How much does it cost to get car insurance in Ireland  for a provisional licence holder ?

A recent survey of  eight insurance providers found that quotes for learner drivers ranged from €1076 to  €2550 a year.

Several insurance companies wouldn’t even provide a quote for a 20 year old student driving  a 2003 Seat Ibiza with a  provisional licence and no previous driving experience.
Allianz, Chartis Direct , RSA (through 123.ie) and Zurich would not provide cover.

For a male – the lowest quote for fully comprehensive cover was €1888 from AXA – this included a €600 excess. The highest fully comp quote came from FBD at €2550 with a €350 excess.

Female provisional licence holders were quoted lower prices for insurance in all cases  – with the lowest quote for comprehensive insurance coming in at €1233 from AXA. This is €655 cheaper than the quote for a male in exactly the same car and with the same circumstances.
In one case – the quote for a female was  €1083 cheaper than that for a male . Quinn insurance quoted €2384 for a male and   €1301 for a female.

Quotes for Third Party, Fire and Theft  (TPFT) are normally cheaper because this does not cover any damage caused to your car in an accident that is your fault.
The difference in price between fully comprehensive and TPFT for a 20 yr old provisional licence holder was around €300 euro – but strangely with Aviva it was cheaper to get fully comp instead of Third Party insurance. (€96 less a year).

The survey was carried out  in November 2011 by the fiancial regulator and covered the following insurance providers (not brokers)

Allianz , Aviva , AXA , ChartisDirect , FBD , Quinn Direct , RSA Insurance, Zurich