance companies not rushing to offer discounted premiums to 'safer' drivers and why do they up the premium for people who have 'no fault' accidents that are paid out by the other insurance company.

Insurance companies have been offering discounts for decades to those with recognised advanced driving qualifications. As to the issue of "upping premiums" it is seperate to the debate about advanced driving courses. But my own personal experience is that premiums are not necessarily upped by no fault accidents.

Road_Hog wrote:

Have a think about it, there's a logical answer.

Sadly you have demonstrated that the answer is beyond you, given your earlier posts on the subject.

Road_Hog wrote:

I think you spent less than a pico second on your reply, but even that must have been taxing for you.

It didn't need much thought to respond to your idiotic generalisations and inaccurate statements about statistics held by insurance companies, which you have clearly demonstrated you are not privy to.

Print_Screen

The easiest way to know is for the OP to do his own comparison. Do it with IAM/ROSPA etc certification on a comparison website and without and without see what the difference is.

For me, even though I have no claims I will save about £30 when I get my IAM for motorcycles.
However I did not do it for the discount but for self improvement and safety which for me was more important and my IAM group were also quite organised with theory nights which not all have

scotsbob

Road_Hog wrote: »

They are the sort that will sit in the fast lane at 70 mph refusing to move over (because they are already doing the maximum speed limit) or who 'police' the 50 mph limit in roadworks.

You need to be more conversant with the Highway Code, there is no such thing as the fast lane.

If I am in a single lane of traffic going through road works then I will not break the speed limit because the numpty behind me is impatient. I will show respect to those working on the road not the numpty.

davidlizard

I had a look at how IAM membership would affect my insurance premiums during my recent shopping around activity. Hardly any insurers websites requested this info and those that did the most it would reduce my premium by appeared to be in the order of £5, and none of those offering IAM reductions came anywhere near to matching my best dozen or so quotes.

So from a strictly financial point of view I see no benefits.

However, if its a case of making one a significantly better driver and reducing the chance of being in an accident, then it probably is good value.

I always have been of the opinion that people who can prove that they are "highly competent" drivers should be rewarded with some incentives that recognise their skills. For example, they could be permitted to display a "gold star" which will allow them to judge for themselves what is an appropriate speed limit rather than the imposed limit!

Quentin

Print_Screen wrote: »

The easiest way to know is for the OP to do his own comparison. Do it with IAM/ROSPA etc certification on a comparison website and without and without see what the difference is.

Using just comparison sites to find the cheapest premium doesn't help here.

As those companies that offer an IAM discount don't usually come out cheapest! IAM has "preferred" brokers, (not on comparison sites), and any insurer offereing IAM discount doesn't necessarily also appear on cashback sites.

Getting (say) £80 cashback from a cashback site maybe makes a far bigger difference than a small discount for having IAM pass.