Pass Plus

Dimi

Dimi

Dimi

Associate
Joined
10 Sep 2008
Posts
1,662
Location
London
Hey,

Passed my driving test today :), next stop is whether or not a Pass Plus is worth the extra at my age (26).

My driving instructor is willing to give me a discount, but I'm not entirely sure I'll need it?

Anyone who's done it?
 
Best way to find out is check insurance costs if you had completed the course and see if they outweigh the cost of actually doing it.

It's unlikely to be a bad thing to do, but it might not weigh up financially
 
I did this as I was told it would get me a discount, and then never saw it make any difference.

Getting a few hours on a motorway is a good idea though.
 
Thing is PassPlus is made up of specific elements (or should be) about 6 hours + on road in total. Some local councils will do the course at a discount, I'll dig out the link later.

Town driving
All weather driving
Out of town driving (rural roads)
Night driving
Dual carriageway driving
Motorway driving

Now if you've had a decent instructor (I'll assume you have as you've passed) some of those elements will or should have already been covered.

Town driving
All weather driving
Night driving
Dual carriageway driving

The one that obviously doesn't get covered is Motorway driving and you may not have had the opportunity to do much out of town driving, depending where you are situated. Depending on how confident you feel it might be more cost effective to just add on a couple of lessons for say motorway experience.

There are undoubtedly savings to be had on insurance with the right company but iirc PassPlus is only supported by about 60ish % of insurers. So it might take some shopping around to get the benefit. You may be able to get similar discounts just by picking and choosing. Insurance generally gets cheaper with experience(NCB) and age. You've already got age helping you a little.

I'd ring 2-3 insurers and see which is most cost effective, unless you'd just like a few more hours coaching in the car to build your confidence anyway.
 
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When Pass Plus started some of the big insurers guaranteed it would save you at least the cost of the course (but it was only up to a certain age). Since that stopped I don't think it's really had the same appeal.

Also at your age your insurance will come down to a sensible price fairly quickly if you don't have any mishaps.
 
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I did my passplus and on insurance it didnt make too much difference. But I did enjoy a good day out with my instructor as we travelled to his sisters a couple of hours away.

Proabably learnt a couple of extra things like motorway driving and that but I wouldnt say its essential in lowering costs
 
Run some insurance quotes with and without it. For me I saved quite a bit in my first few years so I took it and the discounts outweighed the cost of doing it.
 
I did it, but it never made a noticeable difference to my insurance (in the region of £10-20 over a year, for a premium of ~£1200).

As mentioned by DampDog above, if you've had a decent instructor you will have most likely covered the majority of content on there anyway, and if you've been on any decent sized dual carriageway, then motorway driving is very similar.
 
Haggisman said:
I did it, but it never made a noticeable difference to my insurance (in the region of £10-20 over a year, for a premium of ~£1200).

As mentioned by DampDog above, if you've had a decent instructor you will have most likely covered the majority of content on there anyway, and if you've been on any decent sized dual carriageway, then motorway driving is very similar.
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It 6 of one, half a dozen of the other. If you're looking at it purely from the point of saving a few quid (which is no bad thing) especially for the young driver there are savings to be had. As you get a older say mid 20's I doubt that there's much gain in doing Pass Plus, It's sort of been overtaken by black-box technology which can also attract savings. Thing is new drivers come in all flavours, some are confident enough to just get on with it, and there's no point if there are no financial savings to be had. That said some novice drivers do benefit from a few more hours coaching to reinforce their knowledge and build confidence. Everybody moans about new drivers not having enough skills when they go out on the road, yet when you suggest they have a few more hours it's instructors ripping them off for lessons they don't need.

If you're looking purely cost savings just ring round and do the sums. Ask about the saving offered for having PassPlus vs Telemetrics (black box) add on's. Look around for insurance deals on new cars. (obviously I don't know anyone's financial situation but it's worth a thought) I know of a lad who went from £1600+ on a banger vs £700 on one of the new little Pugs. It's all down to the individual really. As a minimum it's worth a few phone calls.
 
Pass plus cost me £60 to do and knocked £100 off my 1st year so I did it that's the only reason I did it. I have since done my IAM Class 2 which is FAR more beneficial! Your IAM class 2 will be far more beneficial but time consuming, but also probably find its subsidized also. Its only £120 max anyway.
 
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