The Green Insurer Questions & Answers

A non-fault accident may impact your insurance. Even if the accident wasn’t your fault, it’ll be recorded on your claims history.

Yes, you must declare all car accidents. That includes non-fault accidents, even if you aren’t going to claim. Failing to report an accident could void your insurance policy.

We need to know about all claims in case anyone else involved (another driver, someone whose property was damaged etc.) tries to make a claim against your policy.

Once your policy has ended, or if you cancel a policy, you have 30 days to redeem any Green rewards you have earned and exchange them using our app or by logging into our website. Any unclaimed Green rewards will expire 30 days after the cancellation date.

It can take up to 24 hours from the policy ending before the app stops recording trips.

This can vary from car insurance policy to policy, so please check very carefully before relying on this cover - it will be shown on your car insurance certificate. The “driving other cars” cover that applies to some policies is designed if you need to drive someone else's car in an emergency. It doesn’t cover any damage or loss to the vehicle you are driving.

Driving other cars cover only applies to the policyholder and not any named drivers.

Claims free driving only applies when no claims discount isn't available.

Some insurers may give you a discount if you have been driving for a number of years without a claim, but it’s not been under your own insurance policy. For instance, you may have been a named driver on someone else’s car insurance policy, or been driving a company car. You will need to supply proof of this to get the discount.

This is a discount insurers give you for the number of years you have been driving as a policyholder without making a claim against your own policy. It is important to remember that if you make any non-glass claim against your own policy, even if the accident was not your fault, this will still be counted as a claim.

Claims where someone else is at fault and their insurance covers all of the claim do not affect your No Claims Discount.

If you have a claim under your car insurance policy this is the amount you will have to pay towards the overall cost. The amount may be different depending on the claim - for instance the amount you have to pay for damage to your car may be different from what you pay towards a claim where there is only glass damage. Your insurer will set the excess level, which is the lowest amount you can agree to, but you can choose to apply an additional voluntary excess to reduce your premium.

Undamaged parts that have been safely removed from another car to be recycled and fitted to another car when being repaired are referred to as green parts. At The Green Insurer we are keen to use green parts wherever possible, and by taking out a car insurance policy with us you are agreeing to them being used where available. We like Green Parts because they avoid the carbon costs of making a new part and reduce wastage generated by disposing of undamaged parts.

Telephone: 01727-222 777
Lines are open from:
Mon - Fri: 08:00 - 18:00
Sat: 09:00 - 13:00
Sun: Closed

Live chat on our website.
Opening hours are the same as for phone.

Email: help@thegreeninsurer.com

Post:
The Green Insurer
PO Box 386
Broadstairs
Kent
CT10 9DX

All of our customer interactions are handled by real people here in UK.

Once you install the app, the need to accept the following permissions:

• Location
  The Green Insurer app needs location access set to "always allow", this is so it can automatically record your trips.
• Motion/Activity
  Motion data is needed to accurately detect that you are moving in a vehicle.
• Notifications
  The Green Insurer app will send you notifications when trips are not recording.
• Bluetooth
  For Android users only.

Then take your phone with you on your next trip, the app will automatically transfer the driving data.

If you only want to transfer the data when your device is connected to Wi-Fi, go to the settings and select the Wi-Fi only option.

There are two ways to change your status from driver to passenger.

Option 1

• 1. Open the app
• 2. Select Trips
• 3. Swipe the Trip you wish to edit to the left, to select "I wasn't driving a car insured with The Green Insurer"

Option 2

• 1. Open the app
• 2. Select Trips
• 3. Tap on the Trip you would like to edit
• 4. Select the dropdown at the top of the screen and select "I wasn't driving a car insured with The Green Insurer"

The Green Insurer app will need to be installed and you’ll need to take your phone with you on your trip. You’ll also need at least 10% battery for the trips to be recorded.

The data will be transferred from your phone via Wi-fi or using your mobile data, this can be changed to Wi-fi only in the app settings.

The Green Insurer app works with most iOS and Android devices. Unfortunately if your smartphone is any of the following, you will not be able to take advantage of our carbon offset and rewards program:

• Samsung Galaxy Note II
• Samsung Galaxy A10e
• HTC One M8
• Huawei Ascend P7
• Blu Life One XL
• Asus Zenfone 2

If you have more than one policy with The Green Insurer you'll be prompted to select which car you have driven when you swipe right, as shown in option 1.

Alternativly, if you click onto the Trip, you can select which vehicle you had driven from the dropdown, as shown in option 2.

If you have taken a trip in your car and it is missing from the app, it is most likely due to the trip not being uploaded to our system or to your phone not recording the trip.

Trip not uploaded - If you do not have any mobile network reception on your phone the trip may not have uploaded. Once you reach a place where you have mobile phone reception or are connected to Wi-Fi, the trip should upload automatically.

There is also a setting for you to choose to upload trips using Wi-Fi only to save mobile data usage. This can be found on the settings page of the app (the cog in the top left corner). You can then choose “Off” or “On” for Upload trip data using Wi-Fi only.

Trip not recorded on your phone - there are several reasons why your phone may not have recorded the trip:

• Power off.
• Low power.
• Power save mode enabled.
• Location is disabled.
• Bluetooth not turned on (Android only).
• Phone error.

For more information on how to troubleshoot these reasons please read our missing trips blog.

If this doesn't resolve the issue please contact our customer service team on 01727 222 777.

You can can upload documents via the app and your customer portal. From a desktop, you can drag and drop your document into the portal or click on the upload button to upload a file from your computer.

If you're using your mobile phone you can either upload a saved document from your albums or take a photo of the document if you've got a camera phone.

You can upload .jpeg .png .pdf in the upload documents section, the files can't be bigger than 3MB.

If you are taking a photo of a document using the app and the file is too big, exit the app, take a photo and go back to the app and upload from your album, this should give you the option to reduce the file size.

Users may see a red notification message on their app or customer portal asking them to upload documents. Once a document has been submitted, it will go to our Customer Service support team who will review and approve, this can take up to 48 hours, once reviewed the red notification message will be removed.

No, unless:

• Anyone is injured.
• The accident has blocked the road.
• The other vehicle failed to stop.
• You suspect the other driver is under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
• The other driver won't give their insurance details or you think they may be uninsured.
• You suspect that the other driver caused the collision deliberately.

Our dedicated claims team (which is managed by Lemonaid Motor Legal) will contact the at-fault driver’s insurer to reclaim costs for any repairs to your car, or injury to you. If you have our motor legal expenses cover, this can be used to pay for the legal costs to recover other expenses you have incurred because of an accident which wasn’t your fault. This can include things like loss of earnings.

If the at-fault party can’t be identified and there’s no one to make the claim against, the claim will need to be covered under your policy and treated as a fault claim. This could be that the at-fault driver drives off, or if an animal jumps in front of your car.

You’ll be updated during the claims process who is at fault, based on all the evidence that has been collected.

If possible make a note of the vehicles registration, make and model.

Check for any other witnesses, if they have a dashcam that could have seen the incident, make notes of what has happened and your location, the incident could be on CCTV.

Report the accident to the police.

Within 24 hours of the accident happening where possible.

Driving away is a criminal offence, you should leave your contact details with the driver or If you hit a stationary unattended vehicle, you should leave your details on their windscreen. You can report the incident to the police on 101.

Make a note of when the car was parked and when the damage was found, take photos of the damage. Check for any CCTV cameras in the area. Report the incident to our claims team.

You’re legally required to tell the police if you hit a horse, cattle, donkey, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog. If the animal is obstructing a road or highway, you must report it to the police.

If the animal is a pet, you could, with caution, check for collar tags with the owner’s details and contact information on them.

If you can’t locate the owner, you could take the animal to a vet for treatment and to be scanned for a microchip.

No, with learner driver insurance you can only drive the car that is covered by the policy. You'll need to give the car registration when taking out the Learner Driver policy. If you're taking lessons with a driving instructor, they will have insurance to cover you while driving their car.

Our learner driver insurance is available to learners aged 17-25 years old. Although there is no legal maximum age, we cannot cover any customers over 25. Our policy is designed especially for younger drivers and their parents, so we have not made it available to anyone over 25 just yet.

Yes they can. Our flexible short-term learner driver insurance allows you to choose any length of cover from 7 days to 90 days. If you want to pay monthly, just choose a 30-day policy and add continuous cover. It will then automatically renew when the policy ends.

Yes you can be insured on more than one car, but you'll need separate insurance policies for each car. If, for example, you want to be insured on both of your parents' cars, then you'll need to take out a separate learner driver policy for each car.

Yes, The Green Insurer can offer learner driver insurance on leased cars and this includes Motability vehicles. As the learner driver policy is separate from the cars primary insurance policy, it does not affect the main primary policy, whether it is through Motability or from another insurance provider.

Yes, The Green Insurer can offer learner driver insurance on a lease car. As the learner driver policy is separate from the cars primary insurance policy, it does not affect the main primary policy, whether it is through the lease company or from another insurance provider.

Yes, The Green Insurer can offer learner driver insurance on a company car. As the learner driver policy is separate from the cars primary insurance policy, it does not affect the main primary policy, whether it is through your employee or from another insurance provider.

To drive your car, any learner driver must be insured. They can either be a named driver on your policy or have their own separate learner driver insurance that’s linked to your car, such as the learner driver insurance offered by The Green Insurer.

Learn how a learner can legally drive your car

To drive on the motorway, the learner driver must be supervised by a DVSA Approved Driving Instructor (ADI) and the car must have dual controls. It’s illegal for a learner driver to go on the motorway if they’re only being accompanied by a friend or family member.

Your current insurer may allow you to add a provisional driver to your existing annual policy. However, this may lead to a significant increase in your premium. Also, if the learner driver has an accident, this will affect your no claims discount. Why not take out learner driver insurance instead?

Learn why separate learner insurance could be the better option

No, The Green Insurer's learner driver insurance only covers one named learner driver. If you do have more than one learner driver in your household, you can always take out a policy for each learner, so that they can both learn to drive.

No, The Green Insurer's learner driver insurance only covers one named learner driver. If you do have more than one learner driver in your household, you can always take out a policy for each learner, so that they can both learn to drive.

No, the vehicle must be insured under a separate annual car insurance policy. Learner driver insurance is designed to allow a learner driver to drive on someone else's car just while they are learning to drive only. It is not designed for cars owned by the learner driver.

It may be possible to change cars on your policy once it has started. It will depend on whether the car you are changing to is acceptable by our underwriters. Call us and we can make the change for you. There is no charge for making changes.

The shortest policy we offer is 7 days. Due to the costs of setting up these policies, we cannot offer shorter policies any cheaper than the 7-day price. If you want fewer days, you can buy a 7-day policy, but it will end when you pass your driving test.

Yes – you absolutely can. Adding a learner driver policy alongside your main car insurance offers significant advantages. Not only is it an affordable and flexible way to learn to drive, but also if the learner makes a claim whilst driving your car, it won’t affect your No Claims Discount.

Yes, you can get learner insurance with a provisional licence. Our learner driver insurance is designed specifically for drivers with a provisional licence to allow them to practise driving on someone else's car. The car just needs to have annual insurance in place in addition to the learner policy.

Yes, you can get learner insurance with at 17. Our learner driver insurance is designed specifically for learner drivers, so many of them are 17. It allows them to practise driving on someone else's car. The car just needs annual insurance in place in addition to the learner policy.

Yes, you can get learner insurance with a provisional licence. Our learner driver insurance is designed specifically for drivers with a provisional licence to allow them to practise driving on someone else's car. The car just needs to have annual insurance in place in addition to the learner policy.

Yes, you can make changes to your learner driver insurance policy. So you if the car is sold, or you move house, call us and we will make the change for you. The good news is that there is no charge for making changes to your learner driver policy.

Yes, learner driver insurance is a great way to get in more practise before your next test. You may just need to brush up on a few things to pass next time. Some of the best drivers didn't pass first time. The pass rate is 48%, so you're not alone!

No, learner driver insurance can only be used in the UK. Your provisional licence is not valid outside UK. The highway code may differ in other countries and many drive on the right-hand side of the road, so it's best to learn drive and pass your test in UK first.

Yes, our learner driver insurance covers you during your driving test. You will be supervised by the examiner, and we waive the requirement for a supervisor to be over 25 for driving test examiners. Just remember that as soon as you pass your driving test, your insurance will end.

No, learner driver insurance can only be used in the UK. Your provisional licence is not valid outside UK. The highway code may differ in other countries and many drive on the right-hand side of the road, so it's best to learn drive and pass your test in UK first.

Yes, learner drivers can drive at night. There are no curfews with our learner driver insurance. You’re free to drive at night as long as you’re supervised by a qualified driver, aged 25 or over, who has held a full UK driving licence for more than 3 years.

Yes, learner drivers can drive on dual carriageways so long as they have L plates on the car and are supervised by a someone over 25 years old who has a full driving licence. Driving tests can also include some time on a dual carriageway if there is one nearby.

Yes, more than one learner driver can be insured on the same car, but they must each have their own learner driver insurance policy. The Green Insurer learner driver policies cover just one learner driver, so each person will need their own learner driver insurance policy before practicing their driving.

No, we do not offer breakdown policies alongside learner driver insurance. The reason for this is that we believe there is a high chance of you buying something that you don't need or already have. So, we've made the decision not to offer breakdown insurance alongside learner driver insurance.

For learner driver insurance with The Green Insurer, the learner driver must have no driving or criminal convictions. If you do have a driving conviction, you will need to wait until it is "spent" (usually 5 years for people aged 18 or over and 2.5 years for 17-year olds).

Yes, you can. Our flexible short-term learner driver insurance allows you to choose any length of cover from 7 days to 90 days. It is designed to be a flexible, affordable way for learner drivers to practise driving on someone else's car.

Yes, as long as the car you are insured to drive it and you have the car owner's permission. Our learner driver insurance covers you during your driving test. Just remember that as soon as you pass your driving test, your insurance will end.

Find out if you can take your test in your own car

Yes, you must be insured on the car to supervise a learner driver. You are there to support the learner driver and as a backup should anything go wrong. So, you need to be insured and legally able to drive the car at any time while supervising a learner driver.

The Green Insurer don't require learner drivers to fit a black box with our learner driver insurance. We do offer learner drivers an app which enables us to reward learner drivers with Green Rewards and to offset their carbon emissions, but there are no penalties, sanctions or curfews.

Yes, anyone driving on a UK road must have car insurance in place. Learner drivers can either be a named driver on the car owner's policy or have their own separate learner driver insurance that’s linked to the car, such as The Green Insurer's learner driver insurance.

Our learner driver insurance is available to learners aged 17-25 years old. Although there is no legal maximum age, we cannot cover learners over 25. We would love to offer cover to learner drivers over 25, but do not have this available just yet.

No, claims on your learner driver insurance policy don't affect the car owner's No Claims Discount (NCD). Claims can happen when you're learning to drive and the last thing you need is to worry about the car owner's NCD. It's a big reason to take out separate learner driver insurance.

Yes, your learner driver policy will show on MID (Motor Insurance Database). MID (now called Navigate) is a database holding information about insurance for all vehicles and is widely used by the policy and enforcement bodies to make sure that all cars are correctly insured.

Yes, by UK law, you must have an L-plate (or a D-plate in Wales) on both the front and back of the car you're learning in. They must be clearly visible, should have a red letter on a white background and must be the right size.

You can renew your learner driver policy so long as you have not passed your driving test. We will send you an email telling you how to renew with your renewal premium. Renewing customers get a discount, so be sure to accept this renewal rather than buying a new policy.

See how to get a discount when renewing your learner insurance

You can buy a learner driver insurance policy to cover you to take your driving test in someone else's car. You will not need this if you are using a driving instructor's car, as they have their own insurance.

The minimum duration for a learner driver policy is 7 days.

Learner driver insurance is a short-term car insurance policy that covers a learner driver while they practise driving in someone else's car (often a parent or grandparent). It sits alongside the main annual insurance policy for the car and only covers the learner driver before they pass their driving test.

Short-term learner driver insurance is available for any duration between 7 and 90 days. It is designed to cover the learner until they pass their test. It can be renewed once it ends provided that the learner driver has not passed their practical driving test.

See how long learner insurance can cover you

A UK provisional driving licence is valid for 10 years from the date it's issued. If you don’t pass both your theory and practical driving tests within that time, you’ll need to renew your licence before you can continue learning to drive legally.

It usually takes around 40 hours of lessons with a driving instructor before you are ready to take your test, and then you may have a significant wait to get a driving test booked. So, it's not unreasonable to expect it to take a year or more.

Find out what affects how quickly you can pass your test

The excess for our learner driver insurance is the same for all learner drivers and is £250 for any damage, fire or theft claim. This is a compulsory excess set by your insurer, and there is no option to increase or reduce this.

It is illegal for anyone to drive on a public road without insurance. Learner drivers can either be a named driver on the car owner's policy or have their own separate learner driver insurance that’s linked to the car, such as The Green Insurer's learner driver insurance.

Yes. It is worth getting learner driver insurance so that you can gain valuable driving experience before taking your driving test. We suggest that you take lessons from an Approved Driving Instructor and then practise in someone else's car to build your confidence and get ready for your driving test.

Learner driver insurance is intended for people learning to drive on someone else's car. It provides short-term, flexible cover which ends when you pass your driving test. Standard annual car insurance is intended to cover the car and all named drivers for a year.

No. Learner driver insurance is not the same thing as dual insurance. Dual insurance is where the same risk is insured twice i.e. the same driver on the same car. As learner driver insurance is insuring a different driver, it is not classed as dual insurance.

Yes, The Green Insurer's learner driver insurance is comprehensive. We do not offer third-party only or third party fire and theft options for our learner driver insurance. This means you are covered for damage to the car you're driving and for damage to other people or their property.

No. You can set your policy to start immediately, or you can choose a date in the future to suit you. If you choose to set up your policy immediately, it will start from the time in the day when your payment is accepted and there is no embargo period.

If you get caught driving unaccompanied, you can get a £1000, 6 points on your licence or even be disqualified from driving. Also, your insurance will not be valid, so you will be driving uninsured. It is considered a very serious offence, so please just don't risk it.

Penalty points apply to all drivers. Learner drivers can get penalty points on their provisional licence in the same way that full licence holders. You must tell us if you get points on your licence, as this will mean we won't be able to renew your policy when it ends.

Learner driver insurance only covers you while you are learning to drive. Once you pass your driving test, you must stop driving until you have arranged insurance as a full driving licence holder. If you are driving someone else's car, ask them if they can add you to their policy.

Anyone driving on a UK road must have car insurance in place. Learner drivers can either be a named driver on the car owner's policy or have their own separate learner driver insurance that’s linked to the car, such as The Green Insurers learner driver insurance.

The Green Insurer's learner driver insurance is a comprehensive car insurance policy. It covers you if you have an accident for damage to your own car and for injury to other people and damage to their vehicle or to their property.

Learner driver insurance is a short-term car insurance policy that covers a learner driver while they practise driving in someone else's car (often a parent or grandparent). It sits alongside the main annual insurance policy for the car and only covers the learner driver before they pass their driving test.

Learn more about how learner driver insurance works

Take lessons from an Approved Driving Instructor to get a solid grounding in safe driving. However, you may only be having one lesson per week or less, so it is important to get some more practise in a friend or relative's car to help you gain more experience and confidence.

The short answer is nothing! Provisional driver insurance and learner driver insurance are the same thing. Both are short-term, flexible car insurance policies which are designed to cover a learner driver who wants to practise driving on someone else's car.

Our short-term learner driver insurance is available for any duration between 7 and 90 days. Longer policies are cheaper per day than shorter ones. Because it is flexible, you can choose the exact number of days you need, perhaps to your driving test or when you go back to uni.

By UK law, the L plates (or D plates in Wales) must be clearly visible to others from:
- in front of the vehicle
- behind the vehicle
The L plates should have a red letter on a white background, they should measure 178cm x 178cm, other sizes are shown below

Learner drivers must be supervised at all times when driving. The supervisor must be at least 25 years old. They must have a full driving licence for the type of car being driven (manual or automatic) and have held that valid licence for a minimum of three years.

Our underwriters are not able to cover everyone, although we can cover the majority of people. This may be because they have experienced a lot of claims for a specific type of person (ie where you live) or because the car is not suitable for a learner driver.

No, our learner driver policies do not earn no claims discount (NCD). As the maximum duration for learner driver insurance is 90 days, you won't have driven for 1 year before renewal. So, wait until you pass and then build up your valuable NCD once you are a qualified driver!

To drive a car, any learner driver must be insured. They can either be a named driver on your annual car insurance policy or have their own separate learner driver insurance that’s linked to your car, such as the learner driver insurance offered by The Green Insurer.

Explore how to get insurance for a learner driver

You will get a pro rata refund of the insurance premium for any policy longer than 30 days. If you have a policy of longer than 30 days and cancel in the first 30 days, you will get a refund of the days over the 30-day minimum.

Find out when you’re eligible for a refund on learner insurance

Yes, learner drivers can legally carry passengers. In fact learner drivers must carry one qualified supervising passenger, who must supervise them while they are practicing their driving. However, we would strongly recommend that learner drivers do not take any more passengers than the person who is supervising them.

Find out what affects how quickly you can pass your test

Yes, we can offer our learner driver insurance to most people who live in Northern Ireland. Just like the rest of the UK, we cannot offer it to all postcodes within Northern Ireland, but we can offer it to most of them.

Yes, we do offer learner driver insurance to some people who want to learn on an electric car. Some electric cars are very high performance, and we steer away from these, as the risks to the learner drivers is too high. But we can cover many electric cars for learners.

No, you will not automatically be penalised for offences committed by a learner driver who you are supervising. There are however some circumstances when you can be prosecuted for the actions of the learner driver. The learner will also receive a penalty for their offence.

No, you cannot use any handheld device while you are supervising a learner driver. You are responsible for supervising the learner and must be alert at all times. This offence is treated the same as if you were driving yourself.

No, you cannot let a learner driver drive you whilst you are above the legal alcohol limit or under the influence of drugs. You are responsible for supervising the learner and must be alert at all times. This offence is treated the same as if you were driving yourself.