Cost of private practice

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) recommends that learners should have an additional 22 hours of supervised private practice before. taking the driving test.

This comes on top of the average 45 hours of professional lessons.

A mix of the two allows the novice learner driver to not only to become well rehearsed in executing practical driving skills, it allows them to build up real life experience behind the wheel.

Postcode practice

Following the recommendation can rely on a host of issues, and cover costs are high on the list.

However, the  cost of living crisis continues to drive up the price of annual car insurance. For private practice, many learners and their parents opt for temporary car insurance. IN the short-term this can be a much better economic solution. However, as with all insurance, the financial burden can b greatly affected by where you live.

Uswitch temporary car insurance set out to discover which region and local authority has the cheapest temporary cover for a provisional licence holder. Using the average hourly rate for temporary car insurance in each region, they calculate the average cost for learners, based on the recommended 22 hours of private practice.

Table 1: Regions in Britain ranked by total price for 22 hours of practice[10]

Source: Uswitch.com

Digging deep

Learner drivers across Britain could spend on average £141 on temporary car insurance to meet the DVSA’s recommendation of 22 hours of supervised private practice.

Assuming a learner completes two hours of private practice a week, they would complete the recommended hours in 11 weeks.

In comparison, the RAC notes that three months of learner drivers’ insurance costs £158, 12% more expensive than temporary cover.

For learner drivers, cover for 22 hours of practice costs 56% more in the most expensive region, London (£183.26), than in the cheapest, Scotland (£117.64).

On authority

Ten local authorities with the cheapest total price for 22 hours of practice

Across the ten cheapest areas, the average price of temporary car insurance for provisional licence holders for 22 hours of practice is £109. This is 23% (£32) cheaper than the national average of £141. All local authorities in the top ten are at least £28 cheaper than the national average.

Scotland and Wales are home to all ten of the cheapest areas for learners to practise, four out of ten and six out of ten, respectively.

Torridge, Devon, is the cheapest local authority in England but fourteenth overall. An hour of temporary cover in Torridge is £5.11, making it £112.52 for 22 hours’ worth of cover.

Uswitch temporary car insurance expert, Leoni Moninska, shares tips about temporary car insurance:

“As the cost of car insurance has risen by up to 20%,” states Uswitch expert, Leoni Moninska. “It’s clear from our study that temporary car insurance could be an excellent way to save money,” she adds,” enabling learners to get extra hours of private practice with a family member.

“However, these savings don’t just benefit those at the beginning of their driving experience. Temporary car insurance can be an affordable and practical solution in other areas of life, and so experienced drivers shouldn’t overlook its potential.”

You can find the full Uswitch survey results here.