Whether you're a learner driver yourself, or you have a son or daughter who is, knowing what to do in terms of insurance can be tricky
Do you take out a policy in the learner's name, can you add a learner driver to your policy, or do you choose short term provisional driver insurance?
Learner Driver Insurance is available from Veygo by Admiral but the option to add a temporary additional driver to an existing policy still remains - so what's the difference and which is best for you?
To help you make up your mind we've explained the insurance options available to learners and answered any questions you may have.
What is Learner Driver Insurance?
When you're learning to drive it's important to get as much experience behind the wheel as you possibly can. Driving lessons with an instructor are the best way to get plenty of hands-on experience but they can be costly and it's often a case of one-per-week.
Lots of people choose to be added to a parent's or family member's policy to get some extra practice between official lessons.
Veygo Learner Driver Insurance allows learners to get insured on a friend or family member's car without affecting their No Claims Bonus.
The insurance works in addition to any cover already in place on the car and you can choose instant cover from two hours to 90 days.
As a learner driver, you would need to be accompanied by a full licence holder aged 21 or over who has held their full UK licence for three years or longer at all times and the cover finishes as soon as the hard part's done and you've passed your test.
Don't worry, this isn't like dual insurance and the main insurance policy of the car doesn't have to be with Admiral, so you won't have to cancel your existing policy.
Can I just add a named driver?
While a learner is taking lessons and looking for every available opportunity to practice driving, the option to become a named driver on an existing policy may be discussed, but what does that mean exactly?
Basically, the only people who can drive your car are those named on your insurance policy - that's up to four drivers (including policyholder) on a standard Admiral one-car policy.
When you choose to add someone as a named driver you can choose to do so for a short time or opt to add them until the end of the policy term.
There will likely be both an administration fee for the change to documents and an amendment to your overall premium as the risk will have changed.
To find out more about who can drive your car, read our guide to other drivers and your car.
What's the difference?
The main, and probably most important, difference is the fact that any incident the learner - the named driver - has in your car has the potential to affect your No Claims Bonus.
So, if they were to have a bump that was their fault while driving your car you could end up losing some of your No Claims Bonus.
With a Veygo Learner Driver policy, the learner is the policyholder and would be covered with their own comprehensive cover. If they have an accident in your car you won't even need to declare it to your insurer.
The other big difference is the time scale; with Learner Driver Insurance you choose from two hours to 90 days cover to suit your needs and pay an upfront cost for that time.
It ends as soon as you've passed your driving test. So when you've swapped your provisional licence for your hard-earned full driving license, you can start looking around for the best annual or monthly insurance policy for you. That way, you won't have to pay a potentially large additional premium when you update your licence type, as you would if you were named as a driver on someone else's policy.
