Learning to drive

What you should know about learner driver insurance

Just like a fully qualified driver, as a learner you’ll need to be insured before you take to the road.

Professional lessons

This one is simple - your driving instructor will have insurance that covers you for your professional lessons. You only need to think about provisional insurance when you're practising outside of your lessons.

Private practice

Practising in a friend/family member’s car:

• Look at special provisional driver insurance. These are short-term policies that generally cost from approximately £3 per day and allow you to drive in any car up to the value of £20,000 (and up to insurance groups 15/16) without risking the car owners’ own insurance policy. This is the most popular way for learners to get that much-needed private practise.
• You can also be added as an additional driver on the car owner’s insurance policy. Do bear in mind however that this can be expensive and if you do have to make a claim you’ll probably affect the owner’s no claims bonus. Simply ask the car owner to contact their insurance company and get a quote for adding a learner driver.

Practising in your own car:

So while you might just see provisional insurance as an extra cost, it's actually essential for getting the private practice you need. And it won't just help you pass your test, but it'll also ensure you clock up some much-needed experience - helping you become a better driver.