Insurance for learner drivers

Becca123

Looking at getting a car for my daughter as she is learning to drive. How is the best way to go about getting insurance? We want to be on the insurance so that we can drive it to/from work, college etc so she can drive in other direction. If she buys a policy with us as named drivers and her on a provisional what happens when she passes? Do they requote her for the rest of the year and potentially charge a lot more than other companies because we’re locked in with them or can she cancel if we get offered a better deal?

born_again

Once she passes price will sky rocket & they have to be notified straight away

400ixl

You need her to be the main driver and you as the named as you described.

Some insurers will then amend the policy when she passes her test (for a considerable fee of course) which means she continues on a single policy and get a first years NCD at the end. Some won't then amend it (or will be more expensive than going elsewhere) in which case the contract terminates (any monies due either way are paid) and you are free to then start a new policy elsewhere, but any months towards and NCD will be lost.

You need to have a view of this before the first policy is taken so that you clearly understand and refunds (amounts to be refunded, amendment or admin fees etc). This allows you to make informed decisions once that date of passing comes.

For our daughter it was cheaper to do the learner policy, then cancel when she passed and take a new policy when she passed. As an example:

1 year policy as a provisional was around £350 (no black box) of which she used 6 months, and then they would want £900 (and a black box) for the additional 6 moths.

In the end we did the provisional policy, then cancelled that (no admin fee & 45% back) and took out a new 12 month policy (no black box but required a dash cam) for 12 months at £900. It probably saved us about £200 but avoided the need for an black boxes to be fitted.

Some of the policies we looked at would only be paying back a small amount if you cancelled early which would have locked her in. So check the exit costs and refund amounts carefully.

DullGreyGuy

Becca123 said:

Looking at getting a car for my daughter as she is learning to drive. How is the best way to go about getting insurance? We want to be on the insurance so that we can drive it to/from work, college etc so she can drive in other direction. If she buys a policy with us as named drivers and her on a provisional what happens when she passes? Do they requote her for the rest of the year and potentially charge a lot more than other companies because we’re locked in with them or can she cancel if we get offered a better deal?

Two options....

1) Do as you say, notify them as soon as she passes and they we recalculate the premiums for the rest of the year. You then either accept that revised premium or you cancel the policy, paying a cancellation fee and buy elsewhere. You cannot cancel if a claim has been made and obvs if you are 10 months in those months are lost from an NCD perspective and you'll be buying another new policy with 0 years NCD.

2) You could insure the car in your name so that you can drive the vehicle, remember to declare owner/keeper correctly, and then buy a Learner Driver top up policy to sit above yours when they are driving. When they pass the top up policy ends and you have a choice to either add her as a named driver but mark her as the main driver or cancel your policy too and buy a brand new policy with her as the policyholder. Using the first sub-option she doesn't get any NCD as you are the policyholder.