Can I drive my wife's car on my own policy?

majorwally

My wife may be buying a car soon. She's just started learning.

I gather she can be the owner and registered keeper of the car, but that I can drive it till she can.

The plan is to sell my car and both use hers.

I currently have my own full no claims discount, but obviously she has none, so how would we go about doing this insurance?

Iceweasel

majorwally wrote: »

My wife may be buying a car soon. She's just started learning.

I gather she can be the owner and registered keeper of the car, but that I can drive it till she can.

The plan is to sell my car and both use hers.

I currently have my own full no claims discount, but obviously she has none, so how would we go about doing this insurance?

If you gather that then you know more about it than I do.

How are you entitled /covered to do that on your present policy, as per the thread title?

Are you really covered for any car that you do not own?

It is possible - but did you check your policy?

System

You can only drive it if you are not excluded from it as some insurances now do. A lot exclude driving spouse/partner's car on DOC. others also insist that there is separate insurance covering the car.

Also you will need to get insurance otherwise you fall foul of the continuous insurance rules as DOC doesn't count

System

Also as soon as you sell your car you need to cancel your insurance. Your insurance will not be happy in having to payout on your insurance if the new owner has an accident as has happened, although they will probably chase you to recoup their loss

vaio

Easiest solution is to trade in or sell yours as part of buying the new one and transfer your existing policy to the new one.

Before you buy check to make sure your existing insurer will cover the new car (& wife) and be prepared for a steep hike in premium when wife passes her test

AdrianC

majorwally wrote: »

I gather she can be the owner and registered keeper of the car, but that I can drive it till she can.

Providing you're insured for it, yes. As others have said, it's very unlikely your insurance will count it for the "driving other people's cars" cover, even assuming you have that. Check your policy carefully.

The plan is to sell my car and both use hers.

Who will be the main driver of this second car? You or her?

I currently have my own full no claims discount, but obviously she has none, so how would we go about doing this insurance?

If you're going to have both cars for any significant length of time, then you'll need to ask insurers very nicely for an introductory discount. But, since she's a new driver, I think you might be very lucky indeed.

If you're going to sell yours at about the same time as buying the other car, and you'll continue to be the main driver, then you can just transfer the no-claims over. A small overlap shouldn't be an issue.

Ultrasonic

Is there a reason that you will want two cars simultanesously for a while? If not, then replacing your current car with the new one seems the best plan as it avoids worrying about insurance on multiple vehicles.

One point worht noting is that your current NCD can only be used for one policy, and so could not be used on a second car as well as your current one.

dacouch

AdrianC wrote: »

Providing you're insured for it, yes. As others have said, it's very unlikely your insurance will count it for the "driving other people's cars" cover, even assuming you have that. Check your policy carefully.

It's not very unlikely.

Assuming the OP has driving other cars, there's a good chance it will be covered assuming his policy does not require the other car to be covered (Plenty don't have this requirement) and also that they don't specifically exclude spouse's cars which most don't.

If the other car does not have it's own Insurance, the registered keeper may fall foul of the continuous insurance law

Ultrasonic

dacouch wrote: »

If the other car does not have it's own Insurance, the registered keeper may fall foul of the continuous insurance law

Excellent point.

jimjames

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Is there a reason that you will want two cars simultanesously for a while? If not, then replacing your current car with the new one seems the best plan as it avoids worrying about insurance on multiple vehicles.

One point worht noting is that your current NCD can only be used for one policy, and so could not be used on a second car as well as your current one.

Depending on the company they may well use your NCD even if it is on your existing policy.

Just taken out a new policy for another vehicle in addition to my current car and the insurer used my full NCD despite me entering 0 as the number of years. They based it on the previous policy history so that may be possible - although reading it the OP doesn't sound like they want to have 2 policies long term.

BTW both our policies allow us to drive other cars under them. I did look into only insuring each car for the driver so we could each drive the other's car under that facility but it was actually cheaper to have both our names on the policy anyway. I guess the main thing is it will depend on your age, there is probably a cutoff age where driving other cars isn't offered as a feature.

Aretnap

Remember that if you do drive a car on your driving other cars extension you only have third party cover - so if you have an accident which is your fault, or even one which you can't prove was someone else's fault, then you'll have for your own repairs. If you want damage to the car to be covered you need to take out comprehensive insurance and have both of you named on the policy - which is probably the best option unless it's a cheap old banger which you can asily afford to replace.