Who is the Main Driver???

NDAMACK

Hi, 
I am a 66-year-old man and have always been classed as the 'main driver' of our only car - my wife is an 'additional driver'.  I have now retired and no longer commute but my 65-year-old wife still works and commutes to her place of employment (about 7 miles away) from Monday to Thursday.  However, outside these times I am almost always the driver i.e. shopping trips, visiting family and friends, going on UK holidays etc.  Who would you classify as being the main driver for insurance purposes now?  
Thanks in advance

DullGreyGuy

Insurers dont tend to be pedantic about how main driver is defined as it could be most time behind the wheel, most miles traveled or most number of journeys completed.  Where you have and insured and spouse policy (assuming we arent talking child bride type situations or very late leaners) insurers are rarely that interested... its much more when a parent has their 18 yo just past their test kid listed as a ND on an old banger 106 but claim they are the main driver despite owning a couple of Exec vehicles in their own name. 

You dont say how often or how far these other trips are so no way of knowing if you are talking about 1 trip to the supermarket a month and 1 trip to a friend 2 miles away or a dozen trips a week. 

I wouldnt overthink it though... ask a random person down the pub... you only need a plain english answer now a mathematically accurate answer to within the 95% quartile of confidence. 

tripled

I've asked a similar question to an insurer before - I drove the car more in terms of distance and hours, but my wife used it more frequently for short journeys - and they put her down as the main driver.

A quick search brings up this result from Aviva... (https://www.aviva.co.uk/faq/motor/)

The main driver (or vehicle policyholder) is the person who drives the vehicle most often... they do not need to be the policyholder.

However, it is a bit woolly and it could vary over the course of the year. Insurers are a regulated industry and have an obligation to treat customers fairly. If you are both driving the car on a regular basis and it wouldn't cause a significant difference in premium (e.g. your wife is a new driver or has some form of adverse driving history), then I would agree with @DullGreyGuy it's unlikely to be a concern of theirs unless you make it one.

NDAMACK

Thank you both very much for your quick replies - very helpful.  Yes, we're just an average couple and not trying to pull the wool over the insurer's eyes, but I reckon they could be very pedantic if it comes to making a claim in the future - hence the question. 

I've just double-checked the figures and my wife drives a 10-mile round trip to work 4 days a week - about 1,800 miles or so a year I guess.  I drive almost all of the rest of the time after that and we have an annual mileage of approximately 12,000. 

At the moment I'm working on common sense much as 'DullGreyGuy' is suggesting and therefore I am the main driver however, my example fits with the way you were assessed 'tripled' where my wife would be classed as the main driver. 

Insurance is due at the end of this month - gotta sort it.      

DullGreyGuy

NDAMACK said:

Thank you both very much for your quick replies - very helpful.  Yes, we're just an average couple and not trying to pull the wool over the insurer's eyes, but I reckon they could be very pedantic if it comes to making a claim in the future - hence the question.   

They can only be as pedantic as their question was (inc guidance notes if done online). 

In the event of a dispute the Financial Ombudsman will consider if your answer was reasonable based on the exact wording of the question and if it was then they will make the insurer honour it even if your answer wasnt what they'd intended... ie if they argued it was meant to be based on number of journeys but you'd based it on mileage or hours then the only way the insurer could win is if the guidance note clarified that main driver was defined by number of journeys. As we can see with Aviva's definition posted above, its as woolly as the generic question so they wouldnt win. 

wongataa

NDAMACK said:

 

Insurance is due at the end of this month - gotta sort it.      

If you are unsure ask your insurance company.

chrisw

As an additional point, make sure you keep the use as social domestic and pleasure and commuting.

When I changed my occupation to retired they, understandably, removed the commuting use. Fortunately my wife is retired also so it made no difference to us.

TELLIT01

If one person drives 1800 miles, and the other drives the additional 10,200 miles, I would suggest that unless the 'main driver' is the person who makes the most individual trips, the person driving over 10k miles would be behind the wheel most.  That would make them the main driver.

One point I would get the OP to check is that his wife is covered for commuting.  When I retired and informed the insurer I noticed on renewal that commuting wasn't shown on the policy any more.  A phone call quickly addressed that as my wife was still working part time.