Another update ….2.5 years later….as it might help someone else who finds themselves in a similar situation.
Following all the events mentioned above, DS continued to learn with instructor and then started going out with his Dad again. He failed one test and passed his 2nd, about a month before his 1 year learner insurance expired - so we never had to find out if getting learner insurance would be impossible/hugely expensive for someone after writing a car off as learner.
As mentioned, the insurance my DH and I have on our car was not impacted as we didn’t make a claim as the claim was made by DS using his standalone insurance.
We decided DS didn’t need his own car as he would be off to uni soon. So we sold our 2nd car (which he learned in) and bought a Group 1 City Car to be our 2nd car. We insured it in my DHs name - no fronting involved as he would always do the majority of the miles. DS and myself became named drivers. Obviously we declared my DS’s accident and managed to get insurance in late 2023 for £900. This seemed a good price.
The price was kept down despite the accident, by paying annually, it being Group 1 and insurance start date being 3 weeks from getting the price and insurance.
DS wouldn’t be building his own no- claims, but we figured that was okay as he wouldn’t have his own car at uni anyway.
The insurance policy was a black box policy and oddly, it was my DH who was monitored as he was named driver. We checked this with the insurer, who agreed it was daft to monitor a 50+ year old with over 30 years driving experience and not the teen new driver, but that was how it worked!
DS drove the car a couple of times a week until he went to uni and then in the hols. When we renewed after a year, the insurance came down to £750 and we were allowed to get rid of the black box. DH had found it a bit annoying but it was worth it for the lower price and to get DS driving.
Another year has passed and fortunately no accidents so the next renewal has come in at £480.
That accident is still on DSs record and declared each year. It will be 3 years old come January.
I’ve posted again after all this time because O knew at the time there was a lot of confusion about standalone learner insurance alongside the owner insurance. And few people seemed to have had our experience. We’d feared it would make insurance unattainable or ridiculously expensive for DS…but things worked out better than we’d thought.
DS will continue to be a named driver in that Group 1 City Car whilst a student and just drive it in hols. Eventually when he needs a car he will get one. We notice that some insurers ask if you’ve had any claim-free years as a named driver, as well as about no claims built up as main driver. We hope he remains claim free and that by the time he gets his own car, that accident will be more than 5 years ago or still having much less of an impact than we imagined it would.
Hope this helps someone in future. What had seemed like a total nightmare at the time turned out to be less of a big deal than I’d imagined, thankfully. And I remain pleased we’d opted for that full year of learner insurance, and as a separate learner policy as it was that which allowed DS to remain insured as a learner for another 9 months after the accident, without increased premiums. If he’d been on short term insurance he’d have struggled to access further learner insurance and prices would have been sky high. Plus DH and myself retain claim free record.
Hope v few find their own DC writes off their car as a learner! But it’s always a risk. So this story might help someone who finds themselves in the situation, or when deciding which learner instance to buy.