Young driver insurance FAQs
Your policy will be invited for renewal 3-4 weeks prior to your renewal date. We'll use your driving scores to help us calculate your renewal premium.
Your young driver insurance quote was emailed to the address you used when you got your quote. This email contains a link so you can make changes to your quote or buy your policy.
Yes, there can be an additional three named drivers on the policy.
Yes, although our Young Driver Insurance is primarily aimed at drivers aged between 17 and 24, you can take out a policy if you're 25 or over we can insure drivers up to 75 yrs old.
Young driver insurance is only available within mainland Great Britain. Also, there are some postcodes in Scotland where it isn't available - these are: GY1 - GY9, JE1 - JE4, PA72 - PA78, KA27, TR21, TR25, ZE1 - ZE3, HS1 - HS9, IM1 - IM9,IV1 - IV28, IV30 - IV36, IV40 - IV49, IV51 - IV56, IV63, KW1 - KW3, KW5 - KW17,PA1 - PA7, PA10 - PA38, PA41 - PA49, PA60 - PA71.
In addition to the Standard Excess, a Young Driver Excess (dependent on age), Inexperienced Driver Excess (for drivers aged over 25 who have held a full licence for less than 12 months) and Voluntary Excess may apply.
Your young driver insurance documents are stored on your online dashboard. These can be downloaded or printed. If you want us to send you a hard copy of your young driver insurance document get in touch on 0333 009 6702^.
The app uses GPS (Global Positioning System) on your smartphone to record your driving behaviour, which includes how, where and when you drive your car. After each journey, your driving data is sent to us, we analyse it and give you feedback on your driving.
Yes. You can use the Try Before You Buy section of the app, allowing you to see where we would place your score in a range of 1 - 5 (1 being very poor, 5 being excellent).
To do this, all you need to do is download the app; search for Co-op Young Driver in the iPhone app store (iPhone) or Play Store (Android).
Check and agree to the terms and conditions and press record, it’s that simple!
When you buy a young driver policy you will need to have a smartbox fitted to your car.
The app has been designed for use on smartphone handsets only.
If you’ve got a new phone you just need to download the app on your new phone and log in through the Try Before You Buy button.
You can download our app from either Google Play for most Android phones or the iPhone app store for most Apple phones. Doing this will also check whether our app is compatible with your phone; search for Co-op Young Driver in the iPhone app store (iPhone) or Play Store (Android).
Our app is free to download from either Google Play or the iPhone app store; search for Co-op Young Driver in the iPhone app store (iPhone) or Play Store (Android).
Doing this will also check whether our app is compatible with your phone.
You do this from the main menu screen of the app under “Register policy”. You’ll need your full policy number and your car registration number. Any problems, give us a call and we’ll check all’s okay.
We recommend you download and use the app on your most-used phone only.
Although we keep our speed limit database as up-to-date, we may not always be aware of temporary reductions in speed limits due to variable speed limits and road works.
Not very much. It depends on how much driving you do but on average it’s about 10MB per month (roughly the equivalent of downloading 3 songs). Monthly data allowances vary by package but typically start from 150MB per month. You can change this so, rather than sending over your phone provider’s data network, the app will only do this when you’re next connected to wi-fi (go to Settings in the app).
Whether or not you have the autostart option switched on (go to Settings in the app), the app will still automatically detect when you have stopped driving and stop recording.
No. We currently don’t have this feature. However, we realise there may be instances where you’re a passenger in another person’s insured car, you can choose the option to confirm it was not you driving when reviewing your journey.
You record journeys using our app. If you have the autostart option switched on (go to Settings in the app), this detects when you’re travelling and will automatically start/stop journey monitoring.
Our app uses the built-in GPS receiver in your phone to track movement of your vehicle through location and time. To do this successfully the phone needs clear line of sight of GPS satellites in the sky.
The best option is to use an in-car cradle so your phone is secure and has good line of sight to the sky.
Using our app uses more battery than if your phone is on standby because it’s using your phone’s GPS receiver.
If you’re going on a long journey, we recommend you use an in-car charger. If your phone battery runs out whilst you’re driving, only part of your journey will be recorded.
This is due to the GPS reception not being good enough to record a journey accurately enough. Your phone needs clear line of sight of GPS satellites in the sky.
To improve GPS reception, we recommend using an in-car cradle so your phone is secure and has good line of sight to the sky. Also, if your journey was very short in recorded distance or very short recorded time, it will be disregarded.
Buildings and tunnels can get in the way. Also, the quality of GPS receivers varies by different models of phone. Therefore the recorded miles and/or recorded time in your journey feedback will normally be slightly lower than your actual mileage or time spent driving.
On average, we’d expect to achieve successful monitoring of 80% of each journey.
No. Your journey will still be recorded even when you have no mobile phone signal. Our app uses your phone’s built-in GPS receiver. Your mobile phone signal is different to GPS.
The app will display the last 14 days of your journeys.
This may happen from time to time but, don’t worry, monitoring will start again once the signal is picked back up. When we analyse your journey data we also take into account the accuracy of the GPS signal.
Sometimes you might get journey feedback saying your GPS signal wasn’t strong.
No. You do not need to look at or touch our app whilst driving.
Autostart will take care of switching on and off monitoring automatically.
When recording of your journey stops, the app will try and send your journey data to us via your mobile data network. The app will continue to retry until you have mobile data coverage. You can change this setting so, rather than sending the data to us over your phone provider’s data network; the app will only do this when you’re next connected to wi-fi (go to Settings in the app).
The best way to check is to try to download our app from either Google Play for most Android phones or the iPhone app store for most Apple phones (iOS 6 and above) search for Co-op Young Driver in the iPhone app store (iPhone) or Play Store (Android).
We currently don’t support other types of smartphone.
Autostart detects when you’re travelling and automatically starts monitoring your journeys.
It can take up to 5 minutes of your journey to kick in.
At first you will need to manually start a few journeys after opening our app because your smartphone needs to learn from your driving when to start recording automatically.
Go to Settings from the main menu of our app and you will see the option for autostart.
The app will detect when you have stopped driving and automatically stop recording.
No. We have reliable road speed limit information for England, Wales and Scotland. We don’t for other countries, nor do we have for Northern Ireland, Channel Islands or Isle of Man.
Please switch off the autostart setting when not driving in England, Wales or Scotland.
Wunelli Ltd is an independent company who we have appointed to:
- install the smartbox
- supply the data we use to check your driving performance.
For details about how Wunelli use the smartbox data visit their website.
No, the smartbox system can’t tell who is driving the car.
No, young driver insurance can start as soon as you want, however you must have the smartbox installed within 14 days of the start date of your policy. When you buy the policy you're able to book a date and time for the smartbox to be installed.
The smartbox is owned by CIS General Insurance Ltd.
Smartbox is available for most cars although some aren't compatible with the device. We'll let you know if your car isn’t compatible before you take out the policy.
Once a smartbox has been installed it will start to monitor the car immediately. Your reports will feed through to your online dashboard on a daily basis.
No, but breaking the speed limit could lead to your premium cost increasing or your policy being cancelled.
Yes, the smartbox measures how the vehicle is being driven and measures whoever drives the vehicle.
Learn more about how Co-op Young Driver Insurance handles your data.
The dashboard is your online view of how safe you are driving and whether you are on target for a safer driving discount. It also provides you with access to your policy documents, including your Certificate of Motor Insurance. It is also where we will send any driving alerts.
There's no extra charge for installing the smartbox, as it's included in the price.
However if you change your car, a charge may apply to install a new smartbox in the new vehicle. Visit our fees and charges page for full details.
Your smartbox will be installed by one of our engineers at the time selected by you, unless we let you know otherwise.
You must upload the following documents through your online dashboard within 14 days of the policy start date:
- vehicle registration document (also known as the logbook or V5)
- DVLA driving licence information summary for all drivers
- proof of No Claim Discount
- proof of address for policyholder.
Once the smartbox is installed it will immediately start to measure your driving. You can then start to track how you're driving by logging into your online dashboard.
We take into account the safer driving discount you got at the end of the year when calculating your renewal premium.
We then continue to review your driving scores every 90 days as before from your renewal date.
Your price will be reviewed every 90 days. Your customer dashboard will tell you whether you're on course for a discount or an increase in price. The dashboard will give tips and advice on what to do if it's looking like you'll be getting an increase in premium.
You can get a discount of up to 22.5% of your remaining premium if you score well on your safer driving score. This score is reviewed every 90 days and calculated based on the four safe driving parameters:
- your speed
- how you take corners
- how hard you brake and accelerate
- the time of day you drive.
The safer driver discount is a discount to your premium when you drive safely and drive during safer times of the day (5am - 11pm).
Yes. We might increase your Young Driver insurance premium if you continually demonstrate poor driving behaviour. You can see whether this will happen via your online dashboard.
We'll also send regular alerts to let you know if you're likely to see an increase in your premium. The maximum premium increase applicable is 20% of your annual premium.
If you've paid annually by credit/debit card, the additional charge will be taken from the credit/debit card you used when you bought the policy.
If you pay monthly by direct debit, we'll increase your future monthly payments. In both instances we'll inform you of the additional amount in your premium review every 90 days, and let you know when the extra premium will be taken.
If you've paid for young driver insurance annually by credit/debit card your discount will be credited back to your card or bank account. If you pay monthly we'll reduce your future monthly payments.
Once the smartbox has been installed, it needs to remain in the car for the life of the policy. If you want to have the box removed once the policy has ended we can do this for an additional charge.
There are no mileage limits with our young driver insurance.
You can make a change by calling our enquiry line on 0333 009 6702^.
Please see our fees and charges for more information.
Yes. Our young driver insurance is perfect for learner drivers who need insurance as they can track their performance using their online driving dashboard.
The safer driving discount is calculated using the data supplied by the smartbox. We measure the following safe driving parameters:
- your speed
- how you take corners
- how hard you brake and accelerate
- the time of day you drive.
Let us know you're changing your car. Get in touch on 0333 009 6702^.
Lines open:
8am-8pm Mon-Fri
9am-2pm Saturday
There's an additional charge if we need to fix a black box in your new car. See our fees and charges.
Yes, you can cancel your young driver insurance at any time. Administration fees apply, depending on when you decide to cancel. For full details, visit our fees and charges page.
Young driver breakdown cover is provided by RAC.
Occasional instances of sudden braking shouldn't affect the premium as the safer driving score is calculated on driving patterns over 180 days not individual events. We understand there will be times when you have to brake suddenly or accelerate out of a sticky situation.
The app is separate from your dashboard therefore your dashboard login details will not work on the app. You need to register your policy details again to set up the app and start viewing your journeys.
As an existing customer you can download and use the app through the Existing Customer button.
You can use the app to view individual journeys you make; this is not a replacement for your Smartbox and you will still need to log in via the web to view your dashboard including, scores and documents.
None of our policies, including our young driver insurance, have a curfew.
With young driver insurance, we can track your driving and give you an overall safer driving score. Drivers with good scores may get discounts based on:
- speed
- cornering
- braking and acceleration
- driving at dangerous times (11pm-5am).
Night-time driving is considered more dangerous because this is when the worst accidents happen. Driving a lot between 11pm - 5am may affect your safer driving score.