The RAC has launched a flexible new car insurance policy aimed at dramatically cutting the cost of learning to drive for young or new drivers.
With the cost of insurance for learner drivers often far exceeding the value of the car, the motorist’s champion is determined to help ease costs for provisional licence holders trying to pass their tests.
And, it’s not just insurance that can be expensive, lessons can also be costly which makes practising in a family or friend’s car a valuable way of getting extra time behind the wheel.
One of the key benefits of RAC Learner Driver Insurance is that it enables learners to practise driving in their parent’s or friend’s car without affecting the accompanying driver’s no claims discount should the learner be involved in an accident in their car.
The cover, which can begin 15 minutes after the policy has been purchased online, is available from one day to five months, which the RAC believes is an advantage over the many policies that stipulate a minimum of a month’s cover. With Aviva underwriting the policies, both the policyholder and their family will be reassured that one of the UK’s biggest insurers is behind this product.
Policyholders are only permitted to drive between the hours of 6am and 10pm and their insured vehicle must be registered in the UK, be worth less than £30,000 in value and have six or fewer seats.
To take advantage of RAC Learner Driver Insurance the learner has to be accompanied by a driver who is aged 25 or over and has held a full UK driving licence for at least three years, and the vehicle must be insured under an annual policy.
In addition, the policyholder must be a permanent UK resident, have a clean, provisional UK licence and not have any driving offences or convictions. A compulsory excess of £250 will be applied to each and every claim.
RAC director of insurance Mark Godfrey said: “Adding a learner driver to an existing insurance policy can be very expensive as well as a risk to an experienced driver’s all-important ‘no claims discount’ and the alternative of a learner taking out a standalone policy is very often cost-prohibitive so we were keen to create a policy that actually helped to save the learner driver and their family money.
“We feel we have not only achieved this but gone a step further by developing a very flexible product which can be bought for short periods under a month and used after just 15 minutes of being taken out online.”