Guide · for ADIs in Ireland · 2026
Your ordinary motor policy stops the moment a learner pays you. Here is what a tuition policy has to do, what you'll pay for it, the lessons most policies don't cover, the test-day certificate rule that cancelled 1,200 tests this spring, and the eight questions to ask before you renew.
In 30 seconds
General information, not advice: your own policy wording decides. Sources are at the bottom of the page, read on 19 October 2026.
Why your car policy isn't enough
A private motor policy insures you driving your car. A tuition policy insures a stranger on a learner permit driving your car, with you beside them, for money, on roads they've never seen, then on a test with an examiner in the back. Every one of those words is an exclusion on the policy you had before you qualified.
The RSA requires a tuition vehicle to be insured for driving instruction and to have dual controls, and you must produce proof of tuition insurance at a check test. Teaching on a private policy isn't a grey area; it's driving uninsured, with your permit at stake as well as the car.
Motor cover for the car and the road. Public liability for the pedestrian your learner clips at a junction. Professional indemnity for the claim that your teaching, not the car, was at fault. A tuition policy bundles them; a private one has none of the last two.
The policy covers a named driver type, "any learner holding a valid permit for the category", rather than a named person. That's what lets you teach twenty people a week. It's also why one lapsed permit in the glovebox quietly voids a lesson.
The checklist
Read your schedule against this list. Green is standard on a proper tuition policy; amber is the kind of thing that's an extension on one policy and excluded on the next, so you ask.
Two taps
Pick the lesson you're about to give. The answer is where a typical Irish tuition policy lands, and what to confirm before you turn the key. Your own policy wording wins.
Who's driving, and in what?
What you'll pay
The ADI community's own FAQ put the premium at €750 to €800 a year in 2022. Irish motor premiums have climbed since: more than half of drivers saw an increase in the past year, and the Central Bank put the average private premium at €623 in 2024, up 9%. A fair 2026 budget for tuition cover is €900 to €1,200; a quote under that is good news, one well over it has a reason you can usually find below.
What doesn't move it much: the number of lessons you teach. Most tuition policies price the car and the instructor, not the diary, so a full week costs the same to insure as a half one. That is one of the few costs on this job that doesn't scale with hours; the ones that do are here.
Since 9 March 2026
From 9 March 2026 every driving test candidate must show a valid certificate of motor insurance for the car they're presenting. No certificate, no test. In the first three weeks about 1,200 tests were cancelled for it, before the RSA and the testers' union agreed that a digital copy would do.
For the record: the RSA has said testers were always covered by the Motor Insurers' Bureau in the event of an incident, so the rule is about the candidate's cover, not the examiner's. It applies all the same.
Ready to send
Renewal is the one day a year the insurer is listening. Send these to your broker a fortnight before, or read them down the phone, and write the answers on the schedule. Change the bracketed parts.
Email or WhatsApp · to your broker before renewal
Hi [broker's name], my tuition policy on [reg] renews on [date]. Before I do, can you confirm in writing: 1. Any learner holding a valid permit for category B is covered to drive the car under my instruction, and on a driving test with an examiner on board. 2. The public liability and professional indemnity limits, and whether PI covers a complaint made after a learner has passed. 3. Whether I'm covered to instruct a learner in their own or a parent's car, and what the learner needs to show. 4. Whether a dual-control replacement car is supplied after a claim, and for how long. 5. The excess on each kind of claim: own damage, windscreen, third party, and whether it changes when a learner is driving. 6. What personal use is covered, and for whom; and whether teaching a family member counts as tuition. 7. Whether off-road tuition of under-17s and training a PDI are covered or excluded. 8. The premium with and without no-claims protection, and with a higher voluntary excess. Also: the dual controls were fitted on [date]; please confirm they're noted on the policy. Thanks, [your name], ADI [number]
If something happens
Make everyone safe. Then record, in this order: the time, the exact spot, who was driving, the other car's registration and the other driver's name and insurer, photos of every car from every side and of the road, and a photo of the learner's permit. Say nothing about fault; that argument belongs to the insurer.
Tell your insurer, within the days the policy allows, whether or not you intend to claim. A learner who was shaken at the scene can be a claimant a month later, and a notified incident is a different conversation from a surprise one.
Proof the lesson was a lesson: that the learner was booked, on a valid permit, that you were the instructor, where you met, and what you'd covered before. An instructor with a diary answers in an afternoon. One with a phone full of WhatsApps answers in a fortnight, badly.
The record an insurer asks for, and where it already is if your diary is Pamio
| Asked for | In Pamio |
|---|---|
| Date, time and length of the lesson | The booking, as made |
| Who the learner was and who taught them | On the booking |
| The learner's RSA driver number and date of birth | On the student's card |
| Where you met | The booking's meeting point |
| What had been covered before | EDT progress and your lesson notes |
| The lessons logged with the RSA | Logged from the app, dated |
| Who cancelled or moved what, and when | On every booking |
The record keeps itself. Pam books your learners on WhatsApp while you teach, and every lesson lands in one diary with the learner, the time, the meeting point and who changed what. You add a line of notes after the lesson and log the EDT with the RSA from your phone. Nothing to write up later.
First month free · no card · cancel any timeQuestions instructors ask
Yes. A standard motor policy excludes paid driving instruction, and the RSA requires an ADI's tuition vehicle to be insured for instruction and fitted with dual controls. You must produce proof of tuition insurance at a check test. Teaching on a private policy is driving uninsured.
The ADI community's own FAQ put the premium at about €750 to €800 a year in 2022. Motor premiums have risen since: more than half of Irish drivers saw an increase in the past year, and the Central Bank put the average private premium at €623 in 2024, up 9%. Budget €900 to €1,200 for a quote in 2026 and treat anything under that as good news. Your age, claims record, the car and where it sleeps at night move it most.
A small number of insurers, almost always arranged through a broker that specialises in tuition cover. First Ireland, part of Gallagher, is the best-known; its policy lists a €200 excess, unlimited windscreen cover, professional indemnity, driving of other cars and 31 days' EU cover. Ask your local broker who else is quoting this year.
On a proper tuition policy, yes: the learner is covered to drive the car on the test, and the examiner is covered too. Since 9 March 2026 the candidate must show a certificate of motor insurance for the car at the test centre, so the certificate for your tuition car has to be in the car, on paper or on a phone, every test morning.
Only if someone's policy says so. Some tuition policies offer student cover in a parent's vehicle as an extension; otherwise the learner needs to be insured on that car's own policy, with the insurer told it will be used for tuition. The RSA asks for the same proof at a check test in the student's car. Ask before the lesson, not after.
Yes. Cover for the learner driving your car depends on them holding a valid learner permit for the category. An expired permit is the easiest way to turn a lesson into an uninsured drive. Check the expiry date at the first lesson and write it down.
Motor cover pays for the car and for injury on the road. Professional indemnity covers a claim that your instruction itself was negligent: a learner who says you taught them a habit that failed them at the test, or a parent who claims you put an unready learner on the road. Most tuition policies include a modest limit. Ask what it is.
Stop, make everyone safe, and record: the time, the exact place, who was driving, the other party's details and registration, photos of every car from every side, and the learner's permit. Tell your insurer within the time the policy gives, usually days, even if you do not intend to claim. Do not admit fault at the roadside; that is the policy's job to argue.
Nothing on this page needs it. Pamio is the booking assistant we make. It keeps the record an insurer asks for without you writing it: every lesson's date, time, learner, instructor and meeting point; the learner's RSA driver number and date of birth on their card; who cancelled and when; the notes you add after a lesson; and the EDT lessons logged with the RSA. Pam answers your learners on WhatsApp while you teach.
Sources, read on 19 October 2026: the RSA's pages on becoming an ADI and ADI compliance (the tuition vehicle must be insured for instruction and dual controlled; proof of tuition insurance at a check test); the RSA's driving-test insurance requirement from 9 March 2026, as reported by Tracey Solicitors and by The Irish Times on 26 March 2026 (about 1,200 tests cancelled; digital certificates accepted; testers covered by the MIBI); the ADI FAQ at drivinginstructor.ie (a premium of about €750 to €800 in 2022); First Ireland's driving-instructor insurance page (a €200 excess, unlimited windscreen cover, professional indemnity, driving of other cars, 31 days' EU cover, student cover in a parent's vehicle); Carzone's 2026 Motoring Report and the Central Bank's private motor figures as reported by TheJournal.ie. This page is general information about a market, not advice about your policy; the policy wording and your broker are the authority.
Every lesson booked, dated and on record, every learner's permit details on their card, the EDT logged with the RSA in seconds, and Pam answering your learners on WhatsApp while you teach. Your first month is free, no card.
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