A few questions on car insurance (for a couple)

SouthLondonUser

My wife and I are considering buying a used car, and I have a few questions about insurance:

• Can/should the V5 log book be in both our names, or in the name of just one of us?
• Am I right in understanding that car insurance cannot be joint, but that one of us needs to be the primary policyholder, and the other the additional driver? We’d never use the car for commuting, but only at weekends, and 99% of the times we’d use it together, so there won’t really be a primary driver.
• Would both accrue NCD, or only the primary driver?
• I ride a motorcycle and have a few years’ worth of NCD on my bike insurance policy. Am I right in understanding that my bike NCD is totally separate from, and will not impact, the NCD and premium of a car policy? It’s a bit crazy that being a good driver on another vehicle is ignored, but being a bad one isn’t (had I had motorcycle accidents, I’d have to declare them), but, well, who has ever said that motor insurance is a fair business?
• Like I said we’d never use the car for commuting, but one of us might very, very, very rarely drive to the office, because we have some heavy parcels to transport, or because we have some after-work engagement that we need to drive to. If we were involved in an accident on our way to work, could the insurer refuse to pay if we had declared tha car for social use only, not commuting? Or would we be able to prove the exceptional nature of that journey (eg with public transport records showing we take public transport to work every day)?

Thanks!

Car_54

- Just one name: it doesn't imply ownership, it just identifies who is responsible for tax etc.
- Correct. One policyholder plus additional driver
- Only the policyholder
- I suspect you're right
- The usual advice, unless commuting is explicitly included, is to add business use to the policy, which normally costs little or nothing.

forgotmyname

The policy holder accrues the NCB not the driver or named driver or even the main driver.

rs65

SouthLondonUser wrote: »

and 99% of the times we’d use it together, so there won’t really be a primary driver.

You might be using it together but only one is driving.

Like I said we’d never use the car for commuting, but one of us might very, very, very rarely drive to the office

If you ever use it to drive to work, you need commuting cover.

SouthLondonUser

rs65 wrote: »

You might be using it together but only one is driving.
.

At any given moment, yes, but what I probably was not clear on is that we always take turns and neither is likely to drive more than 50% of the time.

bazzyb

If you genuinely will each be driving it 50% of the time/distance then it may be worth looking in to switching who is the main driver each year as you would then each build up some NCD (and be able to keep your respective discounts as you are allowed a gap between policies). However this will depend on a number of factors as to which works best for you, i.e. if either of you have any recent claims / convictions / endorsements or if either of you already hold a good NCD which you wish to apply.

rs65

SouthLondonUser wrote: »

At any given moment, yes, but what I probably was not clear on is that we always take turns and neither is likely to drive more than 50% of the time.

Its actually very unlikely that you would both drive exactly 50% of the time.

wgl2014

If used equally I would insure it with the policyholder same as the registered keeper, keeps things simple and some insurers insist on this.

Try some dummy quotes and see which way round is cheapest.

( This assumes you will both use the car equally)

SouthLondonUser

rs65 wrote: »

Its actually very unlikely that you would both drive exactly 50% of the time.

Since it wasn't clear, what I meant was that it's not like one of us will be driving 90% of the time. It might not be 50-50, it might end up being 57-43, but it will certainly not be 90-10. Which of us ends up driving 57 and which 43 is not something we can predict.

bazzyb wrote: »

If you genuinely will each be driving it 50% of the time/distance then it may be worth looking in to switching who is the main driver each year as you would then each build up some NCD (and be able to keep your respective discounts as you are allowed a gap between policies).

Is there any penalty/complication if the registered keeper is an additional driver but not the main policy holder?

rs65

SouthLondonUser wrote: »

Is there any penalty/complication if the registered keeper is an additional driver but not the main policy holder?

Some insurers favour the owner, keeper and main driver to be the same. Some insurers don't care between husband and wife.

Try some anonymous quotes on a comparison site.

forgotmyname

bazzyb wrote: »

If you genuinely will each be driving it 50% of the time/distance then it may be worth looking in to switching who is the main driver each year as you would then each build up some NCD (and be able to keep your respective discounts as you are allowed a gap between policies). However this will depend on a number of factors as to which works best for you, i.e. if either of you have any recent claims / convictions / endorsements or if either of you already hold a good NCD which you wish to apply.

Switch the driver as many times as you like, the POLICYHOLDER gains the No claims.