How to teach a learner driver - a guide to supervising a friend or family member

Learning to drive isn’t easy, so getting experience behind the wheel with a friend or family member in the passenger seat is invaluable.

But, with so many changing driving laws, learner’s insurance, and your own bad habits to navigate, it can be a daunting task to supervise a learner driver and teach them what they need to know to pass their test.

Here we run through the steps that supervising drivers should take to give a learner driver the best chance of earning their licence.

1. Check you're legally able to teach

Before you do anything you’ll need to make sure you can legally supervise your friend or family member. You must:

• be over 25
• be qualified to drive the same type of car as the learner e.g. manual or automatic
• have held your licence for at least three years
• meet the minimum eyesight standards
• not be paid to supervise the learner

While checking your eligibility to teach, you should also ensure that everything’s in place for the learner too. They’ll need:

• to be at least 17-years-old
• to hold a provisional licence
• an insurance policy that covers learners

You’ll need to check that the learner’s insurance policy covers you as a supervisor too. 

Alternatively, you could take out a separate learner driver insurance policy which sits alongside your annual policy and protects your no claims discount in the event of an accident.

A large number of insurance policies ask that supervisors are aged 25 or older, including our own Learner Driver Insurance. While many insurers insist that you take out cover for a minimum of one month, we provide cover from one day, allowing learners to squeeze some last minute practice in before a test.

Be aware – learners can be fined up to £1,000 and receive 6 penalty points on their provisional licence if they drive without the right supervision.