ADUK Archive

driving2day wrote:I will have to look into pass plus in my area... or I should head back home.

Wherever's more convenient. Many but not all ADIs do Pass Plus. Take a look at http://www.driving.org for a list.

Well done, I'm really delighted at your news.

You will, of course, appreciate that this is just the first hurdle, and that you should now be working towards learning to drive properly. That could take quite a long time, and I should know: I'm still bumbling along towards that happy state.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

Brilliant news, well done. I would seriously consider looking at IAM or RoSPA rather than Pass Plus. Is would likely be far cheaper and, I believe, has the potential to give you far more.

Well done. I can only agree with the comments made by others, and I agree with the comments made by Nigel about Pass Plus. In fact it must be about three years since I've done one myself.

As Dave (TripleS) said, you have just climbed onto the first rung of the ladder. If the will is there, there is so much more to learn.

Please keep us posted of your progress.

All the best Nigel.

Thought I'd add my comments before my computer throws a wobbly and shuts down the internet.

ExadiNigel wrote:I would seriously consider looking at IAM or RoSPA rather than Pass Plus. Is would likely be far cheaper and, I believe, has the potential to give you far more.

I'd agree for someone who is already confident or perhaps been driving for a few months or more...but Pass Plus with a good ADI is a nice way to extend experience and continue learning straight from the L-test.

Thanks guys for your replies. TripleS and fungus your comments especially stood out since I guess I recognise you from the start of my journey. How time flies.

I am not in the process of going through your suggestions. I will do whatever I can do become more confident and get a hang of the road more. I guess I want to overcome the fear of motorways for sure.

My partner has a car and so I was hoping to get insured on his but since I am a new driver the quote didn't come up. The company should be calling back today to figure it out but he only has a couple of months left (and has an older drive as the main person on there who genuinely uses it) so if they won't quote me something reasonable I guess I'll have to wait till renewal time to switch to a different company.

driving2day wrote:Thanks guys for your replies. TripleS and fungus your comments especially stood out since I guess I recognise you from the start of my journey. How time flies.

I am not in the process of going through your suggestions. I will do whatever I can do become more confident and get a hang of the road more. I guess I want to overcome the fear of motorways for sure.

My partner has a car and so I was hoping to get insured on his but since I am a new driver the quote didn't come up. The company should be calling back today to figure it out but he only has a couple of months left (and has an older drive as the main person on there who genuinely uses it) so if they won't quote me something reasonable I guess I'll have to wait till renewal time to switch to a different company.

A suggestion and I'm not sure of age restrictions but consider hiring cars to get more experience. If you and your partner want to, for instance, travel for a UK holiday using the Motorway network, hire a car with both as drivers.
Sign up to all the voucher 'sites possible and also if your partner is in one of the Motoring assistance organisations, you'll often find deals coming up.

WhoseGeneration wrote:A suggestion and I'm not sure of age restrictions but consider hiring cars to get more experience. If you and your partner want to, for instance, travel for a UK holiday using the Motorway network, hire a car with both as drivers.
Sign up to all the voucher 'sites possible and also if your partner is in one of the Motoring assistance organisations, you'll often find deals coming up.

Hiring cars is a good idea. I had not thought of that lol.

Thank you for suggesting hiring a car by the way. Seems like that's the road to go down.

My guy's dad is the main policy holder of the car (lives nearby). My OH is the next man on there. So then we call the insurance company for a quote to add me on (they paid about £900 for the year, ending mid August) and it didn't work. When we called back they said it's because based on the current policy holders, they can't add anyone under 25 (I am under 25).

So this means I need to wait until the end of July to see what quote they would give to get a new policy with me on. But nowadays people switch insurance companies almost every year as there's sometimes better deals elsewhere so I can't rely on the statement that they may renew with them, because they might not.

I also am not sure whether to start looking online for quotes from different companies for a mid August start. I heard that it may affect quotes in the future so I don't want to be the cause of them being quoted massive numbers when the time comes, all because of me adding myself on a quote.

Should I wait till end of July to look at different companies including the one they're with? What if they turn around and say you're too young/new or it's going to cost £2000? I don't think we can afford anymore than an additional couple of hundred as my partner pays for the insurance himself.

Should I look for a car? I guess the idea of getting a old rubbish car doesn't make sense as it will mean more repairs which takes the idea of saving money out of the window. I can;t imagine myself with my own car though, I'd have nowhere to go here lol.

Basically I need your advice.

We need Michael769 to chip in here...

I had not heard of asking for quotes spoiling your pitch for the future. I would just go to one of the comparison sites (confused.com, gocompare, moneysupermarket etc.) and fill in a quotation - that will get you quotes from up to 200 different companies and I can't see how doing that once is going to affect your premium in the future. If you don't ask, you won't find out

Sadly for you, the rules changed because previously with you being female, the premium might even have gone down, regardless of your inexperience. Now, your age is more likely to be the biggest weighting factor, rather than the newness of your licence, since as an additional driver, you don't bring any insurance history with you. At least, having just passed, I assume you have had no insurance claims (at least in your own name)?

As for looking for a car - do you want a car? If the answer is no, and from your comment it sounds like it is, really, then no, don't saddle yourself with the expense. The only reason for doing it would be to build up no-claims history, by having a policy in your own name, so that when the day comes and you need a car, insurance will be cheaper. However you still end up paying money for something that, by your own admission, you may not really use.

driving2day wrote:Basically I need your advice.

You need to change your signature on here!

Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:We need Michael769 to chip in here...

OK then.

Some insurers do indeed take account of requested quotes even through comparison sites, and know of at least 1 insurer who reduces renewal premiums if they are aware that a customer has been shopping around at renewal times...

Overall it is not harmful to ask for quotes, occasionally you may get a suspicious agent wondering why you are not quoting for different circumstances than what you are telling them, but overall everyone knows that people use comparison sites to experiment and that it is a poor predictor of fraud risks.

Moreover I would suggest that it is only sensible to take account of likely insurance costs when considering the choice of car. Some people use fake details to get representative quotes.

A final word of warning is that some insurers have started credit checking quotes, even though a comparison site, and excessive credit checks can impair your credit rating. However I suspect this practice may be stopped (I for one have complained about what I perceive to be unauthorized credit checks on my history, and in my case two of the major ratings agencies agreed to expunge them rather than face a complaint to the OFT).

In terms of timing insurance is quote volatile so a quote requested now may be different from one requested next week and commercial pressures can make the differences be quite significant. Some insurers now allow you to build up a NCD as a named driver on another policy (usually with someone who lives at the same address), however this can tie your next renewal to a specific insurer who may not offer the most competitive premiums.

Choosing between a new and old car is a trade off. New cars have low maintenance costs but a big up front (or more likely ongoing finance costs).

It is also worth considering non-standard financing options. Many of the companies who lease vehicles to companies will also lease to consumers and there are significant savings to be made. Typically you can expect monthly lease charges to be much less than traditional finance repayments, with the added benefit of maintenance and services (and often Road Tax) thrown in.

michael769 wrote:Some insurers do indeed take account of requested quotes even through comparison sites, and know of at least 1 insurer who reduces renewal premiums if they are aware that a customer has been shopping around at renewal times...

Well I never...thanks for that insight and the others Michael, very interesting.