Paying for transport.

[Y]

Current black box (Tesco) has no curfew, no limitations on who accompanies, no requirement to pay an additional premium to take a test (£50 a pop with the last insurer), and no draconian rules about cancelling your insurance. There's a reasonable variety out there, and not all have curfews, so it's worth shopping around, as the black box insurance was **vastly** cheaper than the nearest box-free one.

[scary mum]

Have you tried renewing with Tesco black box?

[2childmum]

We can get ok insurance while DS is learning. It's the post passing the test that was unbelievably high.

I'm also a bit wary of having a black box after hearing a feature on it on Radio 4. The parent on there had a black box fitted so her son could drive the car as well as her - but she found however carefully and smoothly she drove she could never get a 'perfect' score on it which meant she had to keep paying extra - and she was a very experienced driver. It was a while ago though, so maybe things have changed.

[scary mum]

The main problem with them (particularly tesco, if you Google tesco black box reviews) is that the computer doesn't know what type of road you are on, so it thinks that even though the road you are on is national speed limit you should be going at less than 60 or 70. If they won't renew because you might have regularly been going at 31mph You then gave to declare that you have been declined insurance which will double the premium.

[Y]

I haven't googled the reviews, but that has not been our experience with the Tesco black box. We've had the box over a year, and have renewed, with a reasonable premium in relation to the first year with them. With the Tesco box, they don't vary what you are charged through the year, but offer you bonus miles for driving 'well' and for driving on motorways. Upon renewal, I went for the standard 6000 miles per year allowance, but we were actually credited with over 7000. We haven't seen any evidence that the box can't tell what sort of roads you are on. However, you get very litttle information about how the car is being driven. The previous insurer (iKube) used a TomTom fleet monitoring system to monitor the vehicle, and though they were the ones with the highly punitive approach to speeding, I could log on at any time, and see exactly where the car was, what speed it was doing, and what the traffic conditions were like!

[doodles]

You've all got me thinking about September for DS going into 6th form. Just looked and a monthly train ticket from us to school is £183 and a Kent 16+ bus pass is £400 but is valid all day, every day for a year. No thought needed he stays on the bus however much he will want to go by train

[Tolstoy]

If they are the main driver you must name them as such, otherwise it is fronting and the insurance may well not pay out - they will be particularly suspicious if you have 3 cars in the household & three drivers, and have been known to quiz neighbours about who drives the car. Of course you could genuinely be sharing the cars - I can fully see that a third small runabout might be used by everyone, but in our case DD drives it every day to go to school and work and we could not honestly say that she was not the main driver. It also means they can build up a no claims bonus - assuming no accidents
(Rather off topic but I'm sure all this is of interest for those of us with 6th form children!)

Kind of glad it's gone off topic slightly as his younger brother starts driving pretty soon and this info is useful. Annoyingly we will have to have three as one is a company car and you have to be over 21 to drive and the other a left hand drive people carrier so not really suitable. I'll be driving it as well as him especially when I have the dog with me. I think you can build up no claims as a named driver anyway. Plus if I could get them all into the same school it would work out cheaper and quicker than the bus system and an extra pair of hands for the after school taxi service.

Also have found a different price list for the buses and think as long as you are within a certain distance it is the same pre and post 16 here. Shame though that DC get penalised if there is nothing appropriate close by and they are forced to travel further afield which is more likely for the less academic DC as 6th forms become more competitive. I personally think their transport should be free if they are expected to stay in education.

[scary mum]

his younger brother starts driving pretty soon and this info is useful

The best thing for when they are learning is an add on policy, such as Marmalade. You pay a premium for them each month (about £80, if I remember correctly). This is their policy, on your car, so if they have an accident it doesn't come off your insurance policy. It means if you go away for a couple of weeks, or they have a break for some reason, you don't need to pay for insurance for that period (if you time it right!).

[Guest55]

Yes - we used Provisional Marmalade too - you can buy it a month at a time too which is useful.

[tense]

We used Marmalade for a learner policy too, after recommendations on here

When my DD passed, we then insured her through them - they were the cheapest we found (still a staggering £1500 ). She is genuinely only an occasional user of my car, but my own insurance company wouldn't add anyone under 21. This way she has her own policy too, so is building up a no claims bonus. We do have a black box (no curfew). I regularly get 95-100% reports, my DD averages a bit less. I admit I find it difficult sometimes to stick to the speed limit on motorways but on other roads it's fine.

I live just on the outskirts of London. A friend a few miles north of me found her DC insurance for about £200 less; a friend 5 miles into London paid £200 more. I think 2childmum is spot on about the postcode loading!