2 drivers, 1 car - how does it work?

mikey72

All that's happen is they'll post a view, and at least one of us will disagree with them as well.
You'll change main driver, I won't, the op has gone, and by the time this slowly fades away, her insurance will have run out anyway.

Actually, by your understanding, I'm doing this very thing now, my daughters at uni, I run her car to the shops occasionally, maybe once every two weeks, just to run it somewhere. She'll be back at christmas, and will use it every day, then it'll be left, and it'll be me again as exclusive driver, once every other week. I'll even use it daily for a couple of days if my cars in the garage. We haven't changed the main driver on that either.

lisyloo

All that's happen is they'll post a view, and at least one of us will disagree with them as well.

Well I'm not like that.
If someone (with more knowledge and experience) tells me I'm wrong, then I will gladly accept the education.
Although I'd like to kow whether the line is drawn if it's not 6 weeks.

You'll change main driver

Actually I'm not sure I would for 6 weeks. I might just wing it.
In the same way that (like most people) I don't declare every stone chip, tiny scratch or dent on our car as a loss/incident.
But taking a pragmatic approach when knowing the facts is different to beeing ill-informed.

I won't

Up to you (and me) if we want to take a risk, but at least we (and possibly lots of other lurkers) are better informed.

the op has gone, and by the time this slowly fades away, her insurance will have run out anyway.

But we'll be able to give a better answer and not argue in future (assuming one of us doesn't refuse to accept the answer).

mikey72

-edited previous post-

lisyloo

Actually, by your understanding, I'm doing this very thing now

I don't agree it's the same thing (not by my understanding anyway).
I'd say your daughter is the main driver of that car (no change required).
Whereas in the OPs situation I'd say the OH will be the main driver (change required).
So not equivalent (on my understanding anway).

But as I said I don't think we will acheive anything by arguing with each other.
I have asked one of the industry insiders to comment.

InsideInsurance

I am certainly in no position to claim to be able to give THE answer and certainly some insurers will take one view and others another. The safest thing would be to ask the insurer in question but I think the question is going to be rare so it will be pot luck what advisor you get (re having to change the nominated main driver mid term). That said if they do state you dont need to do a Mid Term Adjustment then thats more or less set in stone, if they say you do and you dont it becomes much harder to argue if you were in the right.

Personally I'd argue that a selling of a second household vehicle, which is what the change fundamentally is, would not be considered a material change and therefore not warrant a mid term adjustment to the policy. That said, if there was an accident and the ND was commuting it MAY bring up the question of fronting and at claim stage the OP may have to "prove" that over the life of the policy who was the main driver. I say may as it is generally fairly uncommon for insurers to validate the main driver arrangement on a spouse policies unless you have either kids also as NDs or one of the couple has a terrible history. In all my years of claims I can only remember one case of spouses being investigated for fronting but that was due to the fact the ND was charged with a number of motoring offences due to the accident and u/w wanted to cancel the policy and ensure it was as water tight as possible (we were evidently paying out the TPs claim either way).

Back to the OP, the suggestion of switching PHs each year is fine as long as you are correctly declaring the main driver. Remember that most insurers online systems however default the PH to be the main driver and do not give you the facility to change it to a ND. You'd therefore need to complete the sale by telephone and in many cases will lose your online discount.