Quotes ranged from £1500 to £1800 fully comprehensive

Student Israr Sabir, aged 21, passed his test and within two months he was taking his Pass Plus lessons. Astonished at the cost of insurance quotes, he followed his brother-in-law's advice and booked Pass Plus.

"My brother in-law is a policeman and he told me about the scheme and recommended it. I had been ringing up companies to get a one-litre Micra insured and the quotes ranged from £1500 to £1800 fully comprehensive. I wanted full cover because I knew that newly qualified drivers often had accidents within the first year of driving. At the time I was working part-time in Nottingham and took the Pass Plus scheme there, even though I had taken my test in Birmingham. I wanted experience at motorway and inner city driving. I managed to insure the car for just under £1,000, which is a huge saving" said Israr, a final year student of Computer Science at Wolverhampton University.

Seventeen year-old A-level student Rebecca Brown, from Upminster in Essex passed her test in November - the first time she went to a driving test centre. And within three weeks she had completed her Pass Plus course.

Rebecca said "Some of my friends had done Pass Plus and they said that it had really helped them get the confidence to drive on their own. The course teaches you skills that you don't necessarily learn on your lessons. I would not have been able to go on the motorway on my own, and I think it is better to have your instructor there than a family member".

"My mum had given me her old car, a Fiesta, because she had got a new one. But I had to pay for the insurance. When I went to Tesco to insure it, the company knocked off £200 in discount because I had a Pass Plus certificate. So taking Pass Plus has even been more cost effective for me".

"My instructor offered discount of a free lesson for every ten lessons I booked. I knew I wanted to take Pass Plus so I included those lessons when I made the bookings. It worked out at about £13.50 a lesson, so I ended up saving some money as well as learning more skills" she said

Rebecca is so convinced that Pass Plus has made her a safer driver that she thinks everyone should take it.

One year's No Claims Bonus

When 20 year-old student Mohammad Kadar from Nottingham went to take his driving test, he was fairly confident he was going to pass it. And he had already set his sights on buying a car. So when he was given the green light to drive on his own, the first thing he did was to book a Pass Plus course.

"My instructor had talked to me about Pass Plus and told me about the whole procedure before I took the test. I knew I wanted to drive on the motorway and at night, and I wanted to build up my confidence with high speed driving, and also driving in cities in heavy traffic. And you don't cover all of these things in the test itself."

"So when I passed my test at West Bridgeford Driving Test Centre about a year ago, I booked a Pass Plus course straight away. It really did help me a lot and built up my confidence" he said.

Armed with these extra skills, his next move was to buy a Suzuki Swift, and insured it through Churchill insurance company. Within six months he had changed his car to a Rover 1.6 SLI.

"The insurance company gave me a year's 'no claims' bonus for having the Pass Plus certificate, and it made a big difference to the cost. I now tell other people that they ought to take the course."

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