Car Insurance Question

[Unwell Cat]

Hopefully a quick answer from somebody who knows, the situation is:

I currently have one car which the wife uses each day for the little ones etc and I get the train to work. I have been offered a new job where I will need a car to get to work. I'm not going to use the family car as the wife needs it.

My parents currently have a spare car which they insure, tax and is in their name(s) which I'm a named driver on with fully comp insurance. So I was going to use their spare car to get to and from work. It's not going to increase the annual mileage from an insurance point of view as it's hardly used at the moment so me using it to and from work is still going to be below the annual mileage currently given to the insurers.

Is there any problem doing the above? Can my parents be the registered owners and insurers with me as a named driver when in effect I will doing most of the driving and mileage?

One other question the new company have asked for business insurance on the vehicle I'm going to be using rather than standard insurance. Would that add much to the premiums and I'm assuming my parents would have to do that as part of their insurance.

Eventually I will buy my own vehicle (or buy my parents from them) but in the medium term I was planning to use their spare car.

Help please? Thanks...

[dotoko]

As long as you're a named driver you're fine. I've had company cars for a while now so I'm not sure what business insurance costs but it does ramp up the premium over SD&P. Also do they want you to use the car as part of your job or just be insured for commuting? Because those are two different things.

[Jebus]

If you are just driving to and from work, why would you need business insurance?

[abigsmurf]

Don't do it. You're not insured doing that.

If you clearly are the main driver of a car insured in someone else's name, they'll invalidate the policy when you make a claim. It's easier than you'd think to prove you're the main driver. If in doubt phone them up (just be aware they do record details of the nature of the phonecall for future reference). If you get business insurance, they'll almost certainly think you're the main driver.

[Unwell Cat]

Don't do it. You're not insured doing that.

If you clearly are the main driver of a car insured in someone else's name, they'll invalidate the policy when you make a claim. It's easier than you'd think to prove you're the main driver. If in doubt phone them up (just be aware they do record details of the nature of the phonecall for future reference). If you get business insurance, they'll almost certainly think you're the main driver.

Ok, if the above is true then I'm assuming there is nothing I can do and I need to turn the job down as I can't afford to buy a car for the forseeable future. Or at least I'll need to get my parents to phone up their insurance company and explain the situation and that I'll be the main driver of the car, any ideas what their insurers reponse will be?

Do I have any options here in being able to use my parents car to get to and from work?

[dotoko]

Ok, if the above is true then I'm assuming there is nothing I can do and I need to turn the job down as I can't afford to buy a car for the forseeable future. OR at least I'll need to get my parents to phone up their insurance company and explain the situation and that I'll be the main driver of the car, any ideas what their insurers reponse will be?

Do I have any options here in being able to use my parents car to get to and from work?

As long as they own the car and you are a named driver you're fine. Your parents own the car, they've insured it against theft and they'll be paid out if you dink it. It makes no difference if you're the named driver or the policy holder. Otherwise what's the point of being a named driver?

I've borrowed my boss's sports car a few times and for that I was put on his insurance as a named driver for just the weekend but his insurance company told us that I could drive that car 24/7 for as long as I'm a named driver on the policy. If you are insured, you are insured, end off. I've certainly never come across any limits.

[Welrain]

Main driver

The main driver is the person who is in charge of the vehicle most often, which means they are the person who makes the most journeys as the car's driver. It's important to be honest here, as insurers can invalidate a claim if they believe they have received inaccurate information about the main driver.

If you want to insure the car for a son or daughter (who is the main driver) you must tell us that they are the main driver. When you add your son or daughter as an additional driver you can specify that they will be the car's main driver.

https://www.theaa.com/car-insurance/help.html

[dotoko]

Main driver

The main driver is the person who is in charge of the vehicle most often, which means they are the person who makes the most journeys as the car's driver. It's important to be honest here, as insurers can invalidate a claim if they believe they have received inaccurate information about the main driver.

If you want to insure the car for a son or daughter (who is the main driver) you must tell us that they are the main driver. When you add your son or daughter as an additional driver you can specify that they will be the car's main driver.

https://www.theaa.com/car-insurance/help.html

And they prove that how?

[Welrain]

Magic beans...I don't know, I don't work in Insurance. That's just a quote from the webpage.

Anyhow, ask the parents to make you the main driver, with you picking up any additional cost?

[Unwell Cat]

Main driver

The main driver is the person who is in charge of the vehicle most often, which means they are the person who makes the most journeys as the car's driver. It's important to be honest here, as insurers can invalidate a claim if they believe they have received inaccurate information about the main driver.

If you want to insure the car for a son or daughter (who is the main driver) you must tell us that they are the main driver. When you add your son or daughter as an additional driver you can specify that they will be the car's main driver.

https://www.theaa.com/car-insurance/help.html

Ok, so maybe it's not so bad. They can still pay the insurance etc and just tell the insurance company that I'm the main driver. Is that correct? Will this put the premium up?

Anyone on here work in insurance?

Bear in mind that I'm a 41 yr old with 5yrs+ no claims on my own insurance for the vehicle my wife drives and not a teenage boy racer.

[Welrain]

maybe!

[charlesr]

Surely it can't be that expensive just to tell the insurer what's what? The fact that your parents are also named drivers will bring the price down. It may even work out cheaper than they are paying now with there being 3 drivers now.

And if your wife is the main driver of your car that you rarely drive you need to tell them that too. It won't change the price hopefully.

[Taka]

I work for a niche car insurance company (imports, modified etc) and we are legally obliged to ask certain questions when somebody purchases insurance under our terms and conditions. Many of these questions are linked to situations that cannot be disproved by us easily. If you're the main driver but are not listed as such, how would the insurance company really prove that?

As mentioned earlier, why do you need business cover? Will you actually be using the car as part of your day to day duties (going from site to site etc), or will merely be using it to commute from home to the office, and back home again at the end of the day? If it's the latter, simply adding commuting to the policy should not bump the price up, and if it does, it will not be much at all.

[abigsmurf]

And they prove that how?

Having an accident at rush hour 20 miles from home is usually a big hint. Once their suspicious, they'll look for lies in the claim form made to cover it up. Or they'll simply send an investigator around and photograph you setting off for work in the car for a few days

[Brats]

Some good and bad advice on here. I've worked in insurance for 18 years and I train brokers on all classes of insurance, so here are the facts.

There is a legal principle that applies to insurance called 'utmost good faith'. It basically means that you have a duty to disclose all facts that could affect an insurance policy, regardless of whether the insurer or broker asks the question or not. It's a principle that insurers take very seriously.

So basically you have an obligation to disclose that you are the main driver of the vehicle. If you do not and you have a claim, then the insurers will cite 'non-disclosure of material fact'. If this happens, best case scenario (if the insurer is feeling kind) they will request the additional premium that you should have paid at the beginning before they will pay a claim. Worst case scenario is they void the policy from the last renewal date, which means no cover for your claim (and any other claims due that year), a possible conviction for driving without insurance and severe difficulty in obtaining insurance in the future. As currently the market is down and insurers are losing money, the latter is more likely.

Personally I wouldn't recommend it. It's actually very easy for insurers to check if people are the main user of a vehicle. As abigsmurf says, having an accident in the commute (which is the most likely place to have one) will raise a lot of suspicion and all it takes is a few phone calls to your work and you're completely busted. Some insurers even listen to call recordings with software that can indicate whether a person is lying. Fraud is a big issue for insurers and they have a regulatory obligation from the FSA to crack down on it and spend millions each do trying to do so.

You need your parents to contact their broker/insurer and ask for a quote to change you to the main driver including commuting. Make sure they are aware of any accidents or convictions you have had in the last five years. Then also get a quote to include business use for you if your employer has requested it. Note that commuting means 'commutting to your normal place of work'. If you're going to travel to other locations, you need business use.

Unless you have a much better driving record than your parents, there will be an additional premium to pay as the vehicle will now be rated on you. The quote to include business use will likely be higher still. Get the quotes before you accept the job.

The only other option is if you are the policyholder on your insurance and you have DOC cover (driving other cars extension). This allows you to drive a car that does not belong to you and be legally insured. However, the intention for this is only to cover you in emergencies and the cover is Third Party Only, so again I wouldn't recommend it. Note that many policies don't have this and if your wife is the policyholder on your insurance, it won't apply to you.