Can you have the same car insured twice?

Aretnap

Insurers often don't like you having two policies on one car - I assume because it makes life complicated if you make a claim, and because it's an obvious route for fraud (insure the car twice, drive it into a wall or arrange for it to be "stolen" and claim twice its value). Call centre staff may tell you it's illegal when what they mean is that their particular company won't agree to do it. It's not illegal though, and in fact there are brands (Marmalade spring to mind) which exist specifically to provide second policies on cars. If you're lending a car to a friend for a few days it's also quite common to take out an additional short term policy in his name rather than risking your own no claims bonus when he drives it into a tree.

What WOULD be illegal would be trying to claim the full cost of damage for an accident on both policies - effectively trying to double your money - but that's not what you're trying to do.

If the insurer won't let you change your wife to being the main driver and it's not because she's an outrageous risk then they don't sound like very good insurers. I can see more problems if you need to change the name of the policyholder - that means essentially cancelling the existing contract and starting a new one. If that's what you need to do you might as well start the new one with a company which is more competitive for your wife - and perhaps has better customer service.

dacouch

Aretnap wrote: »

Change your wife it's because she's an outrageous risk they don't sound very good.

I can see (no) more problems if you need to change your wife - better customer service.

Bored and ideal post for selective quoting!

thenudeone

earthstorm wrote: »

where. we tried this with several large insurance companies and they would not allow this with our car

Why would they even ask?

thenudeone

earthstorm wrote: »

so dont call the insurance company and if its illegal both insurances are now void, you get caught on an ANPR camera, get pulled over by police for no insurance, end up with points and fine and the car seized and crushed.

Complete and utter rubbish. Don't believe a word of it.

If it was illegal to have more than one policy on a vehicle at the same time, somebody had better tell these companies, because that is exactly what they are offering:
http://www.provisionalmarmalade.co.uk/
http://www.aviva.co.uk/short-term-car-insurance
http://www.gocompare.com/short-term-motor-insurance/
http://www.endsleigh.co.uk/Motor/Pages/short-term-car-insurance.aspx
http://www.rac.co.uk/insurance/day-insurance/
http://www.insure4aday.co.uk/

But - if there are two polices, the police database can only hold full details of ONE POLICY at a time. There will be an indicator on the computer to signify that another policy exists, but there will be no details held. It's an unusual situation which some police officers may be unaware of, so I'd recommend always keeping BOTH certificates in the car at all times in case you are stopped.

SuperHan

Although people are saying it can't be done with one insurer...

My car was originally my dad's and I was a named driver. When I started Uni, I took my own insurance policy out with Direct Line (the same insurer and took advantage of the named driver no claims I had built up).

My Mum and Dad forgot to cancel the original policy, and so we both paid to insure the car for a whole year, with the same company. Not once was this flagged to us (as it was an error on our part!), nor was it noticed by any ANPR or even when we taxed the car.

I'm not sure what would have happened if there was an accident, but I would have claimed on only one policy. I had a feeling that you could multi insure, but you could only claim on one policy in the event of an incident.

OP - I struggle to believe that the cancellation charge is more than the cost of the insurance? Are the not offering a pro rata'd refund which is offset by the charge, or are they actually asking you to pay more money for a policy which is already paid up?

Valli

Yes, OP you can insure one car on two policies.

For example I am insured fully comp on my car; when DS was a learner driver I took out short term policies for him as the driver of my car with Provisional Marmalade, for him to practise driving; had there been a claim my own NCD would not have been impacted.

I would assume it would also be possible for two qualified drivers to insure the same car; what I would not expect to be possible is that one driver of one car has two policies to cover himself AND his car (or herself AND her car).

See a certain person who doesn't know much has shared his opinion. Unhelpful!