A new car insurance initiative is helping learners drivers slash the cost of getting on the road.
Motoring to camping accessories group Halfords has teamed up with young driver specialist, Marmalade to offer a new type of cover. Leaflets about this new insurance are appearing in sets of L plates at 469 stores across the UK, directing learners to a new website, www.halfordslearners.co.uk
Previously, parents and helpful friends who allow an L plate driver to practise in their cars currently face paying out staggering additional premiums, often in excess of £3000, to add the learner to their policy. To make matters worse some insurers have raised the minimum age of the driver they will insure to 21 or 25. This high cost of insurance has led to young drivers putting off attempting to learn - the number of 17-21 year olds with a provisional licence has fallen by almost a third (from 46% to 32%) over the past 15 years - while an estimated 300,000 learners mistakenly believe they are insured to drive a parent’s car.
Halfords spokeswomen Diane Perry said: ‘The high insurance premiums for young drivers deprive many of the opportunity to gain that vital practice needed to supplement tuition from qualified driving instructors. Parents are being put off helping youngsters learn to drive in the family car as a result. This scheme makes it much easier and cheaper for them to learn.”
The Halfords Learners policy costs between £90.95 and £99.50 a month regardless of gender, age and covers virtually all family cars. The comprehensive insurance covers a learner driver to practise in a family or friend’s car. In the event of a collision caused by the learner driver, any claim is made against the learner’s policy and does not affect the insurance or no-claim status of the car owner. The cost of 2 and 3 month policies are proportionally cheaper.
Nigel Lacy from Marmalade added: “Learner drivers can now put in extra hours of vital practice without parents and friends being heavily penalized for allowing them to use their cars. The Driving Standards Agency recommends over 20 hours of private practice alongside professional tuition and this insurance policy has removed one of the biggest concerns facing parents when helping their children behind the wheel – the risk to their No Claims Bonus.”
Instant cover is available though www.halfordslearners.co.uk
The Group is the UK’s leading retailer of automotive, leisure and cycling products and through Nationwide Autocentres is also the UK’s leading independent car servicing and repair operator.
Halfords employs approximately 11,000 staff and sells over 12,000 different product lines with significant ranges in car parts, cycles, in-car technology, child seats, roof boxes, outdoor leisure and camping equipment. Halfords own brands include the in-store Bikehut department, for cycles and cycling accessories, Apollo and Carrera cycles and exclusive UK distribution rights of the premium ranged Boardman cycles and accessories. In outdoor leisure, we sell a premium range of camping equipment, branded URBAN Escape. Halfords offers customers expert advice and a fitting service called "wefit" for car parts, child seats, satellite navigation and in-car entertainment systems, and a “werepair” service for cycles
Halfords customers shop at 469 stores in the UK and abroad and at Halfords.com for direct home delivery or pick-up at their local store. Nationwide Autocentres operates from 224 sites nationally and offers motorists dealership quality MOTs, repairs and car servicing at affordable prices.