Insurnace for a test drive

slackerslifestyle

Hey all,

I'm planning to view a car tonight from a private seller and I was wondering what the deal is regarding insurance?

I am fully comp on Elephant for my car insurance so I think this might cover me tpft for other vehicles - is that enough for me to take the car out for a test drive?

Any thoughts on this would be greatly received as I am not keen on buying the car without taking it out on the road.

Ebe_Scrooge

You need to check your insurance policy. Time was, if you had fully comp then you would be ( almost always ) automatically covered third party to drive "Any car not owned by you". Some insurance companies still do offer this, but it's not as common as it used to be. Similarly, insurance used to cover "Any person driving your car with your permission", so the seller's insurance would cover you, but again this is now not almost universally automatic as it used to be.

So - you MUST check your insurance policy, and if you're not covered, ask the seller to check his.

If neither policy covers you, then give your insurance company a call and ask if they'll give you 24 hours cover on the car you want to drive. Most companies ( depending on your particular circumstances ) will do this quite readily, and it shouldn't cost much - you may be lucky and find they'll do it for free.

Whatever the outcome, you MUST make sure you're covered. If you should get stopped by the police you'll be in a lot of trouble, and if you should have an accident ( God forbid ) then if you're not insured it doesn't bear thinking about.

One final point to consider - do you want 3rd party or fully comp ? Again, hopefully it won't happen, but if the worst comes to the worst, what happens if you cause 1000's of pounds of damage to the seller's car ? Probably best to talk to the seller about how he wants to handle that one.

Hope this helps.

Mark_Hewitt

Check your policy, most do, some don't. That'll be enough for the test drive.

Remember however. If you decide to buy the car you must get it seperately insured before you drive it home. As your other policy will not cover you once you own the car.

There was a thread about this recently about someone who "didn't realise" they needed insurance to drive the car home, got stopped by the police and are facing a hefty fine and points.

slackerslifestyle

That's great thanks for your reply - I'll double check my insurance and I will check with the insurer, you can never be too careful.

Many thanks

CHR15

I got hit with this for a poxy Courtesy Car.

Mine went in for a Warranty Repair for 2 days. The garage asked me if I was insured..

"Of course" I said falsely assuming my Fully Comp covered me.

They asked me to check anyway, only to discover I wasn't covered.

Fortunately the garage knocked off the £35 I had to pay to cover me for the 2 days with the courtesy car (a 1999 Saab 900 with 160,000 miles on it ).

Bunch of crooks these insurance companies.