Can a car have TWO insurances?

wapow

Hello


If a friend owns a car, he has full comp insurance on it. The insurer he is with says that to add another driver, the other driver needs to have a license for minimum of 3 years.


As this criteria isn't met, can I insure the car with someone who doesn't have that caveat?


Both people have no claims bonus aswell.


This would mean the vehicle has insurance with two different companies. Ofcourse I know that if something were to happen, the NCB rules etc.

AdrianC

You need to make them aware that this is a top-up policy, just to add an extra driver, and won't be providing full MIB cover. There are quite a few providers specialising in this sort of policy for learners, but I don't know about fully-qualified new driver. Otherwise, this could all get very complicated.

Quentin

A car can have multiple insurance policies - but any claim would mean all insurers being involved if they shared cover for the matter being claimed.


But what is the point paying for two policies?


Just find a policy that allows the additional driver and cancel the original. The cancellation costs and loss of the part year NCD eill be much less than the cost of anther policy

BMD_2

Hi Quentin or anyone that can help. My wife has insurance with two companies as she made a change mid term and didn't realise the renewal date had changed. So she renewed at the original date and the old policy doesn't run our until next month.

I am a named driver on that policy and was involved in an accident yesterday. When checking through docs with new insurer I realised she hasn't yet sent her NCB form to new insurer (still within the allowed time frame).

However when ringing her old insurer and asking for the certificate they told her the policy was still live until the end of this month. They also said it was illegal to have two policies!

2 questions here:
1. Is this illegal? It's so easy to make this mistake surely there are contingencies?
2. I have opened a claim with the new insurer. Should I also ring the old insurer and let them know?

Quentin

1. Not "illegal" at all. She does have an issue in that her NCD is in use on the original policy, and so wrongly has told her new insurer she has NCD to use on the new policy when in fact she has nil.


2. Yes.

BMD_2

Thanks for your speedy reply. I will let them know today.

So thinking next steps. Should she cancel that older policy and send the (6 year) previous certificate from last year to the new insurer?

Slightly linked question. I have my own insurance for my other car. I should let them know also?

Quentin

BMD wrote: »

Thanks for your speedy reply. I will let them know today.

So thinking next steps. Should she cancel that older policy and send the (6 year) previous certificate from last year to the new insurer?

Slightly linked question. I have my own insurance for my other car. I should let them know also?

She cannot use the "old" NCD cert - that 6 years is in use now on her first policy. Be careful not to try and get round this by trying it on - as both insurers will be in touch with each other over this claim as they will be "sharing" the cost and the new insurer will discover the truth


You do need to tell your own insurer about your claim (and others you go to for insurance in the future - usually you are asked about claims over previous 3/5 years)

BMD_2

Thanks so much for all your help!

wapow

AdrianC wrote: »

You need to make them aware that this is a top-up policy, just to add an extra driver, and won't be providing full MIB cover. There are quite a few providers specialising in this sort of policy for learners, but I don't know about fully-qualified new driver. Otherwise, this could all get very complicated.

Thanks for your reply.
I need to understand a bit more about what a Top Up Policy is and MIB cover.

Regards

wapow

Quentin wrote: »

A car can have multiple insurance policies - but any claim would mean all insurers being involved if they shared cover for the matter being claimed.


But what is the point paying for two policies?


Just find a policy that allows the additional driver and cancel the original. The cancellation costs and loss of the part year NCD eill be much less than the cost of anther policy

Thanks for this. As long as its not illegal then I'm happy.

I've just realised, after two weeks of honing down the insurance to the best possible price via multiple comparison websites, how full of sh*te these insurance company lot are when looking for insurance.

AdrianC

wapow wrote: »

I need to understand a bit more about what a Top Up Policy is and MIB cover.

MIB is the Motor Insurer's Bureau. All insurers have to log the registrations of the vehicles they cover on their central database, which is then queried by DVLA for breaches in Continuous Insurance, and by the Police for stopping cars believed to be uninsured. The public can also query registration plates with them - askmid.com - and get back the insurer who are legally responsible for the car, so that a claim can be made directly.

But you've already got that policy in place. What you want is a top-up to add another driver. These policies are akin to the driving-other-car (DOC) cover on many normal policies, where the car's own insurance doesn't cover you to drive it. They're most frequently sold for learner drivers, but there may be some available for newly-qualified drivers.