Can you have 2 insurance policies on the same car?

TELLIT01

Our nephew's car won't pass its MOT and he can't afford to buy a new one at the moment.  I'm considering the possibility of lending him my wife's car for the winter months as we are getting very little use from it.  I don't really want to add him to our insurance, but neither do I want do cancel our insurance on the car as we don't know how long he would need it for.  Is it permissible to have 2 insurance policies on the same car and, if so, are there any potential pitfalls to be aware of?

wheldcj

Yes and no.  It is not illegal to run two policies on the same car however for a singular vehicle it causes some headaches.

The motor insurance database can only register one policy per car I believe so you would have to let your current insurer know.  This would be material anyway because they would not want to pick up the liability for a young driver inadvertently should the other policy fail in some way.

Insurance policies also have a clause called contribution which aims to share a claim equitably if two policies are in place.  Your current insurer would have to modify this condition.

Basically I can’t see either insurer being happy with this arrangement because of the faff.

DullGreyGuy

TELLIT01 said:

Our nephew's car won't pass its MOT and he can't afford to buy a new one at the moment.  I'm considering the possibility of lending him my wife's car for the winter months as we are getting very little use from it.  I don't really want to add him to our insurance, but neither do I want do cancel our insurance on the car as we don't know how long he would need it for.  Is it permissible to have 2 insurance policies on the same car and, if so, are there any potential pitfalls to be aware of?

Its perfectly legal, just look at all those Day Insurance and Temp Insurance companies (not to mention the learner driver or part time courier policies) that are all add on policies that require the vehicle to have an underlying policy. 

The pitfalls are that your insurer is still the RTA insurer so, for example, if he was drunk and took the car for a spin its likely his insurance will not be valid for first or third party liability. As such your insurance would have to cover the third party liability as RTA insurer and they then have a statutory right, and normally a contractual right too, of recovering their outlay from him as the driver of the vehicle or you as the policyholder that allowed him to drive the car.  There'd also be the matter of your damaged vehicle that no insurer would cover.

Have seen people hit with nearly 6 figure bills when their insurer has had to act as RTA insurer and as its in relation to a bodily injury you cannot go bankrupt to avoid it. 

TELLIT01

Thanks for the replies.  To clarify, he's not a young driver.  He's in his 30s and has been driving for over 10 years, with a clean licence and no claims (as far as I know).  I don't have to worry about him drink driving as he hardly ever drinks alcohol.

DullGreyGuy

TELLIT01 said:

Thanks for the replies.  To clarify, he's not a young driver.  He's in his 30s and has been driving for over 10 years, with a clean licence and no claims (as far as I know).  I don't have to worry about him drink driving as he hardly ever drinks alcohol.

Alcohol is just one of the reasons an insurer could void a policy, just look on here as there are a few threads at the moment around voided insurance when at claims stage the insurer found out the person declared who the legal owner was incorrectly, that their ND had points on the license etc all of which could result in your personally paying for the claim. 

Its a rare thing but we had 3 cases in quick succession here, two where they'd sold the car an the buyer didn't buy insurance and the seller (the poster here) didn't bother to cancel the insurance. One at least was about £40k they were having to find. 

chrisw

Get a quote for adding him on, if he's experienced in his 30s it probably won't cost that much and keeps things simple.

TELLIT01

chrisw said:

Get a quote for adding him on, if he's experienced in his 30s it probably won't cost that much and keeps things simple.

That's probably going to be the simplest option. 

mgfvvc

TELLIT01 said:

Our nephew's car won't pass its MOT and he can't afford to buy a new one at the moment.  I'm considering the possibility of lending him my wife's car for the winter months as we are getting very little use from it.  I don't really want to add him to our insurance, but neither do I want do cancel our insurance on the car as we don't know how long he would need it for.  Is it permissible to have 2 insurance policies on the same car and, if so, are there any potential pitfalls to be aware of?

Marmalade do this routinely for younger drivers. A driver in his 30s doesn't seem to fit their offers. 

If you really don't want him on your insurance then Google the "temporary insurance" providers. They might not be cheap and cover will usually be limited to around a month