Affordable insurance for learners

Parents of young learner drivers often find themselves caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. They are keen for their offspring to pass their driving test (no more turning out late at night to provide the parental taxi service and no more forking out for driving lessons), but insuring the family car for a teenager to put in the requisite practice between lessons can turn out to be a costly business.

Not only can the added premium run into hundreds of pounds, but there is also the worry that in the case of an accident the no-claims discount could be affected.

But now the AA has come up with the answer to these parents’ prayers. Their new policy, Learner Driver Insurance, introduced as a joint venture between the AA and Collingwood Insurance provides comprehensive cover for a learner driver for a cost of £96.50 for the first 28 days and then £76.50 for subsequent 28-day periods, so long as the learner driver is introduced by an official AA instructor.

The insurance, which can be for as short a period as a week, is in the learner’s name and so does not affect the parent’s policy.

This may still seem expensive but when compared with formal lessons at around £20 an hour it is in fact a small price to pay.

Just in case parents feel that they are not up to the job of giving their offspring extra practice, fearing that they may pass on their own bad habits, the AA Driving School has started offering a two-hour course for anyone wishing to help out a learner.

Entitled the ‘Supporting Learner Drivers Course’, it does exactly what it says on the tin, “brushing up your knowledge and skills to help you coach the learner in between their lessons with an approved driving instructor”.