Timing of changing insurance when changing cars

Wammer

A topic on the Insurance forum has now got me worried.

I am changing cars on 29 January and did the change of registration on the Aviva website yesterday. I am going to double check, but I'm almost sure the insurance ends on the old vehicle on 28 January at 23.59 and starts on the new one at 00.01 on 29 January. This would mean that the old vehicle won't be insured while it is being driven just over a mile to the dealership to be exchanged.

Maybe I need to call them up to change insurance to that of the changeover time, but they charge for changes made by phone.

Any ideas or thoughts?

sheslookinhot

I would drive it to the garage on the 29 Jan without a second thought.

Notmyrealname

See if you can change it. Pretty much every dealership I've looked at has given 7 days free insurance with the sale of a car.

The 29th is a Sunday, can't you do it on the Saturday and use the free insurance to cover you that evening?

Wammer

Yes I have always been offered 7 days free insurance when I've changed cars before, but not this time around so they must have stopped it as they did say to make sure I gave them the Certificate of Insurance in advance so they could tax it.

Sunday is the earliest I can get the car as it is pre-registered.

Annoyingly, the Aviva website only shows documents with the new registration and nothing with the old one.

I shall be calling them tomorrow for peace of mind. I'm sure in the past the new vehicle was covered from midnight, but the cover for the old vehicle carried on until 12 noon on the same day. That said, I also seem to recall being asked for a time when I have done it by phone. There was no option to choose a time online.

BoGoF

Or.....you could leave your old car at the dealership on the Saturday and walk to pick up the car on the Sunday....it's only a mile

Wammer

BoGoF wrote: »

Or.....you could leave your old car at the dealership on the Saturday and walk to pick up the car on the Sunday....it's only a mile

That's a brilliant idea! That may just be the solution to my problem!

BoGoF

And it won't cost you a penny !

forgotmyname

You will be uninsured and taking the risk of getting stopped, vehicle will be towed away.

Fine and 6 points, £100+ to get your car back before you can get the new car which i presume
you need for part exchange.

Is it worth the risk of 6 points and a fine + costs?

As post number 2, Silly advice, Checkout the people who come here for adivce after finding they were uninsured
accidently.

richard734

I am surprised at how many preople get caught like this - if you are changing cars at a set time, tell teh insurance company when you phone to arrange. I have had a couple of ins companies effectivly ensuring me to drive 2 cars for a day. Cost no extra and supported by a letter/email. There has to be a fixed day for final handover on the cover note/ins cert, but despite what we all think, the insurance companies can and will be very reasonable if you talk to them.

vickssinex

richard734 wrote: »

I am surprised at how many preople get caught like this - if you are changing cars at a set time, tell teh insurance company when you phone to arrange.

+1 for this. When I bought my current car last year my insurance company (Swiftcover) said that they accepted there would be a brief changeover period on the morning the trade in was done. I made sure I told them beforehand though.

If any insurance company got uppity about this then they wouldn't get my business again!

pitkin2020

All I did was arrange a collection time with the garage and set my insurance to change over then. So if you arrange for a 2pm collection ask them to swap it over for that time, ensure you get to the dealership before then and don't drive away until then.

As for the suggestion of driving to the dealership with no insurance you could do that but it would be a risk and for the price of a phone call to your insurer is it worth it.