SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend
Driving Test | UK Driving Test Advice
Driving Newsletter - Tips and Advice on Passing your Driving Test

Archive for August, 2011

30 Aug 2011

Young Male Car Insurance Soars to £4,000 average

As if men didn’t have a raw enough deal as it is – with car insurance costs already significantly higher than for their female counterparts – it seems that now insurance premiums for men are set to go even higher.

The immediate impact of this is that many drivers, especially young ones, are opting not to drive at all. Those who have no choice – if they live in remote places, or locations with no public transport – are forced to adapt to the higher costs, but are finding that they’re later forced to find work closer to home, or to work longer hours in order to afford the price increase. read more »

29 Aug 2011

Car insurance: to ‘Front’ or not to ‘Front’

With insurance premium costs skyrocketing, many young drivers are opting to be part of their parents’ existing insurance rather than taking out their own. Putting yourself as a named driver on a policy is fine, and for many young people it’s the best way to get insured without having to fork out a fortune.

However, there’s a fine line between being insured to get a good deal, and actually committing insurance fraud. One will save you money. One will cost you – and could lead to points on your licence as well as a potential criminal record. read more »

28 Aug 2011

Coverbox: the new car insurance kid in town

The Co-operative were one of the first companies to use black box technology, which monitors your driving style and adapts your insurance premium to suit – so you pay less if you’re a good driver, more if you’re a bad one.

But now there’s Coverbox, a new company offering competitive insurance aimed solely at young drivers, and making full use of black box technology.
read more »

24 Aug 2011

Advanced Driving Double Act

Mother Helen Strange and son Michael have brought a little bit of driving fame to Redditch & Bromsgrove Institute of Advanced Drivers by both passing their Advanced Test at exactly the same time.  read more »

23 Aug 2011

Wyt t’in siarad Cymraeg? Then call Newcastle

In the latest of a series of ‘cost-cutting’ measures, the DSA has revolutionised the way it now deals with Welsh-speaking clients.

The administrative office in Cardiff is, in the main, being closed, with only a small DSA presence remaining. The three fluent Welsh speakers who work there are no longer being employed to handle Welsh-speaking callers. Instead, callers are being given a number in Newcastle to ring, where an interpreter will translate their comments for the benefit of the English-speaking call operator. read more »

22 Aug 2011

Triplets score practical test hat-trick

Three 17-year-old siblings have pulled the rabbit out of the flat cap this week, all passing their practical tests first time. The tests, which took place over the course of two weeks due to booking schedule differences, were all a success for Dan, Melissa and Rebecca Lewis, who are proud to abandon their L-plates en masse after less than a year taking lessons. read more »

21 Aug 2011

Bad Driving Habits

We’re all guilty of the occasional bad driving habit, and we’ll freely own up to the less incriminating ones, such as singing along to the radio, spending the car park money on cigarettes, and squeezing the extra kid or two into the back seat on the way back from a local football match.

But what about the habits we don’t admit to? read more »

20 Aug 2011

Greens vs. Pinks: qualified or trainee driving instructor?

In a quintessentially ironic approach, the badges to denote a qualified or a trainee driving instructor are green and pink respectively – the exact opposite of standard driving licences. Whether this was intentional or a quirky twist of fate is unknown. read more »

19 Aug 2011

Car Insurance Premiums tumble for young drivers

For too long, young drivers have been the target for increasingly ridiculous car insurance premiums, with insurance quotes as high as £12,000 not unheard of. Of course, young learner drivers are undeniably the least experienced – and thus most accident-prone – of all road users, and this should be reflected in the premiums they pay; but hiking prices so high that new drivers abandon the idea of driving altogether seems a little contradictory. After all, if they don’t get out there and get some experience, they’ll never improve.
read more »

18 Aug 2011

112,000 driving tests end in near misses

A recent report on pass rates for practical tests has shown that over 112,000 tests last year ended in ‘near misses’ and a fail for the learner driver in question.

Near misses are classed as incidents where bad judgement – speed, road position, decisions taken – could have led to an accident had emergency action not taken place. Whether the driver or the examiner takes the appropriate action is irrelevant – it is classed as a serious or dangerous fault, and results in an automatic fail. read more »