Uninsured Car - provisional licence and selling it soon - how to insure?

horsechick

Hi,

I hope you can help with my insurance predicament...

I'm selling my car because it will halve my debt and even if I could drive it, it is much easier to get the train to work and we hire cars at work.

I own a Ford Focus worth around £5000 - its registered in my name etc. My ex used to drive it as I only have a provisional licence. When we split up over Christmas he cancelled the insurance (which I had paid for, but the insurance was in his name). The car is currently sitting on my drive uninsured as Im a learner driver and Ive been quoted £1000 to insure it. I would like to sell it but need to make sure it is insured in the interim period, particularly when people are testing it out on the road.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received!

HorseChick

Astaroth

People testing it out on the road wouldnt be covered by your insurance anyway as they wont be named on your policy. They should ensure that their own insurance covers them for driving other cars (not all policies do now adays) before taking it for a test drive but even then, they would not be covered for the damage they cause to the vehicle itself - short of you buying an any driver policy (which even then would only cover those over 25) then this is the best you can do.

If you have no intention of driving it or leaving it on a public road/ supermarket car park etc then you could get Fire and Theft only insurance which would cover these risks but it would be illegal for the vehicle to be used on the road by someone who doesnt have their own insurance (or for it to be left unattended on a public highway which includes publicly accessable areas like carparks)

movilogo

Slight off topic,

My car insurance allows me to drive other cars with 3rd party cover only.
So, if I buy a second car, do I still need to insure it separately?

Astaroth

Yes, it allows you to drive other peoples vehicles on TP only cover, you cannot drive other cars owned by yourself otherwise you could buy a £100 ford fiesta and insure it with DOC for £120 and use the DOC to drive your £100,000 Aston Martin DB9

It is also only intended for uses in emergency.

The other issue is that it does not cover the vehicle whilst it is parked on the road so you could never leave the vehicle in a public area and finally you must have insurance on a vehicle to get road tax

horsechick

So what do most people do when selling their car if they dont have an any user policy - do they risk their car only being covered third party if the person testing the car damages it?

The problem I have with the any user policy is that as a learner driver I would imagine it will cost a lot....

Astaroth

Yes, most will risk the TPO cover... at least everyone I have known has - you would have legal redress against the driver but unlikely your legal expenses insurance would cover it (though not certain)

A FTO policy wouldnt be any more expensive as a learner as it doesnt cover the vehicle on the road. If you think it is expensive now though, it will get more when you actually pass your test, someone new to driving out on their own is a higher risk than a learner who has to have an experienced and responsible driver next to them overseeing proceedings.

movilogo

I think there is no law to prevent a person (who doesn't even know driving) buying a car. How can he/she get insurance for that (if he himself doesn't drive)?

Someone else can drive the cars with his/her own third party cover. No rule is broken then.

horsechick

Hi. Thank you for all your advice. I put the car on autotrader/ebay and got an offer from someone who had seen it on both for the full asking price and he bought it within 24hrs! He actually put the car onto his own insurance before he bought it because he wanted it so much. So I was very lucky to have a car spec thats difficult to come by, under mileage, good condition.

Astaroth

Just make damned sure you send your part of the V5/ log book off