whats the point of it????

dark_knight_ire

I know i'm not the first. I done the ignition course in limerick last week, i'll make no bones about it i failed it along with the other chap who was being tested with me (tester was having a hard day so made ours worse)

Here is what i find funny in a sickening way. I passed my driving test first attempt about say 4 weeks ago, was happy with that. Now i was happy because my insuravce was up for renewal 2 days after. Anyway upon going home got a letter from the insurance company 3rd party on my punto €1100 euro. I left it for a few days and called them to inform them i had passed my driving text and had a full D/L i then got quoted €1300 3rd party. As you may understand i was tired and emotional (love that phase) to the insurace lady.

Anyway thats not what got me as with my other thread i've a cooper S ordered so i received a quote 1600 full comp if i do the ignition thing. So i done it and failed it because of someone else having a bad day. Now my quote went from (wait for it) from 1600 euro to 5700 euro. I nearly fell over. I rebooked the text in Gorey Wexford for early jan i'm off the road till then but have one last attempt to pass it.

Has anyone got silly quotes like that or is there anyone else who done ignition out there??

Ignition is meant to be easy enough and i would agree but hell my tester got me one silly things. One example on a roundabout you give way to the right ( i did) and out of nowhere on my left a transit cut in front of me i spotted him but had to jam on (he was in the wrong totally illgeal what he done, nearly causing a crash with not just me but other traffic) Anyway i got rated high risk because i did not antisipate him (bloodly well did i stopped) anyway if we did crash it was him in the wrong.

Thats my sob story i feel somewhat better getting that out

unkel

I get the impression you're only dealing with one insurance company so far. You have to make sure you ring all insurance companies and all brokers and check all on-line quotes as well. I'm not joking - take my word for it, contact them ALL!

What's your age? How many years NCB in your own name? €1600 is a pretty good quote FC for a €35k new car for say a 25 year old (with a full license) with 3 years NCB

€5700 is ludicrous even for a 28 year old (with a full license) with only 1 year NCB

Jivin Turkey

I took the Ignition course a few weeks back and passed it.

But I have to say the tester that did it with me was a total moron. He marked me down for not moving into the bus lane to queue in the correct lane for the oncoming roundabout (I was turning left ahead). I claimed that it is only allowed to move into that lane at the end of the bus lane when the line becomes broken. He said you can move into the bus lane to queue no problem, and argued this with me for about 7 or 8 minutes.

impr0v

5700 is not exactly real world. If it was their car you were driving for the ignition thing you should have crashed it.

fletch

I did the Ignition course and passed....got a quote of €2,195 which I was delighted with. I am 21, with a full licence on a 1.4. The nearest quote I could get was with Quinn Direct at just on €2,900.

Have to question the whole point of the course. Like, they get you to drive around for a while, tell you what you need to improve on. So then they get you driving again and you try to improve on those aspects of your driving. But in reality you're gonna slip right back into your bad habits as soon as the course is finished.
Some of the things that my examiner took issue with were ridiculous.

Take for example, I was travelling in the inside lane of the N1 and there was a van in the outside lane. We came to Pinnock Hill roundabout travelling side-by-side. So we both stayed in our lanes and went around the roundabout side-by-side. My tester said that I should have dropped back & let the van go before me because he could have slid out of control and collided with me. Fair enough, it "could" have happened but the conditions on the day were dry and we were both travelling slow enough that that situation was unlikely to occur.

Overall though, I felt the course was worthwhile. They get you to park in a car park (something you will probably have to do everyday you drive), drive on the motorway etc... (all things that are not covered in the state driving test)

Interceptor

The point of it is to make you a better driver.

I sympathise with your insurance conundrum but agree with unkel that you will get a better quote than 5700 if you look around. What I wonder about is what the tester saw that you didn't and whether you learned something or not. The constant development of your driving technique is more important than anything else to your survival and your ability to hone your skills over time rather than develop bad habits will someday save your life.

I don't mean to get all Karate Kid on you but the old wax on/wax off tedium of talking yourself through every junction and identifying and listing hazards as you go is proven to work. In the UK the Institute of Advanced Motorists test thousands of drivers every year and teach them to list hazards as they see them, allowing the tester to monitor the drivers ability. I blank my side mirrors from time to time to force me to look over my shoulders in traffic - I nearly wiped a cop off his bike once and learned about blind-spots very quickly (do you know where yours are?)

Resit the test, take a deep breath and it will all be fine. If the tester had a bad day, then chances are the next one won't. And you will be a better driver if any of this made sense.

'ceptr

fletch

Jivin Turkey wrote:

I took the Ignition course a few weeks back and passed it.

But I have to say the tester that did it with me was a total moron. He marked me down for not moving into the bus lane to queue in the correct lane for the oncoming roundabout (I was turning left ahead). I claimed that it is only allowed to move into that lane at the end of the bus lane when the line becomes broken. He said you can move into the bus lane to queue no problem, and argued this with me for about 7 or 8 minutes.

I would agree with you that you can only move into the bus lane when the lane actually finishes, sure otherwise that would make a total mockery of it.

seamus

fletch wrote:

I would agree with you that you can only move into the bus lane when the lane actually finishes, sure otherwise that would make a total mockery of it.

Sometimes driving theory doesn't always gel with driving practice. While in theory, one shouldn't move into the bus lane until the white line is broken, in practice other people will queue where you don't, causing you to block two lanes of traffic when you try to move into the left hand lane.

Whether ignition is designed to teach you good technique as opposed to good theory, I don't know.

fletch

seamus wrote:

Sometimes driving theory doesn't always gel with driving practice. While in theory, one shouldn't move into the bus lane until the white line is broken, in practice other people will queue where you don't, causing you to block two lanes of traffic when you try to move into the left hand lane.

Whether ignition is designed to teach you good technique as opposed to good theory, I don't know.

I can see your point alright and in fairness to the examiners on the course, they want you to use your common sense.

For example I was going through Swords village and traffic was pretty heavy so rather than blocking the entrance to a Filling Station when the traffic was coming to a standstill, I kept my distance from the car in front to allow cars access, even though there was no yellow box. The examiner was impressed.

Boggle

Here is what i find funny in a sickening way. I passed my driving test first attempt about say 4 weeks ago,

Not being presumptuous but passing your test doesn't make you a good (or even a decent) driver... As far as I remember your a gard or something - did you happen to fill that in on the form or show a badge or something? Used to know some gards who were forever bragging that their badge will get them almost anywhere ... even through a driving test!

Do yourself a favour - if they said you are unsfafe then you probably are. Take just a few lessons to make sure that you are a capable driver and go it again - I personally would take it as an insult to get run off the road by a certified bad driver.

dahamsta

unkel wrote:

make sure you ring all insurance companies and all brokers and check all on-line quotes as well. I'm not joking - take my word for it, contact them ALL!

Contact a few brokers while you're at it too. I rang all the majors last year yet I ended up getting a better price at the broker my family (not me) has been using for years. €200 better, which was 1/10th of the best from the others.

adam

ando

Jivin Turkey wrote:

He said you can move into the bus lane to queue no problem, and argued this with me for about 7 or 8 minutes.

u do know most of the testers are taxi men, or ex taxi men. that would explain that excuse

Jivin Turkey

seamus wrote:

Sometimes driving theory doesn't always gel with driving practice. While in theory, one shouldn't move into the bus lane until the white line is broken, in practice other people will queue where you don't, causing you to block two lanes of traffic when you try to move into the left hand lane.

I agree 100% with this. And if I was driving on my own in my own car I would do it.

BUT I had literally just started the drive with the instructor. Out on the road less than two minutes, Im hardly going to zip up the bus lane! Then I agrued with him, at what stage is it ok to go through the bus lane? I mean if there is a line of cars 100M long that are all going straight, is it ok to go all the way through the bus lane because Im turning left 100M ahead? To which he said thats stupid because its an extreme and unrealistic circumstance.

Then I posed to him, when and at what distance is it ok? He couldnt give me a proper answer, to which I said its ok at the end of the bus lane, hence the end of bus lane sign and broken white line. You shouldnt be blocking anyone there, because there shouldnt be people behind you coming up the bus lane. Now I know in practise people will do this, but they are breaking the law doing it. I shouldnt break the law just because they are.

dark_knight_ire

Boggle wrote:

Not being presumptuous but passing your test doesn't make you a good (or even a decent) driver... As far as I remember your a gard or something - did you happen to fill that in on the form or show a badge or something? Used to know some gards who were forever bragging that their badge will get them almost anywhere ... even through a driving test!

Do yourself a favour - if they said you are unsfafe then you probably are. Take just a few lessons to make sure that you are a capable driver and go it again - I personally would take it as an insult to get run off the road by a certified bad driver.

Haha not fond of the police i take it??? anyway thats your problem not mine. When it comes to driving i would rate myself as good as the next guy, i've been driving 6 years and i do more miles then most people. I have no problem someone pointing out any aspect which i might need to improve on, but hey that tester that day was so thick.

At one point while driving she asked me to call out possible danger, things like junctions and lights. So i was doing that and while going at 30mph a car approx 250 metres on pulled out into the my lane, saw him, he was going slow so i notied that he pulled out and stated best action would be to slow down (common sense) while slowing she slammed on the dual control brakes saing i was not slowing fast enough. I got a shock firstly as i did not know it was a dual control car. When she done it second time. I stopped the car and said to her the brakes were screwed and it was dangerous she told me it was dual control and we argued about why she used them. I put her in a bad mood and she failed me. What i am sorry for was the other chap in the car i had her in a bad mood and she took it out on him to and failed us both. He was a good driver.


As for the insurance thing, i shopped around rang every company. Nost would not qoute me for that car (to high preformance) under 25 (axa) E Star(27) and FBD(30) others like alliance well they wanted over 4K

But all is not lost my friends while with ignition i get it for 1600 i got a alright quote from the AA of 1900 while more expensive it gives me something to fall back on.

Do you remember when you were like 19,20 getting told go out on your own and build up a no claims discount you were told it would be worth it in the long run??? i think not lol i've over the last couple of years paid sky high insurance, best be under a parent in my view till your 27 then at least you may have some chance

Seth Brundle

ando wrote:

u do know most of the testers are taxi men, or ex taxi men. that would explain that excuse

source? This is run by the IAM. I don't know of any taxi driver that could pass their tests!

elexes

well might piss ya off a bit but

im 24 / own my own 1.4l focus fully comp and it costs ... 2500

i have my test date for my full lisence next year . feb i think .

im told once i get the lisence i can expect to pay 1500

ive been driving about 2 years now

unkel

dahamsta wrote:

Contact a few brokers while you're at it too

That was in the bit of my post you quoted!

It indeed deserves attention as, to my astonishment, I got a much better quote years ago through the broker Frank Glennon compared to all direct quotes

I've had the best quote from them for the third year running for comprehensive insurance. In fact, my quote would be the same for a nearly 7 liter Roller or Bentley

mackerski

Jivin Turkey wrote:

But I have to say the tester that did it with me was a total moron. He marked me down for not moving into the bus lane to queue in the correct lane for the oncoming roundabout (I was turning left ahead). I claimed that it is only allowed to move into that lane at the end of the bus lane when the line becomes broken. He said you can move into the bus lane to queue no problem, and argued this with me for about 7 or 8 minutes.

I agree with most others - his assertion is complete bolleaux, assuming the bus lane was actually in operation at the time. (If not, you _must_ use it under the keep left rule). It's an offence to be in a bus lane and the fine is hefty. It would be contrary to the whole point of a bus lane to allow queuing cars to fill up the one lane that's supposed to provide a clear run to buses and taxis.

Dermot

Andrew Duffy

mackerski wrote:

If not, you _must_ use it under the keep left rule

That's an interesting one. Even if the bus lane wasn't originally a hard shoulder, and therefore not designed for driving in, all the compulsory left turns still apply when the bus lane is open. In general, I'd stay out of the bus lane unless it is out of operation and you are turning left.

mackerski

Andrew Duffy wrote:

That's an interesting one. Even if the bus lane wasn't originally a hard shoulder, and therefore not designed for driving in, all the compulsory left turns still apply when the bus lane is open. In general, I'd stay out of the bus lane unless it is out of operation and you are turning left.

Following the letter of the law, you must keep left. Compulsory left turns are an oddity of their own and, IMHO, very badly implemented. Many are marked out so as not to except buses from the rule (even though it's clear they are intended to go straight), some except buses but make no provision for hours when the lane isn't in operation (your point). I tend towards the pragmatic view that if the basic purpose of the left-only restriction is negated once the bus lane is inoperatble, I ignore the restriction and do what a bus would do.

The originally-a-hard-shoulder point doesn't really apply. Firstly, such bus lanes are generally 24-hour to ensure they never see cars (but not all), secondly, if you _wish_ to drive in it, you may - and it's often very useful to have a private lane that all other road users insist on avoiding.

Dermot