Very good value learner driver insurance

koru

I'd like to share a good value add-on learner driver insurance I've found, called Covered On Demand.

I've been looking into it for when my daughter turns 17. I realise I can add her to my existing insurance, but this means my NCB is at risk and the premium is higher and I have to pay a fee for the policy change.

Typical prices for add-on (eg, Marmalade, Admiral) seem to be around £150-250 for 3 months. But then I found an alternative that is much cheaper, at £71.80. https://www.coveredondemand.com/learner/options

This covers the learner for 28 separate days of driving, to be used over a 3 month period. You use an app to notify which days you are driving (of course you have to do this before you set off).

Unless the learner will drive every day, this seems like very good value.

flashg67

I chose something similar to get my SD though her test. She'd had lessons with an instructor but failed twice so she covered herself on my car for a month, had some intensive instruction from us -( never again!) taking the test in my car too (passed finally!)

claire111

koru wrote: »

I'd like to share a good value add-on learner driver insurance I've found, called Covered On Demand.

I've been looking into it for when my daughter turns 17. I realise I can add her to my existing insurance, but this means my NCB is at risk and the premium is higher and I have to pay a fee for the policy change.

Typical prices for add-on (eg, Marmalade, Admiral) seem to be around £150-250 for 3 months. But then I found an alternative that is much cheaper, at £71.80. https://www.coveredondemand.com/learner/options

This covers the learner for 28 separate days of driving, to be used over a 3 month period. You use an app to notify which days you are driving (of course you have to do this before you set off).


Unless the learner will drive every day, this seems like very good value.

Thanks so much this looks great !

I have just got off the phone from (my usually good insurer) DirectLine who wanted an extra £2,500 to insure my 17 year old as a provisional named driver on my car :rotfl: my own fully comp insurance with protected NCD and car hire is only £260

I double checked they knew he was provisional and would be driving on L plates...... Yes she said, that is why it is so expensive.

feltsy71

I have also been looking for decent value 'Learner Driver Insurance' cover and came across this 'Covered On Demand'. It is almost too good to be true so was hoping to get some feedback from the previous posters? Have any of you had any issues using this company? Any issues booking 'driving' days etc?
I checked Trust Pilot for any reviews but couldn't find any

koru

claire111 wrote: »

I have just got off the phone from (my usually good insurer) DirectLine who wanted an extra £2,500 to insure my 17 year old as a provisional named driver on my car :rotfl: my own fully comp insurance with protected NCD and car hire is only £260

I double checked they knew he was provisional and would be driving on L plates...... Yes she said, that is why it is so expensive.

That's a ridiculous extra premium. When I added my 17 yr old son to our policy, a couple of years ago, the extra premium was about £200. If your child is still learning when your DirectLine policy comes up for renewal, I would guess you could get cover for you and child with another insurer for £400-500.

But even if you can get it down to that sort of level, Covered On Demand is probably cheaper. Even if you use them for 12 months, it is only £284 for the year, which is not bad.

koru

I feel confident that they will pay out if I ever have to make a claim. The policy is underwritten by Catlin Insurance Company (UK) Ltd, which is owned by XL Group plc, which is massive. The company has strong ratings from the ratings agencies: http://xlgroup.com/about-xl/ratings

sevenhills

I got quoted £125 for 60 days with Marmalade, On demand seem quite good.

Ant555

Thanks - I used Marmalade for my daughter but that was £190 for 90 days.

If I take my son out 3 times a week then OnDemand will cost me £122.52 over those 90 days. (£79.52 for the 28 days +£43.68 for an additional 10 insured days)

koru

Yes, I think COD would be cheaper than Marmalade unless the youngster is going to drive around 5 days per week for the full period, though it depends what period you are comparing. I know when my son learnt, we probably only managed 2-3 days a week, so COD would have been much cheaper than Marmalade.

In his case, he did about 6 months of lessons with an instructor, until he reached a reasonable standard and then when our insurance came up for renewal we added him so he could practice with us. It was about £200 extra for a year, although he passed after about 6 months, so then we had to cancel that policy, as a different company was much cheaper once he had his licence.

I've been thinking about how that compares with Covered On Demand. It depends how long the youngster takes to pass. We would have used 2x90 days of COD, which would have been £144 (with the bigger excess). That's probably pretty similar to what I paid for the 6 months of cover with my insurer. It would have been £200 if the policy had run the full year, but I cancelled after 6 months. However, they refund less than a pro-rata amount, so I probably ended up paying about £150 for him. So pretty similar to COD, though my NCD would not have been at risk with COD.

The same six months on Marmalade would have been around £400!

koru

Just adding that CoveredOnDemand seems to have reduced its prices. For 28 driving days in a 90 day period, it is now £65, down from £72.

Another advantage of add-on cover is that you don't have to pay a fee to change the parent's cover to include the learner. It usually costs about £25-50 to change a policy, plus the extra premium on top.

jimjames

I've used Covered on Demand previously, very easy to use and great pricing so will use again when I need to for my son. Good news that the price is lower!