Insuring car not in my name

DFWJane

My mum is elderly and disabled and has given up her driving licence.  She wants to keep her car (will gift to my son when he reaches 17 next year). 

Meanwhile she’d like me to drive her car to take her shopping, appointments etc.  She can’t physically get into my car.  
Other people who may drive are someone she hires to take her out, and her neighbour. 

Can I get insurance in my name for the car if mum is still the keeper?  I’m assuming other drivers will be covered 3rd party under their own insurance as I don’t want named drivers on my policy.  

Mum wants to keep the car in her name, it will be kept at her home. 

Thank you 

TooManyPoints

I’m assuming other drivers will be covered 3rd party under their own insurance ...

That is by no means a "given". The "Driving other vehicles" extension is not so common as it once was and each of them will have to check their own policies.

marlot

I think she can continue to insure the car, just needs to name you as the main driver.

I'd suggest she has a chat with her insurer.

Herzlos

You can insure the car yourself and list your mum as the owner when asked. I've done it for years, and I think it cost maybe £10 more than if I was the keeper.

Of course, if the car isn't worth much already and you're going to run it into the ground, it's probably easier to transfer it into your name and put an extra keeper on it.


The "drive other cars" provision is intended to be an emergency thing and usually has exclusions about cars owned by family members to avoid fronting. There used to be a big problem with young lads crashing their grans' sports cars they'd borrowed under the DOC provision...
Even then, it's 3rd party only, so you're much better insuring it properly (you as main driver, your mum or yourself as keeper).

chrisw

Yes she can. We have a similar situation with my daughter having my wife's car on 'long term loan'.

The only downsides are that it does seem to reduce the number of insurers that come up on comparison sites so might not be quite so competitive and any speeding or particularly parking tickets come through to my wife. We forward them on to her and ask her to sort them out but could still potentially be liable.

CoastingHatbox

We do this with my wife's car; I had to buy it in order to get company discount but it is insured in her name. It's never presented a problem.

Remember, a vehicles keeper is not necessary it's owner.

macman

Legal ownership and registered keeper are entirely separate things.

Nebulous2

There are a lot of people with health issues who own and insure cars that they never drive. Your mother should be able to contact her insurer, tell them she is no longer driving, change the main driver, and continue insuring the car. 

That helps preserve her no claims (would you have a no claims you can transfer to the vehicle?) and allows her to keep the named drivers she needs. 

DullGreyGuy

CoastingHatbox said:

We do this with my wife's car; I had to buy it in order to get company discount but it is insured in her name. It's never presented a problem.

Remember, a vehicles keeper is not necessary it's owner.

Spouses will never be a problem for any insurer, when you start getting more remote relationship between owner/keeper and policyholder then more insurers drop off... parent/child is ok for most, siblings less so, friends/neighbours much less so

A broker like Adrian Flux would be able to arrange for her to remain the policyholder but as a non-driver, they can also do any driver policies for the neighbours etc to be able to drive her. Not necessarily the cheapest prices though

herebeme

The main driver needs to be the person driving the car most. If this is the carer she hires, then this is the person who should be the main driver. Remember if there’s an accident and the insurer/police ask questions then your policy may be invalidated if you put yourself down as the main driver when it was really someone else. 

If you/she are paying someone to drive her you may need extra liability cover in case the driver is injured in your employ. 

I took over my elderly mother’s car during the pandemic. The main things the insurers wanted to know was where was the car “staying” most, and who was driving most. When the car eventually moved to my address they suggested I take over ownership to reduce insurance costs vs having the car owned by someone at one address but spending most nights at another (I saved a lot on the insurance at that point), but if your mother is maintaining ownership and it is staying at her address that doesn’t apply.