new main driver

emhardy

Due to new job in the community need to be main driver of our car ('t' vectra) have no 'no claims' and seem to be getting punished for this despite never having an accident. Been driving for nearly four years as a named driver and am a 31 year old female and lowest quote so far is £705 which others have said is alot. Are there any insurance companies which put all this into consideration?

BargainHunterCat

Personally in your situation, I would phone a few insurance companies and explain that yuo effectively have 4 years claim free driving even though you were not the main driver as such. I would want the case to be referred directly to the underwriters for special consideration.

May I ask whose name is the policy in now? If it is your spouse or partner and you are a named driver, then I see no real reason why you should change it into your name. Insurance companies aren't generally that bothered about spouses sharing cars, in fact they expect it. What they don't like is parents insuring cars for their children to drive in order to keep the premiums low.

maclean2

Hi - try Quinn Direct who will allow worthwhile discount for named driver experience as I am assuming you don't have any NCD on this car.They are a well established Irish company who now operate in the UK as well.

Best of luck

MarkyMarkD

BargainHunterCat wrote:

May I ask whose name is the policy in now? If it is your spouse or partner and you are a named driver, then I see no real reason why you should change it into your name. Insurance companies aren't generally that bothered about spouses sharing cars, in fact they expect it. What they don't like is parents insuring cars for their children to drive in order to keep the premiums low.

Whilst there's no reason to change the name of the policyholder, you should still notify the insurer of the change of main driver. In the circs described, though, it probably won't affect the premium materially.

ffrht

Hi- Had a similar experience a couple of years ago, mearly because we downsized to one car and my wife was doing most of the driving, but then at 45 years old and 25 years driving experience was told that my previously held FULL NCD's were void because I hadn't been the "named" driver for more than 12 month's! The solution offered to us was to swap the policy over between the two of us each year. Is it any surprise that there is NOW a significant number of people who choose to drive without insurance £1500 premium-v-£200 fine.

Savvy_Sue

MarkyMarkD wrote:

Whilst there's no reason to change the name of the policyholder, you should still notify the insurer of the change of main driver. In the circs described, though, it probably won't affect the premium materially.

Had to do this earlier this year and the main part of the increased premium was the admin charge for altering the policy! (£9-10, IIRC)

Also worth making sure you have full cover for all you'll do in car: not just to and from work but business use. Will you ever have clients in the car? Work-related supplies? It's as well to declare this ...