Insurance on new car purchase

boyse7en

I'm looking at buying a new (second-hand) car.

If I buy one (with tax and MoT) can my partner drive it home on her insurance policy that covers her for driving "Any other vehicle"?

Or does the car have to be insured in its own right before it it can be driven under the "any other vehicle" category?

The insurance on my car finishes in early Jan, so I don't want to have to pay the amendment fee to have my insurance transferred, and then i'll insure the new car from Jan (plus I'll have another year's NCB then)

NeverEnough

I think you'll find the car has to be insured itself or the driver will be driving without insurance - the "any other vehicle" means any other insured vehicle. Saw one of these exact situations on one of the Police Interceptors programs - someone driving an uninsured vehicle home using their "any other vehicle" clause - it soesn't work that way, until the law ever changes, its the VEHICLE that has to be individually insured in order for anyone to drive it, not the person - otherwise more or less everyone could drive uninsured vehicles all over the place using that clause........your only option is to transfer your insurance or get a short-term policy, or wait till January to buy a car.

pendulum

Unless your policy says the car needs to be insured in its own right then it doesn't.
If you have cover to drive any other vehicle then you are covered to drive any other vehicle and can't be prosecuted for driving without insurance. I've done it loads of times.

mildred1978

You can probably drive it under the DOC extension, but you can't park it on any public road/car park without insuring the actual car.

wealdroam

Also, under the new continuous insurance rules, if a vehicle is taxed then it has to be insured.
You may need to surrender the tax disc and declare it SORN* if you don't want to insure it until some time in January.


*SORN = Statutory Off Road Notification. So you will also need to park it off road until you insure it and tax it again.

vaio

and, just like some DOC cover requires the car to have a policy on it some will exclude cars owned by partners/spouses/family

All will be revealed if you read the policy

thenudeone

NeverEnough wrote: »

I think you'll find the car has to be insured itself or the driver will be driving without insurance - the "any other vehicle" means any other insured vehicle.

Only if the insurance policy specifically says so. Mine doesn't.

But technically, the owner will be committing an offence of keeping a vehicle (that is not declared SORN) without insurance, although there are no points and you're very unlikely to be caught.

boyse7en

Thanks for the help everyone. Obviously there is a bit of a difference of opinion!

1/ "I think you'll find the car has to be insured itself"
2/ "Unless your policy says the car needs to be insured in its own right then it doesn't."

I'd not thought of the new insurance laws. They really make buying a car tricky don't they.
If I transfer my insurance over to drive new car home, then my existing car is uninsured, and therefore I have to lose a month's tax and SORN it. Then no-one can test drive it, as it will not be taxed or insured.
A right royal PITA

McKneff

Have a word with your insurance company, sometimes they overlap your insurance in cases lke this.
I always have had an overlap of 7 days for buying a new car.

Gloomendoom

boyse7en wrote: »

Thanks for the help everyone. Obviously there is a bit of a difference of opinion!

1/ "I think you'll find the car has to be insured itself"
2/ "Unless your policy says the car needs to be insured in its own right then it doesn't."

Your partner just needs to read her insurance policy documents. She may be covered if the car itself isn't insured, she may be not. It varies with each insurer.

As has been said, even if she is, the car will only be insured while she is actually driving it and if she crashes it then she is only covered for damage to the third party, not your car.

scheming_gypsy

Although you'll be able to drive it home on the DOC part of the policy it'll only be third party, so till you transfer your insurance or it'll uninsured and you'll get bugger all if it gets nicked.

the easiest way is to ask your insurance company to add it as a temporary car to your policy; they normally do it for up to two weeks at a time and isn't too expensive. Well, a lot less expensive than getting a short term policy.