best way to insure learner driver before passing test

On-the-coast

My son is on the verge of buying a car to support his learn to drive journey.  Normally he'd have waited until he'd passed a test but...
a) a cheap, low mileage car (2007 Honda Jazz with just 34k miles and good service record) has come up due to the death of a family friend (basically same price as WBAC would pay to take it off their hands)
b) this would imo be a better car to learn in than the small hot hatch i already possess (a DS3 1.6 THP)
c) we do have completely offroad parking so could SORN if necessary.

We're unsure how best to insure the car while he learns to drive. I'd expect him to be the registered owner.  We were thinking of using one of the services that allow you to insure by the hour (for a learner)... but i suspect that they would require the car to already be insured more generally?

If he insures  himself (as a learner) with the intention that one of his parents supervises, how to do that?  He does live at home, and will do so for the short term forseable future.

I do have an old Admiral policy (last used 2.5yrs ago) which i let go when i started to use a fully insured company car.  That policy has 5+ years of NCD.  I'm tempted to use that policy (the NCD record is good for 3 years i was told at the time i let it stop).  Even if he is the registed owner... It's unlikely that he'll have passed a test before 6 months are out. Should i just insure it on a low mileage under his parent's name (our names), and then use an insure by the hour policy while he's learning?... Once he has passed  i can then put him down as the main driver (with us as backup).  I can also ask him to sort out his own insurance (as i'd like to keep that policy as an option for me in the future). Does this seem like a good plan? 
Would it be simpler if i register the car in my name?

prettyandfluffy

The sooner he has insurance in his own right, the sooner he starts to build no claims discount and his premiums will come down.  However the insurance for a young male learner could well be very high indeed.  It might be worth contacting an insurance broker and asking them to price the different options? 

Do be very careful not to do anything that could be deemed "fronting" , where you insure the car and put him as a named driver when actually he is the main driver.

On-the-coast

Thanks. I will in no way front... but neither will he be driving this car on his own until he's passed a test...

daveyjp

Cheapest for your son is probably to have a separate learner policy (as an example Marmalade) on an already insured vehicle. 

On-the-coast

Thanks - tried Marmalade... £6k if he self insures.  £350 if I insure, and he pays as he uses. (That's £350 for 500 miles, app tracked usage, with each addtional 100 miles being about £40.
The £6k is out of the question...
now also looking at Veygo.

stuhse

A few years back we bought a cheap car for our son as he hit 17.  To begin with we registered and insured it as ours with him added on as a learner. This is reasonable.  Once he passed his test we transferred ownership to him and he insured it.  This cost him  about £1200 with a black box.  Friends are currently going through the same thing and i am hearing similar quotes.   We bought a Renalt Clio -insurance group 3.  Your Honda Jazz maybe available and cheap, but it is insurance group 12-13.    We have another son coming up for 17 next year and we will be seeking out another group 1,2 or 3 car for his early years of driving....and we will be going for a black box policy  (i remember what i was like at 17 !!!, the black box makes speeding impossible and may just stop something terrible happening like happened those poor lads /families recently in Wales)     

MikeWhite

stuhse said:

A few years back we bought a cheap car for our son as he hit 17.  To begin with we registered and insured it as ours with him added on as a learner. This is reasonable.  Once he passed his test we transferred ownership to him and he insured it.  This cost him  about £1200 with a black box.  Friends are currently going through the same thing and i am hearing similar quotes.   We bought a Renalt Clio -insurance group 3.  Your Honda Jazz maybe available and cheap, but it is insurance group 12-13.    We have another son coming up for 17 next year and we will be seeking out another group 1,2 or 3 car for his early years of driving....and we will be going for a black box policy  (i remember what i was like at 17 !!!, the black box makes speeding impossible and may just stop something terrible happening like happened those poor lads /families recently in Wales)     

The black boxes we have had certainly do not make speeding impossible!

stuhse

No not impossible, but visible

Bonniepurple

stuhse said:

No not impossible, but visible

They also record all drivers and their habits - I know of someone who drove very carefully with a black box, and then his Dad borrowed the car.  Apparently Dad’s driving habits caused some issues (I mean, all mature drivers stick to the speed limits, avoid harsh braking and acceleration and never drive inappropriately 😉)

stuhse

Bonniepurple said:

stuhse said:

No not impossible, but visible

They also record all drivers and their habits - I know of someone who drove very carefully with a black box, and then his Dad borrowed the car.  Apparently Dad’s driving habits caused some issues (I mean, all mature drivers stick to the speed limits, avoid harsh braking and acceleration and never drive inappropriately 😉)

I had exactly this problem when using my sons car ! It was so hard ensuring you didn't speed at any point !

Car_54

stuhse said:

A few years back we bought a cheap car for our son as he hit 17.  To begin with we registered and insured it as ours with him added on as a learner. This is reasonable.  Once he passed his test we transferred ownership to him and he insured it.  This cost him  about £1200 with a black box.  Friends are currently going through the same thing and i am hearing similar quotes.   We bought a Renalt Clio -insurance group 3.  Your Honda Jazz maybe available and cheap, but it is insurance group 12-13.    We have another son coming up for 17 next year and we will be seeking out another group 1,2 or 3 car for his early years of driving....and we will be going for a black box policy  (i remember what i was like at 17 !!!, the black box makes speeding impossible and may just stop something terrible happening like happened those poor lads /families recently in Wales)     

Insurance groups don’t play much part in assessing high-risk drivers like the OP’s son. On the contrary, the Jazz (seen as an old person’s car) will probably be a lot cheaper to insure than the Corsas, Fiestas, etc. which typically attract young drivers.