Provisional Insurance Could Save You £670!

Jamie Daly - Mar 30 2022 2:12PM
Provisional Insurance Could Save You £670! img

We all know that driving lessons are expensive and over time they rack up a hefty sum. So, the first thing most learner drivers want to know is whether there’s a cheaper alternative? The answer - provisional insurance. Whereas lessons are usually 1 - 2 hours long, provisional insurance allows the learner to practice as much as they want within the cover period they have purchased. This can provide substantial savings for the learner driver. To find out just how much a learner can save, we did a price comparison for two methods of learning to drive. Learner A - Somebody learning to drive with Driving Lessons Only. Learner B - Somebody combining Driving Lessons with Private Practice. an infographic of driving lesson costs. cost of only using lessons vs costs of lessons vs private tuition

Private Practice vs Lessons

It is recommended that the average learner driver has roughly 48 hours of tuition before taking their test. Considering some learners may need more time than this, we decided to have both learners A & B undertake 51 hours of tuition for this comparison. Using an hourly rate offered by LDC driving school (£25 per hour), we concluded that 'Learner A' would have to spend roughly £1275 for 51 hours of paid lessons. Provisional insurance means 'Learner B' can afford to have fewer lessons. According to Learners-Guide, there are 16 driving disciplines a learner should cover before taking their test. The learner could spend an hour on each of the driving disciplines, with an instructor. Then spend the remainder of their tuition training with a friend / family member, practising each discipline. Using the same rates as above, 16 hours of lessons would equate to £400, and let's include an extra 4 hours of driving lessons for those who may need further professional help. That is still only £500.

Driving Test Costs

A weekday driving test is £62. 'Learner A' will have to use their instructor's car on the test, which could mean an extra  £25 Let’s not forget the suggested 'Pre-Test Practice'. When I was a learner driver, my instructor convinced me to have 2 hours driving prep before the test. So that's another potential £50. 'Learner B' could use their provisional insurance cover to drive their own car on the test and during pre-test practice, to avoid these costs.

Fuel Costs

Although 'Learner B' won’t be paying for as many lessons, they will be paying for fuel. If the learner does a total of 20 tuition hours with an instructor, they will also need enough fuel for: 31 hours private practice, 2 hours driving prep and the 1 hour driving test. Let's say the car they use is a Toyota Yaris, a good, reliable learner car. A Toyota Yaris can do 35+ miles to the gallon. Petrol prices vary, but average out around £1.01 per litre. To work out how much would be spent on fuel, we need to work out how much fuel is used in 34 hours of driving (see bottom of article for full calculation). It roughly works out to be £102.

Provisional Insurance Costs

The last expense for 'Learner B' would be insurance and this price varies between customers. A few generic details were entered on the InsureLearnerDriver website to generate a quote The Learner's age was set as (18); living in Hertfordshire; Provisional Licence held for less than 6 months; with a voluntary excess of £500. One month's cover was just  £71. Totalling everything up...

Learner A - £1412 Learner B - £735 

Over £670 worth of savings! So, we've proved it. Provisional insurance can save you money! You can take that £670 and use it for something really important, like the celebration after you pass! Info Graphic of petrol costs for 35 hours of driving