By John Grant Q: Your teenage son or daughter has just passed their drivers license test and will now be driving the family car. What should I do about the insurance? A: Firstly, tell your insurer. If something material changes in regard to your insurance then you are required to notify your insurance company. This is an underlying fundamental principle of any insurance contract. Whether or not your policy provides cover for under 25 year olds to drive the family car, you must formally advise them of this change in your family status. If the car they plan to drive is high-powered, high-valued, or sporty, then expect to find that your insurer may be somewhat reluctant to extend the cover to a teenager who is newly licensed. You are better to establish this now than at the time of making a claim. You can expect that another, separate excess will be specified by the insurer for the new driver. The excess will undoubtedly be higher if the person is male, under 21 and with less than 2 years driving experience. Other factors that are likely to increase the excess are the type and engine size and value of the car to be driven.  Also any factors such as convictions (yes, people have been known to be ticketed on the way home from getting their license) and even the frequency of use will have an impact on the final excess amount.

A major benefit of doing this is not only the fulfilling of the requirement to disclose material changes, but that you are starting to establish a track record of insurance history for your son or daughter. This will help them in obtaining insurance when they get their own car and potentially at a lower premium than someone without any previous track record. The downside is that you will almost certainly pay additional premium and have an excess applied while the vehicle driven by them. This however does create certainty of what will happen if a claim should arise.