Do insurers care about additional driving qualifications?

Stoke

When I passed my test I was told to take Pass Plus, to help bring my insurance down by up to 20%.

As of yet, I've not been given a single discount for having it and I'm now 23 coming up to my 24th birthday.

Steve059

I think it's safe to assume that insurance companies only care about finding ever-more inventive ways (ie. regarding speed awareness courses as convictions) of increasing premiums.

Stoke

Steve059 wrote: »

I think it's safe to assume that insurance companies only care about finding ever-more inventive ways (ie. regarding speed awareness courses as convictions) of increasing premiums.

I was [STRIKE]un[/STRIKE]lucky enough to grace the presence of a speed awareness course a few months ago and the guys hosting it were fairly blunt. You are not required to tell your insurer and if they want to know, change your insurance company as they shouldn't expect you to divulge such information.

bigjl

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

In my experience insurance companies used to give discounts for advanced drivers, but not any more. Even blue light trained drivers don't get any discount.

Watch out, you will upset Captain Flack.

He gets all upset when people use their knowledge and experience to help posters

bigjl

londonTiger wrote: »

I guess you have to find an insurer who recognises these qualification.

E.g. if you're a black cab driver you shoulds really stick to dedicated cabby insurers and not use a regular one who will charge your several thounsand pounds. A proper taxi insurance will look at the number of years you've been working which a regular isnurance won;'t

Black Cab Insurance merely looks at you claim history.

Typical premiums for those with no fault claims is nigh on £2k

There are only one of two companies that provide insurance to black cabs now

AdrianC

Herzlos wrote: »

Ah well, that's a pain. I'd have hoped insurers would have provided some recognition for having passed a stricter test at a later date.

It isn't a "stricter test" for a car, though. It's a separate test to add the class which allows you to tow a large trailer.

Some insurers do reward genuine advanced driving qualifications - IAM, RoSPA etc - but not all.

DaveF327

There's another way of looking at this:

While there are woefully few insurance companies who regard the qualification alone as a trigger for an instant discount, your expertise as a qualified advanced driver should ensure you are far less likely to cause a collision or have blame attributed to you.

Hence, you are statistically less likely to lose your no claim bonus, or suffer a collision with its associated increased premiums. That's how your IAM / RoSPA badges really save you money.

Steve059

Stoke wrote: »

I was [STRIKE]un[/STRIKE]lucky enough to grace the presence of a speed awareness course a few months ago and the guys hosting it were fairly blunt. You are not required to tell your insurer and if they want to know, change your insurance company as they shouldn't expect you to divulge such information.

I do the rounds of the insurance comparison sites, as per Martin's "system" every year and, for the past few years, I've noticed more and more insurance firms asking about SAC's.

DigForVictory

Seriously?
Uh-oh. For a start I can't remember the dates & um, there were two...
Worth the money!
But um, not a boosted insurance premium.
How would an Insurer know, other than you telling them?

AdrianC

DigForVictory wrote: »

How would an Insurer know, other than you telling them?

Indeed. The nice Policeman who told me recently that I'd been hand-selected to attend one was very clear about the fact that I did not need to tell the insurer, and that the force would not share the information with anybody.

I've just been and played with a Meerkat, and they don't ask - the exact wording on their form is...

"Have you had any driving related convictions, endorsements, penalties, disqualifications or bans in the past 5 years?"

So attendance on an SAC is a very clear "No" to that. An individual insurer may, of course, ask it as an additional question after the comparison process - and a lie there would be Very Naughty Indeed - not that they should ever be able to find out...