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Whether a family member or friend takes you out in their car to practise driving or you’re learning in your own car, it’s a legal requirement for you to have learner driver insurance in case you’re involved in a road traffic incident. You won’t need to worry, however, if you only practise with a driving instructor, as they’ll have their own car insurance.
From the eligibility requirements you need to meet to how you can get a cheaper policy, our guide has you covered when it comes to everything you need to know about learner driver insurance.
Learner driver insurance is a type of temporary cover for people learning to drive by spending some time behind the wheel of a car that is not their driving instructor’s. This could be their own car or that of a friend or family member.
Insurance for learner drivers covers accidents that cause harm or damage to their car or other vehicles and road users where the learner driver is at fault. One major benefit of having this type of insurance is that any claim you make as a learner will not impact the vehicle owner’s no-claims bonus.
There are different types of learner insurance, depending on the range of coverage you want:
Third party car insurance is the lowest level of insurance required to legally drive on UK roads. It provides cover if you accidentally damage another person’s property, or injure or kill someone in a motor accident.
Third party, fire and theft car insurance is the next level of cover. Besides covering damage you cause to another driver or their property, it covers costs associated with the theft or attempted theft of your vehicle and accidental or criminal fire damage.
Comprehensive car insurance is the highest level of car insurance a driver can buy. It includes everything at the lower levels of cover, as well as accidental damage to your own vehicle. You’ll also likely have a number of additional benefits, depending on the provider, including courtesy car cover and personal accident benefits.
While the eligibility requirements will differ from provider to provider, to take out learner driver insurance you’ll likely need to:
| As the driver | When choosing your vehicle |
|---|---|
| Be aged between 17 and 50 (the specific age range will vary) | Drive a car with a market value of less than £40,000, that is registered in the UK |
| Be a permanent UK resident | Drive a car less than 40 years old |
| Hold a provisional driving licence | Drive a car that is not a hired, rented, or under a lease that is less than 12 months’ long |
| Have no penalty points on your licence, any motoring offences, or other unspent criminal convictions | Drive a car with seven seats or fewer |
| Be supervised at all times by a qualified driver, over the age of 21 (or 25 for some providers), who has held their full driving licence for at least three years | Drive a car that has no engine modifications |
While you won’t need to take out learner driver insurance if you intend to use a driving instructor, there are a number of scenarios where it would be a legal requirement for you to take out cover:
Learning to drive is already expensive; paying for lessons, booking a test and buying your own car can be costly. So, when choosing learner insurance, you’ll want the best deal possible. We found that the average learner driver insurance quote is £707.28 for an annual comprehensive policy.[1]
Interestingly, the age at which it’s most expensive to get learner driver insurance differs slightly from standard car insurance.
While typically younger drivers pay more for traditional cover, the average annual comprehensive provisional insurance policy for a 17-year-old learner driver was £662.88, which is notably cheaper than the £853.99 paid by a 22-year-old learner.
Prices then start to fall to £687.01 for a 27-year-old and reach a low of £649.47 for a 32-year-old. Surprisingly, average costs start to climb again after that, rising to £717.96 for a 42-year-old learner.
| Age | Average learner driver insurance (£) | Difference (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | £662.88 | N/A |
| 22 | £853.99 | 28.83% |
| 27 | £687.01 | -19.55% |
| 32 | £649.47 | -5.46% |
| 37 | £672.36 | 3.52% |
| 42 | £717.96 | 6.78% |
Of course, it’s not just age that affects the cost of your learner driver insurance. Other factors include:
When taking into consideration everything from tests and lessons to buying a car and getting insurance, it costs on average £7,609.46 to learn to drive and get on the road for 12 months, according to MoneySuperMarket’s Household Money Index.[2]
How long you take learner driver insurance for will depend on why you are taking it out. Typically you’ll have two options: annual and temporary cover.
Annual learner driver car insurance covers you to drive your vehicle or a family member’s or friend’s car for up to 12 months while you’re still learning.
This may be enough time to learn how to drive fully and pass your practical driving test, so you may want to get this type of insurance at the start of your learning process.
Short-term learner driver insurance is more common than annual insurance. You can get learner insurance for a single day if you wish. Typically, the length of short-term cover will range from one day up to five months. Some insurers offer even shorter terms, with temporary car insurance from one hour to 30 days.
This type of limited-term cover can be most useful if you are quite close to sitting, and hopefully passing, your driving test and don’t need to pay for a year’s worth of learner driver cover.
In October to December 2023, the car theory pass rate was 44.2 per cent, while the car practical test pass rate was 47.4 per cent.[3]
Provisional insurance for learner drivers, like all types of insurance, comes with certain exclusions (things the policy won’t cover).
For example, a comprehensive learner driver insurance policy would likely include or exclude the following:
| Covered | Not covered |
|---|---|
| Accidental damage, fire, theft or attempted theft | Claims if you’re not accompanied by a driver aged between 21 and 75 who has held a full UK licence for at least three years |
| Windscreen glass and window repair | Time restrictions, often excluding coverage between 10pm and 6am |
| Legal liability if another person is injured, dies or their property is damaged in an accident you’re involved in | If the car you’re driving isn’t also insured under the main driver’s annual policy |
| Taking your driving test in the car | Driving home from the test centre after passing your test |
Below are some notable providers of learner driver insurance:
| Provider | What it offers |
|---|---|
| A Choice | Offers learner driver insurance for 17 to 24-year-olds practising in their own car, allowing you to build your no-claims bonus. Cover starts from 70p a day. Your car must be worth less than £20,000.[4] |
| Adrian Flux | Offers cover for learner drivers aged 16 and over that can be renewed on a month-by-month basis. Policies start from 65p a day, with a 50 per cent discount on a second vehicle if you insure two cars.[5] |
| Collingwood Insurance Services | Offers learner driver insurance from 28 days to 12 months. Annual learner driver insurance starts from 72p per day.[6] Can also be purchased as flexible short-term learner driver insurance from 28 days to 24 weeks – you can have gaps in your cover and top up when required. |
| Cuvva | Offers learner driver insurance in hourly increments for a maximum of six hours a day for provisional licence holders between 17 and 40 years old. On average, it costs £14.02 for an hour, £16.93 for two hours, £19.77 for three hours, and £27.80 for six hours.[7] |
| Marmalade | Offers cover to provisional licence holders between the ages of 17 and 34. The policy can last from 30 to 240 days, and learner driver customers who pass their test can get 10 per cent off their next Marmalade car insurance policy.[8] |
| RAC | Offers learner driver insurance from one day (for cars already insured with an annual policy) to five months. The cost of cover starts at £17.47 a day, £33.64 per week, and £105.82 for two months.[9] |
| Sterling Insurance | Offers learner driver insurance in one, two, three, six and 12-month periods. Prices start from 77p a day. Car must be worth less than £20,000, and be listed up to insurance group 30. Includes free FourFive Learner Drive app.[10] |
| Veygo by Admiral | Provides cover for learner drivers aged between 17 and 75 years old. Policies can be purchased on both an annual and pay-as-you-go basis.[11] |
Cheap learner insurance is a bit like a unicorn – a myth. However, there are ways to reduce costs when looking for a learner insurance quote:
Additional cover – also known as add-ons – can be a good idea when buying insurance for learner drivers. If things go wrong, it can offer extra protection beyond what a standard policy covers.
This extra cover will increase the cost of your learner driver insurance, though. Before buying it, check to ensure you’re not already covered under your main learner driver insurance policy.
If you’re not already signed up with a roadside breakdown service, this add-on will cover you should the car you’re driving break down and need repairs. Before adding breakdown cover as an optional extra, check to see if you can get a better deal buying cover directly from a breakdown service.
Legal cover, also known as motor legal protection, insures against the costs you might face if someone takes you to court over an insurance claim, including any damages you may have to pay.
Personal accident cover pays out to you or your family if you’re injured or killed in an accident. While a comprehensive learner driver policy should include some level of personal accident cover, you may be able to increase the cover limits for an extra cost.
The courtesy car cover that comes with most comprehensive policies will only kick-in if you’re in an accident, and your car can be repaired. Hire car cover, on the other hand, will also apply if your vehicle is stolen or written-off. And you may even be able to get a similar-sized car, rather than the small hatchbacks typical of courtesy car policies.
Your relationship with the Highway Code shouldn’t end once you pass your theory test as a learner driver. For example, since 2015 there have been 24 updates to the motoring bible – updates you could miss if you don’t keep on top of the rules.
Yet 50 per cent of drivers admitted they hadn’t revisited the Highway Code since passing their test, according to our survey of 2,010 UK motorists.
Even worse, we found that more than half (51 per cent) of the drivers we surveyed would fail their theory test today, based on a sample of five basic road safety questions.[12]
Alarmingly, the weakest age group was 17 to 24-year-olds. Despite taking their theory test more recently, less than a third (32 per cent) of younger drivers would pass today.
So don’t assume that once you have your full licence the learning stops. Refreshing your knowledge of the Highway Code will not only keep you on the right side of the law, it could reduce the likelihood of you having an accident.
Below are the five questions we asked, the percentage of correct responses, and the most common incorrect answers:
Q1. What do you think triangular road signs indicate? A. Warnings (78.46 per cent)
Most common wrong answers:
Q2. What lights, if any, do you think are appropriate to turn on when driving on the motorway at night, when there are cars ahead of you? A. Dipped headlights (69.15 per cent)
Most common wrong answers:
Q3. What, if anything, do you think the legal speed limit on a motorway is, if no signs indicate otherwise? A. 61mph (79.00 per cent)
Most common wrong answers:
Q4. When driving on a wet road, what time gap, if any, do you think you need to leave between your car and the car in front of you? A. 4 to 5 seconds (26.17 per cent)
Most common wrong answers:
Q5. What, if anything, do you think you should you do if you have to quickly slow down when driving on the motorway? A. Turn on your hazard lights (71.14 per cent)
Most common wrong answers:
When you’re looking to get learner driver insurance, you’ll likely need to have the following to hand to compare quotes:
Through our research, we found that the cost of annual comprehensive learner driver insurance taken on a parent’s car ranges from £649.97 to £853.99, depending on your age. On average, the cost is £707.17.[13]
Once you’ve got your licence, car insurance for a 17-year-old new driver is very expensive. We found that the average policy costs £5,371.07, based on the five cheapest options.[14]
If you are learning to drive in a car you own, you’ll need to take out learner driver insurance. If you are learning to drive in someone else’s car, you can either take out learner driver insurance on their vehicle or be added as a named driver on the car owner’s policy.
If you take out learner driver insurance, it’s up to you whether you take out third party-only, third party, fire and theft, or comprehensive cover. Fully comprehensive insurance will give you the most cover.
You can apply for a provisional licence when you’re 15 years and nine months old. However, you can only start driving a car from your 17th birthday. A provisional licence costs £34 as of March 2024. Be sure to only use the official government website to apply. Once you have your provisional licence and have turned 17, you can apply for learner driver insurance.
Learner driver insurance can last as long as you need it to. For example, you could take out a policy for a few hours, so you can have a refresher lesson. Or, you could take it out for a few months, if you are just at the start of your learning journey.
When learning to drive, you must:
There’s no minimum number of lessons, or hours of practice, you need to have completed before passing your test.
However, the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) estimates that it takes around 45 hours of lessons, and an additional 22 hours of practise, for people to then pass their test.
It is possible to build your no-claims bonus as a learner driver, but only if you hold an annual policy for 12 months, and don’t make any claims on that policy.
If you want to learn to drive in more than one vehicle, you’d need to take out separate learner driver insurance policies on each car.
You can only drive on the motorway in England, Scotland and Wales if:
You cannot drive on the motorway as a learner in Northern Ireland.
You don’t need learner driver insurance to drive during lessons with a qualified driving instructor because they have their own insurance cover for that. However, learner driver insurance is required for informal driving lessons with a friend or family member.
Your learner driver insurance will cover you for your test, but only if you are taking the test in the car the policy was taken out on.
If you are taking your test in your instructor’s car, you’ll be covered by their insurance.
When you have passed your test, driving alone requires regular car insurance. You’re not even legally allowed to drive alone back from the test centre without it.
The cost of your car insurance will most likely increase once you pass your test and qualify for a regular policy. This is because you will be driving alone as an inexperienced driver rather than under the supervision of a more experienced driver, so insurers consider you at a higher risk of accidents.
It is possible to add a learner driver as a named driver to your car insurance policy. If you choose this option, any claims made by the learner driver will affect your no-claims bonus.
Adding a learner driver as a named driver will normally make your premium more expensive, as you are flagging to your insurer that a higher risk driver will be behind the wheel some of the time.
It may, therefore, be cheaper to take out a specific learner driver policy on your vehicle, rather than adding the learner to your insurance. Plus, if the learner has their own policy, they can potentially start to build their own no-claims bonus.
If you have two people in your life learning to drive at the same time, and they both want to use your car, it’s possible to take out two separate learner driver insurance policies on the same vehicle.
