Much cheaper quotes if you sit your pass plus driving test – whatever your age!
Old and no discount!
Insuranceblogger has always lived in a city close to bus and train routes so I never felt the need to learn to drive. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to drive I did , but life moves so quickly and before I knew it, I was reaching my forties and I still had not taken any driving lessons. As public transport was not as frequent and with train prices escalating I treated myself to a driving course and I loved it!
I passed my test with flying colours. Couldn’t believe it first time!
Passing your test is fantastic, but reality hits home when you find out the real cost of driving especially purchasing car insurance, when you are not entitled to no claims bonus. No claims bonus is a way insurance companies reward their customers for not claiming in the year. The more accident free years the larger the discount. I knew that new drivers had to pay more, but I had wrongly assumed that this only affected the youth of this world not me I was nearly forty! My days of fast cars and driving at high speed were long gone I just wanted to be able to get from A to B in my little car.
Luckily, I spoke to a member of my family. He has just passed his test and had found it really expensive to purchase car insurance. He told me that he had taken an extra driving course arranged by the Driving Standards agency and had saved himself a fortune.
When the driver successfully completes the course, the Driving Standards Agency sends a certificate to the driver so that they are able to claim their car insurance discount.
That course can be taken at anytime through the drivers driving career, but it is mainly aimed at new drivers in the first year after passing their test. If the driver has passed their test more than a year ago then it is worth checking first with the car insurance companies if discounts are still eligible.
The problem with learning to drive is that you are taught the basic skills of reversing gears etc but real driving experience comes with time. Do you remember the first time you drove on a motorway? The first time can be pretty daunting!
The Pass Plus scheme is a scheme arranged by the DSA (The Driving Standards Agency). They provide a structured syllabus which gives the person who has just passed their test extra experience they need at a time when they are most likely to have an accident. It concentrates on weather conditions, driving on dual carriageways and motorway driving was really useful. I could not believe how different it is to drive in the dark. I had always had my driving lessons in my lunch break. I even got used to driving on little country roads as well as town roads.
If you are looking for a Christmas present for a new driver young or old , then this is the ideal present. It provides further driving proficiency with the added bonus of saving the driver money on car insurance.
Visit New Driver Insurance to compare quotes from car insurance companies offering discounts for the pass plus scheme.
Source: www.insuranceblog.co.uk
