Provisional Insurance Rules – A Guide for Learner Drivers

If you’re a learner driver, provisional insurance will help you get that all important extra practice. Provisional insurance allows you to undertake private practice in a friend or family members car. Before you purchase learner driver insurance it’s important to understand a few rules.

In this article we’ll be looking at learner driver insurance rules and what uk provisional licence holders need to be aware of when undertaking private practice.

What Should I Consider Before Buying Provisional Insurance?

Before you buy a learner driver insurance policy, you will need to ensure you are legally allowed to take to the roads. We recently discussed this in our provisional licence guide, but the law requires the learner driver to:

• Be at least 17 years old
• Have a valid UK provisional driving licence (for the type of vehicle being used – manual or automatic)
• Ensure the vehicle is in a safe and legal condition
• Meet the legal minimum eyesight standards
• Only drive when supervised by a person who is at least 21 years old and has a valid driving licence, which they have held for at least three years (at Collingwood, we require the supervising driver to be over 21 years of age and hold a valid full UK/EU/EEA Licence in the same category as the vehicle you’re driving for at least 3 years)
• Put L Plates (or D Plates in Wales) on the front and rear of their vehicle

What Are The Rules for Displaying ‘L’ Plates?

It’s important to be aware of the rules regarding the use of L plates. If you use the wrong type of plate, you could get up to 6 penalty points, which is definitely not the best way to start your driving life. L Plates must:

• Be used when learning to drive in the UK
• Be a red ‘L’ on a white background
• Should measure 178mm x 178mm

In Wales, a ‘D’ plate must be a red D on a white background also measuring 178mm x 178mm.

What Does Provisional Insurance Cover?

Learner driver insurance policies can offer:

• Options for the 3 major types of motor vehicle insurance cover (third party only, third party fire and theft, comprehensive)
• An option to add an additional driver
• Optional add-ons including windscreen cover, courtesy car and audio equipment cover
• Can run parallel to full insurance on somebody else’s car

Here at Collingwood Insurance, we offer all of these options as add-ons for our annual policies*

Learner driver insurance, like full insurance will show in ‘AskMID’ (the motor insurance database) so you should never be tempted to try an uninsured 1 hour practice session.

How Can I Buy Provisional Insurance?

If you are interested in provisional insurance cover, then look no further. Collingwood offers learner driver insurance that can cover you from 28 days to 12 months. If you’re insured on your own vehicle you could also start to build your own No Claims Bonus before you have a full UK driving licence.

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*Dependent on the level of cover chosen and add-ons selected. T&C’s apply.