Does motor insurance go up or down on passing test?

easy

Hi, can anyone tell me how this works?

My husband has a motor insurance policy with Aviva. The car he uses daily is on the policy, and so is the small peugeot which we bought for our 18 y.o. son to learn on. Son is the main driver on the peugeot, with husband as a named driver. Son currently has a provisional licence. His test is due on Wednesday. This happens to be the same day as the policy renewal is due.

We have the policy renewal quote. It is eye-watering, but we expected that. I rang Aviva to ask them how the policy price would change when son passes his test (thinking positively you see). The advisor on the phone said he couldn't predict that, it might go up, or down, or stay the same - :rotfl: because it depended on lots of factors. The thing is they already know all the factors EXCEPT one, that son's licence changes from being provisional, so I don't understand why they can't give me some indication. My husband will continue to be a named driver.

I was trying to work out whether it would be better to switch him to his own policy now, and avoid admin fees a few days into the new year of the policy, or just leave things as they are, and have to spend Wednesday evening faffing about getting insurance quotes once he has passed his test.
Assuming he does pass, of course he will want to take the car out within a day or two, so of course he wants to ensure he will be properly insured immediately, and we want the most cost-effective solution.

paddyandstumpy

It will go up. A lot.

unholyangel

When I was learning to drive (about 15 years ago give or take) I was around £800 as a learner. When I passed, this came down to around £550. It then lowered again to £300-400 when I hit 25.

Although at a time everyone else was quoting around the £500 mark, aviva were wanting over £4000.

So perhaps checking a price comparison site might give you a better idea of what premiums your son can expect if he passes on wednesday.

angrycrow

As paddy has said it will go up a lot likely over £1000 increase so make sure you are sitting down when they tell you the new price.

RichardD1970

Agree, as others have said it will (probably) go up.

The reasons usually stated are that up until now your son has only driven under supervision. When he passes his test he is free to drive unsupervised, on his own or worse, with a car full of mates.

ceredigion

I know everyone's situation is different but, my boy past his test yesterday. Just got his insurance down to £800 so it doesn't have to cost thousands.

Aretnap

Liklihood is that it will go up significantly. This sounds counter-intuitive, but as above consider the difference between him driving with you sitting next to him saying "slow down for this roundabout... look out for that cyclist" and (potentially) driving with four mates in the car saying "so how fast does this thing go?".

Learner drivers don't have as many accidents as you might expect, and more importantly when they do have accidents they tend to be low speed prangs. It's over-confident, young, recently qualified drivers who are at most risk of causing real carnage.

I'd get some quotes on a comparison site on the assumption that he does pass and get an idea of how much he could save by changing insurer - different insurers have different target markets so the cheapest for a learner won't necessarily be the cheapest for him once he's newly qualified.

AdrianC

You are an insurer. Which of these two situations do you think is a higher risk?

1. 18yo on L plates, parent or other experienced driver in passenger seat.
2. 18yo with fresh pass, car full of exuberant mates.

Now, which do you think is going to lead to a higher premium?

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

The other factor that can affect it is the type of car. It is all a bit smoke and mirrors, but an ordinary, middle of the road car may be cheaper than a Fiesta or Corsa as they are perceived as boy racer material. There are presumably statistically significant differences in the way drivers behave in a more substantial car - didn't cost much to put daughters on a 1.6 Golf after passing their test.

So one factor might be that if your car that you allow them to drive is a Fiat Punto then they will get hammered, if you share the Mondeo you might find it more reasonable (or not!).