Car insurance company demanding names drivers license

[Deleted User]

Aretnap said:

Deleted_User said:

Car_54 said:

Deleted_User said:

You need to talk to your mum, her insurance will have these details on record somewhere almost certainly and probably hold all sorts of stuff on her.

Does she have insurance of her own?

Even if she has, they won't necessarily have her licence details. I don't think I've ever been asked for my licence number by an insurer (possibly because I've avoided the real cheapo ones).

I'd rather assume the OP is genuine and has provided a named driver who is a genuine driver i.e. has a licence, insurance, use of a car, lives within a reasonable distance that she could actually use the OPs car. As opposed to naming someone who hasn't driven for 20 years and lives 500 miles away just because it could reduce the premium

Most of those points are irrelevant; there is no requirement for a named driver actually to drive your car, or have their own car. My wife has never driven my car, for example. 

If you want to add your mum on the off-chance that she might need to drive your car the one time of year you go to the other end of the country to see her then you're entirely within your rights to ask your insurer to do that; if they decide to reduce the premium because of it so much the better. It only becomes an issue of fraud if you give false details about her - or if she doesn't exist at all. (Or I suppose if the insurer asked how often you expect her to actually drive it and you didn't reply "rarely or never", but I've never been asked that question by an insurer). 

It seems rather dubious to suggest that it's ok to add a named driver who will never drive the car (excluding obviously false details like someone who say can only drive an automatic on a manual car) purely to drive down premiums. Yes you might get away with it but if the insurance industry decided that they have had enough of sites like MSE telling everyone to lower premiums by doing this and started checking up whether 80 year old Aunt Dot who hasn't driven for 10 years and lives in London when you live in Aberdeen and realistically will NEVER drive your car is actually a legitimate named driver, it will become an issue. Naming your 50 year old mum who you live with/near and is active, a current driver is a whole different thing to naming what sounds like (from the ID reluctance) an OAP who will probably not drive the car, hence insurer asking for proof they have a driving license etc.

williamgriffin

Deleted_User said:

Aretnap said:

Deleted_User said:

Car_54 said:

Deleted_User said:

You need to talk to your mum, her insurance will have these details on record somewhere almost certainly and probably hold all sorts of stuff on her.

Does she have insurance of her own?

Even if she has, they won't necessarily have her licence details. I don't think I've ever been asked for my licence number by an insurer (possibly because I've avoided the real cheapo ones).

I'd rather assume the OP is genuine and has provided a named driver who is a genuine driver i.e. has a licence, insurance, use of a car, lives within a reasonable distance that she could actually use the OPs car. As opposed to naming someone who hasn't driven for 20 years and lives 500 miles away just because it could reduce the premium

Most of those points are irrelevant; there is no requirement for a named driver actually to drive your car, or have their own car. My wife has never driven my car, for example. 

If you want to add your mum on the off-chance that she might need to drive your car the one time of year you go to the other end of the country to see her then you're entirely within your rights to ask your insurer to do that; if they decide to reduce the premium because of it so much the better. It only becomes an issue of fraud if you give false details about her - or if she doesn't exist at all. (Or I suppose if the insurer asked how often you expect her to actually drive it and you didn't reply "rarely or never", but I've never been asked that question by an insurer). 

It seems rather dubious to suggest that it's ok to add a named driver who will never drive the car (excluding obviously false details like someone who say can only drive an automatic on a manual car) purely to drive down premiums. Yes you might get away with it but if the insurance industry decided that they have had enough of sites like MSE telling everyone to lower premiums by doing this and started checking up whether 80 year old Aunt Dot who hasn't driven for 10 years and lives in London when you live in Aberdeen and realistically will NEVER drive your car is actually a legitimate named driver, it will become an issue. Naming your 50 year old mum who you live with/near and is active, a current driver is a whole different thing to naming what sounds like (from the ID reluctance) an OAP who will probably not drive the car, hence insurer asking for proof they have a driving license etc.

I don't think adding an 80 year old will lower your premium.

Aretnap

Deleted_User said:

Aretnap said:

Deleted_User said:

Car_54 said:

Deleted_User said:

You need to talk to your mum, her insurance will have these details on record somewhere almost certainly and probably hold all sorts of stuff on her.

Does she have insurance of her own?

Even if she has, they won't necessarily have her licence details. I don't think I've ever been asked for my licence number by an insurer (possibly because I've avoided the real cheapo ones).

I'd rather assume the OP is genuine and has provided a named driver who is a genuine driver i.e. has a licence, insurance, use of a car, lives within a reasonable distance that she could actually use the OPs car. As opposed to naming someone who hasn't driven for 20 years and lives 500 miles away just because it could reduce the premium

Most of those points are irrelevant; there is no requirement for a named driver actually to drive your car, or have their own car. My wife has never driven my car, for example. 

If you want to add your mum on the off-chance that she might need to drive your car the one time of year you go to the other end of the country to see her then you're entirely within your rights to ask your insurer to do that; if they decide to reduce the premium because of it so much the better. It only becomes an issue of fraud if you give false details about her - or if she doesn't exist at all. (Or I suppose if the insurer asked how often you expect her to actually drive it and you didn't reply "rarely or never", but I've never been asked that question by an insurer). 

It seems rather dubious to suggest that it's ok to add a named driver who will never drive the car (excluding obviously false details like someone who say can only drive an automatic on a manual car) purely to drive down premiums. Yes you might get away with it but if the insurance industry decided that they have had enough of sites like MSE telling everyone to lower premiums by doing this and started checking up whether 80 year old Aunt Dot who hasn't driven for 10 years and lives in London when you live in Aberdeen and realistically will NEVER drive your car is actually a legitimate named driver, it will become an issue. Naming your 50 year old mum who you live with/near and is active, a current driver is a whole different thing to naming what sounds like (from the ID reluctance) an OAP who will probably not drive the car, hence insurer asking for proof they have a driving license etc.

It's not remotely dubious. Again, it will not become an issue if the insurer finds out that the named driver lives 500 miles away and is unlikely ever to drive; by adding them you are simply asking for them to be covered by the policy, not making any claims about how often they drive. Unless the OP has made a false declaration (for example, if his mum doesn't have a licence at all, or if he gave other false details about her) the insurer would have no grounds to void his policy.

If insurers think that this is a problem, it is one that they could easily solve by asking up front how often your named driver actually drives the car, and factoring that into the price that they offer. Or asking for their address, and not lowering the price if it's 500 miles away from the policyholder. The fact that they tend not to ask questions like that suggests that insurers don't see it as a problem - so you should probably not try to turn it into one. 

TooManyPoints

That actually makes no sense at all, especially as the company was named after the town it was founded in, ie, Hastings, Kent, not some dubious event in British colonial history.

They must have moved the border when I wasn't looking.

Ectophile

TooManyPoints said:

That actually makes no sense at all, especially as the company was named after the town it was founded in, ie, Hastings, Kent, not some dubious event in British colonial history.

They must have moved the border when I wasn't looking.

Somebody needs to tell East Sussex County Council, because they are still taking their cut of my council tax!

Hastings Direct has now moved a little way along the coast to a big office block in Bexhill.

AdrianC

Ectophile said:

TooManyPoints said:

That actually makes no sense at all, especially as the company was named after the town it was founded in, ie, Hastings, Kent, not some dubious event in British colonial history.

They must have moved the border when I wasn't looking.

Somebody needs to tell East Sussex County Council, because they are still taking their cut of my council tax!

Hastings Direct has now moved a little way along the coast to a big office block in Bexhill.

How far did they move the border?