My daughter passed her driving test yesterday and talking with her instructor afterwards about the pass plus scheme, extra training for night driving, all weather, out of town etc. he said that they’ve covered most of it already, especially not having cancelled any lessons due to the recent bad weather, including going to a large car park to practice skid control.

However he did mention the possible discounts with some insurance companies. We will be talking with hers later to change the details to a full licence – that’s gonna cost…… – and will ask. But in the mean time anyone had experience of this. Does it actually make a difference and for how long is it taken into account? Possible savings compared to the cost of the course?

We will be talking with hers later to change the details to a full licence – that’s gonna cost

Usualy just the £20 admin fee, not sure I know anyone who paid more after removing the L plates.

As for pass plus, I did about half the extra lessons about 4 years after I passed (passed test, went to uni, discovered girls and beer which on a limited income are mutualy exclusive of cars) just to refresh my memory and make sure I'd not picked up too many bad habbits. Classic car insurance doesnt count no claims, pass plus etc anyway.

Anyway, of the twp people I know that did pass plus, one totaled their car by going backwards upside down through a hedge. The other had more minor bumps than I get sexy bumps.

Does it make you a better driver – No

Does it make your insurance cheeper – Yes

Its worth it just for the motorway tuition, seeing as there is a silly rule that means the first time a new driver will go on a motorway will be without the instructor!

Another option would be an advanced driving course with someone like the IAM…it would probably be best to speak to them though as she would need to be able to drive confidently enough to take on board the additional stuff, but early enough to have not got into bad habits.

A lot of it is real basic stuff that should really be in the test, such as when waiting to turn right across oncoming traffic, keep the wheels straight. Angling them or the whole car in order to be able to nip across quickly just means that a relatively minor shunt from behind turns into a major side impact as the car follows the front wheels and you end up across the other lane.

Another one that springs to mind, is very few people are aware that the 'blackspot' warning sign that is no longer in use was replaced by the grey and yellow backgrounds that frame a warning sign. Grey means there have been something like three serious accidents over a certain timeframe, yellow means there have been in excess of a certain number of accidents. Just to prove how unknown this is, I can't even find reference to it on Google! Similarly, the skid warning sign doesn't normally mean slippery road, it means that accidents have occurred where a car has skidded under braking. That's why you see them even where they have laid down the abrasive cream/yellow stones as an anti-skid surface.

It was 13 years ago I did mine (eek!), but the additional driving experience on motorway is almost worth it alone for many people. I don't know what it covers these days. Back then it made quite a difference to my first year's insurance, don't think it counted for much thereafter.

A skid pan course would be very useful IMO even if it doesn't affect insurance.

not sure I know anyone who paid more after removing the L plates.

Well you do now, policy gone up from £700 to £1000, to dumbstruck to ask about the pass plus, will have to call back once I've regained my composure…………………….

I did pass plus almost immediately after getting a full licence, mainly because I fluked my test first time and wasn't greatly experienced. I found it a benefit in two ways – firstly as I had passed my test at home in Cheshire and was going back down to uni in Swindon on my own it was great for the confidence to be tutored on the M4 and complicated/unfamiliar roads – in particular the magic roundabout!

Secondly, the insurance company I went with counted it as a full year's no claims bonus, which probably saved about £400 in my first year, but as I still hold a year more no claims than I have been driving, it has saved me some money each year since then. Admittedly that was nearly 9 years ago and it was a fairly small company I found through a broker in the yellow pages, so I don't know if these deals still exist.

it usually goes up as suddenly they are allowed out on their own and not with a parent/'responsible' person with them. basically, they'll rag it.

Never saw the point of it myself, the reduction in premium was about £15 when I looked at it, only the more expensive insurers accepted it and if you've done any dual-carriageway tuition (as you should have really) motorways are little-different. So in my experience, not worth the paper it's printed on, maybe someone who's nervous of motorways or if you've found a cheap insurer that will accept it. But it was an extra £100ish when I was learning, which was approximately another 2/3 onto the price of lessons for me.

Nice bit of training, especially the motorway bit. It does reduce your insurance, but only for the first year. It's the equivalent of a years no claims bonus so about 30% off the premium.

I did it and I think it was beneficial both financially and in skill learnt.

Sister did passplus, she got a discount on her insurance equivalent to what she paid for the lessons, and she had to re-do the lessons next year for the same discount. Probably good for first time just for experience but not sure ti's worth it solely for uinsurance discount.

As for £700-£1000 increase I had that too. Me and mrs learned at same time and I passed a few months before her, so got a policay with me as driver her as named learner with post office. When I went to get her bumped up to full license they wanted £300 extra, I rang around and got a quote for the same premium as my original policy so cancelled and got a new one. oh and PO were also offering the same price for a brand new policy too, it was changing the policy midway through that cost so much not the new driver.

I asked myelf when I was 18, did I want to fork out £1000 on insurance when for that much money I could have taken a taxi to and from work every day for 4 months.

Insurance for young drivers is a joke (with good reason unfortunately), I'm over 21 so got a classic car just to keep the premium down (£330 a year + extras).

God knows why they offer breakdown cover, there's no way they make money of fit, I've called them out twice in 6 months! Addmiteldy one was a flat battery after I left the key in the ignition overnight, the other was a faulty fuel guage reading zero and I could smell petrol so paniced and assumed I'd sprunk a leak.