I have a son who turns 17 this weekend and of course the focus is for him to start driving lessons.

Does anyone have any advice for the approach to the insurance nightmare?

We own both our cars outright (no company cars) so could have him on one of our policies, friends have bought bangers for their offspring (some have black boxes fitted etc for assessment of driving style) but they have company cars, I see some deals for new cars that advertise “just add fuel” and that makes me wonder if that might be a way to go.

Any advice welcome 🙂

Back in my day………….

Everyone took their test at 17/18 as it makes everything easier later on when you do need a car (when you finish uni). No one actually then got a car except a few rich kids and a few that lived in the sticks got bangers (and a very few bought a car themselves because they wanted one and ended up working both weekend days all year to pay for the insurance in order to drive it to work, seemed pointless).

I got a 125 motorbike to get around on because the insurance was £300 Vs £1500 for a Fiat Panda (the old 90’s ones made of rust held together by thin paint).

I see some deals for new cars that advertise “just add fuel” and that makes me wonder if that might be a way to go.

There’s usually a minimum age on them, 21 or 23.

so could have him on one of our policies

Fronting is illegal.

However adding a raft of named drivers to sons policy will bring premium down. Parents, grandparents, milkman etc etc

not sure he is suggesting fronting, we had both our sons on our policies as named drivers.

No 2 son now has his own car and policy with DL and a black box fitted. He works at airport so has early mornings/late nights. Despite DL assuring me he wont be penalised for the late nights its dragged his rating down. time will tell at renewal whether this affects his renewal. I’m not sure I’d get the box fitted again as it seems unfair if you dont work 9-5 Mon-Fri

Separate learner insurance might be cheaper if you want it short term to give him some practice. Maybe wait until he’s had a few hours with an instructor in a dual control car, unless you have a private area to drive in.

https://www.rac.co.uk/insurance/learner-driver-insurance

By far the best solution for us it piggybacks on your own insurance

Thanks folks!

Yeah – wasn’t suggesting anything illegal – simply adding him as a named driver with all the credentials logged.

Couple of other companies for learner insurance

Marmalade

Collingwood learners

Towergate

I drove with my dad in his car as a named driver on his insurance when I was learning @ 17. It was about a tenner to add me. After I passed I stayed as a named driver on his insurance but it cost a chunk extra. I got a car once I’d finished uni and got a job.

While learning, we added my daughter to one of our policies. She was only using the car occasionally so not “fronting”.

When she passed she started her own insurance policy with my wife and I as named drivers (Dad still has to do the occasional taxi run but its to/from the pub rather than the school). A “black box” policy worked out cheapest.

Having her own policy means she’ll be building up NCD (hopefully).

Watching with interest, my son is 17 in January so we will be going through a similar process.

This may not be the place for this, but is there not an argument for not learning to drive so young? As soon as people can drive, they seldom travel any other way – at that age they should be able to travel more actively?

gauss1777 – Member
This may not be the place for this, but is there not an argument for not learning to drive so young? As soon as people can drive, they seldom travel any other way – at that age they should be able to travel more actively?

Naaaa, it takes time to learn, at 17 you’re in college, have free periods, finish at 3.15, have an actual lunch ‘hour’. It’s ideal for learning to drive. Friends who did it later in their 20’s (after uni) had a right ball ache having to negotiate time off work. Even the hourly bus was a 2 mile walk away, or every 20minute one 4 miles the other way.

You also get to put on your insurance that you’ve had a clean license for ~5 years when you eventually do get a car which makes a huge difference to premiums (my first premium at 21 was <£200, my housemates was £1300).

And for a lot of people (myself included) motorized transport was the only practical option (it was a 18mile each way trip to school). Theoretically cyclable, but not something you’d want to do every day rain or shine, injury or not.

We couldn’t put our daughter on our 1.6 golf insurance so we’ve done the separate learner insurance through dayinsure.
Costs about £53/month which seems fine.

Any advice welcome

Teach him that it’s not his god given right to drive, and that he can exist quite comfortably without personal motorised transport.
💡
Failing that, tell him that if he absolutely must crash (which he probably will) to do it as slowly as possible. 🙂

My advice would be to look into a 5 day intensive driving course. Gets them through their test without too much faff.
Most driver training companies (the ones for HGV’s) should be able to advise as to who/where they are available. Worth looking at doing the trailer test at same time if possible as that’s a ball ache to do later.

Driving isn’t optional if you’re not livng in a town. College/Uni, work, socialising, shopping all need some sort of personal transport.