‘Provisional car insurance’ is a form of cover targeted to a specific market – the learner driver. This insurance is available in countries where there is a provisional, part or test license is issued while the driver is applying and learning to take an examination for the full driving license.
This type of vehicle insurance covers somebody that is partially or fully learning to drive in their own car and not an instructor’s vehicle. A general rule of thumb is that young or new drivers pay higher insurance premiums as they are higher risk than other category drivers, however with a provisional car policy, many insurers issue a discount due to the driver always having professional tuition while in the vehicle on a provisional license.
There is an additional benefit to getting covered before a full driving license has been issued with provisional car insurance as no claims bonuses begin to be accrued from the moment the policy starts. That means that once the policy is a year old, no matter whether the license of the driver is a full license or provisional and whether a driver has been active on the road or not, the next premium will likely be about 20% lower than the previous year.
Furthermore, certain insurance companies also view the fact that if a person has been learning to drive for any length of time, say two years, then this is seen as a lower risk than someone who has held a license only for a few days. The premiums for the former driver will therefore be lower than the latter.
As a safety precaution if learning to drive while under the supervision of a family member for example, provisional driving licenses often cover the tutor in the event of an emergency where the experienced driver can take over.
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