Refused car insurance for learner driver

[BinnedOff]

DD has just turned 17 and we want her to be able to drive my car to practice driving (alongside professional lessons which will start when lockdown ends).

I have rung my insurance company and they are unwilling to put her on my existing car insurance policy. The chap I spoke to at Esure said that he couldn't be certain why Esure can't offer cover. Just "The system says no". He said maybe they can in future but isn't sure when this would be.

I was wondering if I could buy a separate car insurance policy for my DD to drive my car, which would run independently from mine. Is this possible or advisable?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Yes you can get specific learner insurance.

Hi. I had the same with my AA policy. We ended up getting DS his own learner policy. I can’t rent he company but if you Google it will give you some options.

remember the obviously. Bloody autocorrect!

You should try here

quote.veygo.com/start

A few years back we were looking into this for DS, and couldn't get insurance because the car we wanted to insure him on ( my runaround Clio) was 15 years old.
Apparently it would have been doable on a newer car.
But there are companies who will insure the learner individually, was about £150 per month last time I looked. I think it was Admiral.

Whilst technically there's nothing to stop you dual-insuring a car, it can become complicated in the event of a claim and could still end up affecting both policies.

Esure are notoriously risk averse when it comes to young drivers. Would you have the option to cancel your existing policy and take out a new one with a provider that's happy to cover your daughter to drive? You may end up paying a one-off cancellation fee to Esure but in the long run it's likely to be the cheaper option.

I just got Marmalade learner insurance when I was learning. It ran alongside my mums insurance and because it was separate it doesn't affect your NCB.

Thank you all for your advice. I will look into both options of separate car insurance for DD and just cancelling mine and getting an insurance provider who will insure us both.

I used Marmalade for both DC. it wasn't cheap but could choose the length of time and it was their policy and didn't affect mine.

Once they passed I put them on my insurance until they got their own car.

We just use pay as you go learner insurance. It's £8.20 or so for two hours.

www.wearemarmalade.co.uk/learner-driver-insurance

Two hours once a week is only £32. Better than going for an ongoing policy imo. Having said that, just before Xmas I saw a policy that was £340 for the year! We were going to buy it as a Xmas pressure, but DS changed his mind. Now that policy doesn't seem available anymore. I'll have a look again and see if it's come back.

It's now£797 for the year! 🙈

Look at marmalade, you can insure for short periods.

That said my insurer wouldn't insure dd on my car as it was a 7 seater 2 litre

I saw a range rover Velar with L plates on! How the other half live 😱🤣

Esure won’t insure anyone under 25yo I believe, learner or not. Dh had insurance with esure when we were first married and he couldn’t add me to his policy even though I’d been driving 6 years!

I used Veygo for Dd when she was learning as a separate policy. They reckon it’s not an issue having double insurance, if Dd had an accident she would only be able to claim on veygo. If I’d had an accident then I could only have used my main policy. I asked my insurance about insuring Dd and while they would do it it was so expensive, needed an admin fee, when she passed the insurance would need changing again, so more admin fees and possibly not the best priced policy. I liked the flexibility of veygo. I bought it in 8 week blocks I think.

You can either insure her separately or cancel your policy and go elsewhere.

I must warn you OP, that getting in a car with your teen for driving practice is all kinds of horrible. Good test of mother/ son relationship for me both time too.

Thank you all so much! I new I could rely on MN for sensible advice. I have just purchased a learner driver policy from Marmalade.

@Sparklingbrook

I must warn you OP, that getting in a car with your teen for driving practice is all kinds of horrible. Good test of mother/ son relationship for me both time too.

That's what I am worried about! I think that DH is going to have to be the one to go out with her for driving practice as don't think I will be able to stand the stress!

@BinnedOff

Thank you all so much! I new I could rely on MN for sensible advice. I have just purchased a learner driver policy from Marmalade.

Well done and good luck!

@BinnedOff they both preferred me to DH. But my god my teeth were firmly gritted and I was pushing my feet into the carpet on the passenger side. I found the way they get taught now a little different too to what I remembered.

So I literally just let them drive, their way and only uttered a word if I was genuinely worried.

Other road users were quite mean too which surprised me as I tend to give learners a very wide berth and a bit of time.

We found a reasonable price insurance for three months with marmalade.
It seemed easier than changing ours.

@BinnedOff

My parents refused to take me out practising when I was learning to drive - they paid for extra lessons instead. I was relieved as they were quite impatient characters - Mum worse than Dad. Thankfully they mellowed with age....

I had insurance denied for my DD learning as well. Wanted to add her to my insurance but couldn't as my car was categorised a 'high performance' - it was a Ford Fiesta for God's sake. Took me a few more phone calls to discover that no one will insurance a learner driver in cars with 2litre engine capacity or more. That's the definition of 'high performance' - what's your engine capacity?