Birthday gift question

[Arsonist]

Hello all.

Just a quick one. It's my girlfriends birthday on Saturday. She's desperate to learn to drive but can barely afford lessons, only the odd one every few weeks. She's also got a car she's doing up but obviously can't learn on this yet.

My question is, is it slightly cheap / lazy to get her insured on my car as a birthday present? I'll aim to take her out at least 6/8 hours a week every week to teach her the basics and to get her the confidence. This will cost about 200 for the entire year. I'll also get her a few other much cheaper bits too.

Tl ; dr
Am I being cheap by insuring my girlfriend on my car to learn as a birthday gift?

Cheers all, and in before 'worst I have a girlfriend post ever.'

 

[asteldian]

Firstly, £200 is hardly cheap for a birthday present. Secondly, seems to me you are bang on with such a gift as it would be considered 'thoughtful' and paying attention to her wants and needs - she wants to drive, struggles to learn due to restrictions, your gift will help.

P.S if she thinks it is a crap gift, dump the ungrateful cow

 

[tom_e]

£200 and then 6/8 hours every week until she passes is not cheap, to me that's a much better present than £500 worth of tat that will be forgotten about soon enough. The licence is going to make life much easier and last until she drops dead.

 

[Armageus]

I don't know how much driving lessons cost these days, but would see if her instructor would do vouchers etc. for say 4-6 lessons.

Car insurance is a bill - no one likes bills, even when someone else is paying it - would be a pretty poor gift imho.

 

[Glanza]

Can you do with the potential fallout that might occur when you take her out yourself?

I'd be tempted to buy her a block of lessons if she can barely afford them.

 

[Threepwood]

Ask her if she would like that as a known present or if she would like to be surprised instead.

I think you have a good idea, if she says no surprise me surprise me.. take her to holiday to Rhyl.

 

[bainbridge]

Would you be the best person to teach her to drive?

Might be better to get her a block of lessons as mentioned above.

I speak from experience!

 

[pepp77]

Before you go and do this obvious questions to ask are

Are you over 21?
Have you held your full licence for more than 3 years?

If you answer no to either then you cannot "teach" her anyway.

 

[richthomuk]

I think the insurance is a great idea, lets face it even if helping her learn to drive becomes stressful, which im really really not sure is any of our business, then im sure she will have more friends or family members than can sit in the car with her while she drives around so I think the insurance is a really good gift.

Hope it goes well dude.

 

[lunar]

£200 per year for a person without a full licence is pretty good. I would also include a tangible gift, such as a box of chocolates.
One issue is will the learner driver pick-up bad habits which you may have?

 

[pepp77]

I think the insurance is a great idea, lets face it even if helping her learn to drive becomes stressful, which im really really not sure is any of our business, then im sure she will have more friends or family members than can sit in the car with her while she drives around so I think the insurance is a really good gift.

Hope it goes well dude.

Except he would then also need to get insurance for the other friends and family to drive his car whilst she is driving it.

 

[richthomuk]

Except he would then also need to get insurance for the other friends and family to drive his car whilst she is driving it.

Where did you get that info from? Why does the other person teaching her need to drive it... As long as he tells the insurance company that the name driver only holds a provisional licence then it will be fine.

 

[Arsonist]

Cheers for the comments so far guys! I asked if she wanted a surprise, so she's going to Rhyl after all Ha no. I've gone ahead and added her, will get in a full weekend of driving this weekend now And to answer a few questions. We're both level headed people. If she's getting stressed we can always swap. Yes I'm over 21 and have had my license for much longer than 3 years. I could also deal with the 'worst case scenario' as I'm fully comp and have 2 other cars. I'll also get her a few small bits and a mushy card.

Cheers all!

 

[richthomuk]

Cheers for the comments so far guys! I asked if she wanted a surprise, so she's going to Rhyl after all Ha no. I've gone ahead and added her, will get in a full weekend of driving this weekend now And to answer a few questions. We're both level headed people. If she's getting stressed we can always swap. Yes I'm over 21 and have had my license for much longer than 3 years. I could also deal with the 'worst case scenario' as I'm fully comp and have 2 other cars. I'll also get her a few small bits and a mushy card.

Cheers all!

Nice, good luck dude!!

 

[pepp77]

Where did you get that info from? Why does the other person teaching her need to drive it... As long as he tells the insurance company that the name driver only holds a provisional licence then it will be fine.

The person who is teaching is ultimately responsible for the car and needs to be insured on the car they are supervising in.

Taken from gocompare - http://www.gocompare.com/car-insurance/teaching-a-learner-to-drive/

The learner must either be insured as a named driver on your vehicle's policy or, if they're learning in their own car, they must be insured as the main driver, and the supervisor must be insured as a named driver.

At least that is how I read it.

 

[richthomuk]

The person who is teaching is ultimately responsible for the car and needs to be insured on the car they are supervising in.

Taken from gocompare - http://www.gocompare.com/car-insurance/teaching-a-learner-to-drive/

The learner must either be insured as a named driver on your vehicle's policy or, if they're learning in their own car, they must be insured as the main driver, and the supervisor must be insured as a named driver.

At least that is how I read it.

ah ok, my bad