After Passing the Driving Test

You’ve just passed the driving test and you’re all excited. What to do next.

Well the examiner may have told you that you’ll need to wait around 3 – 4 weeks for your new driving licence to arrive. You should have received a blue certificate from the driving test examiner which entitles you to drive legally on your own from the moment you’ve passed the driving test.

Now you’ll either need to buy a car or have access to one. Then once you have arranged a car you’ll need to find car insurance too. Car insurance can be very expensive especially when it’s your first time driving and even more so if you are aged between 17 – 24 as you are now considered to be at a higher risk of crashing. You can either choose to have the insurance policy in your name only or be a second driver to someone else’s insurance. If you choose to have the insurance policy in your name only, you are more likely to pay a lot more for your car insurance but as long as you don’t make any claims in the first year you can usually receive a year’s no claim bonus after the first year which is usually a discount of around 30% of last year’s cost.

If you choose to be put onto someone else’s policy it’ll usually start off cheaper for you but you are not likely to gain any no claims bonus even if you don’t claim as you are using someone else’s policy. Plus you’ll need to be extra careful when driving as if you make a claim this may affect the policy and the person that allowed you onto their policy may lose their no claims bonus and their insurance will shoot up the year after.

If you are aged between 17 – 24 and wish to find cheaper car insurance then it might be a good idea to ask your driving instructor about the pass plus course. This is a course of a minimum of 6 hours where you’ll practice driving on motorways, country lanes and different weather conditions and this will not only help you gain more confidence in driving but can also help lower your car insurance premiums. When you are searching for car insurance it’ll be a good idea to ask the insurance company if they accept pass plus and if they do ask them how much you’ll save when you complete the course.

Good luck on the roads and take care.