Son off to uni - how do we sort his car insurance so we can use his car?

abigailsrevenge

My son is off to Uni in September and his car will be sitting on the drive, awaiting his return. It is insured in his name, obviously, but his dad would like to be able to drive it whilst he is away. Does anyone know what the insurance company does about this - he cannot be the main driver while he is away and we don't want to have to re-register the car in his dad's name.

Sorry if this has been answered many times before - I trawled through several pages but couldn't find any similar question

rev_henry

Does his father have the drive other cars extension on his own car? If so then leave it as it is, and your husband (I presume?!) can just drive it - 3rd party only though. This is what I do when I'm away at uni.

ceh209

I'd take the main driver as the one who does the most miles in a year - will this still be your son? (assuming he will drive it when he comes home)

apt

As long as the driver who is insured as the main driver is actually the main driver of the car I don't think there will be a problem with insurance. You will not have to reregister the ownership of the vehicle.

pleasedelete

Won't he need it at uni?

mikey72

Put his dad down as a named driver on your son's policy.
If you don't keep your son as main driver, no one will ever believe you're not fronting.

bouncydog1

pleasedelete wrote: »

Won't he need it at uni?

Many Uni's do not allow first year's to have a car!

OP - just add dad to the policy if he is just going to use it occasionally i.e. once a week to keep it ticking over - as typical UNI terms are 40 weeks this means 40 days in the year - so your son would still be the main user.

If dad is going to use the vehicle daily because it is cheaper to run than his own, then you would have to declare to insurers. Some will insist that the son's policy is cancelled and that means cancellation fees, loss of balance of year's NCB etc.

IMO dad should use once a week.

abigailsrevenge

Thanks for all your replies - son is going to uni over 6 hours drive away so he's not driving, even if there was parking there!

Husband was hoping to use the car to drive to work (relocating sites, its a 45 min drive instead of a 15 minute walk). He's a named driver already on our son's car and we have our family car registered in his name.

Oh, well. I spose we'll just have to bite the bullet and talk to the insurers. I was hoping someone might have had the same problem and could suggest an easy answer!

bouncydog1

I would suggest before you speak to insurers you advise who they are as there are some that are more flexible than others.

rev_henry

Son will want his car back in holidays yes? That should just about make him the main driver over the year. So leave it as it is but make sure dad has commuting cover as a named driver. Ideally you want the policy to stay in sons name so he keeps getting NCB.

abigailsrevenge

Son is insured through Tesco at the mo (he works part-time for them and got a bit of a discount) - think renewal due in October time.

Does anyone know their policy on this?