Young drivers’ programmes are ‘not a passport to getting discounted insurance’
Written by Richard Benjamin
Young drivers’ programmes run by companies such as Mercedes-Benz and Porsche will not guarantee the newly-qualified with discounted insurance, according to an expert.
Neil Greig, director of policy and research Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), said that simply setting up a course is not necessarily an "automatic passport" to getting a cheaper price from an insurance company, as the firm would not know whether the course had worked.
"We at the IAM have an insurance scheme that improves every year as our insurers get more knowledge of how good our drivers are," he said.
"If you can prove that those drivers are safer than young drivers in general, insurance companies will be queuing up to offer you discounts."
Adding that the problem with the scheme being run by luxury car companies Porsche and Mercedes was that there was a link in road safety between deprivation and accidents, Mr Greig said that the courses were likely to reach only a very small demographic of the young driver market.
