Do I need insurance to drive on a provisional licence?

Do I need insurance to drive on a provisional licence?

It is a legal requirement in the UK for anyone driving on UK roads to have car insurance in place, including learner drivers on provisional licenses.

  • Learning to drive in an approved driving school vehicle with an instructor means you don't need to worry about organising your own insurance as the instructor arranges this, which is included in the driving lesson fee.
  • Using a family or friend's vehicle means you must arrange provisional learner insurance or ask the vehicle's keeper to add you to their existing policy as a named learner driver. It's important to understand that adding you as a named driver to a family or friend's policy will likely significantly increase their insurance premium cost.
  • Temporary learner driver insurance is a flexible car insurance option from providers such as tempcover that supplements the vehicle's existing insurance. It allows you to cover the use of a family or friend's vehicle for anywhere between one hour and 180 days, although you won't earn any no-claims bonus with this type of policy.
  • Using your own vehicle to practice or learn to drive means you'll need to organise provisional licence insurance beforehand as you can't drive or keep the car on public roads without it. You need to add yourself as the learner driver and the person supervising you as a named driver. This option is likely to be more expensive, but it allows you to build up no-claims discounts that will help reduce your premiums in the future.