Selling Car - can i keep insurance for a couple of weeks?

KennyH1

I am in the process of getting a new car through work (arriving mid Feb). I am looking to sell my current car at the end of Jan and use my nephews car for a couple of week. Can i drive his car under my insurance even though i will have sold my car? 

Mark_d

I think this is a question for your current insurer

DullGreyGuy

KennyH1 said:

I am in the process of getting a new car through work (arriving mid Feb). I am looking to sell my current car at the end of Jan and use my nephews car for a couple of week. Can i drive his car under my insurance even though i will have sold my car? 

The problem is your insurance will still be in force on your other car. If they were to have an accident it will be as if you had let a friend drive it without checking their insurance. Your insurers would still be the RTA Insurer of the vehicle so have to settle any third party claims and as you have allowed this situation to happen then they will have a right to request you to refund their outlay. 

There were two cases on here last year of exactly this happening, from memory one of those was now having to find £35,000. Certainly in my claims days we had one case of nearly £100,000 - as its injury compensation you cannot go bankrupt to avoid it. 

Even if there isn't the RTA Insurer issue because the buyer does buy their own insurance and stops at the scene of the accident etc you will still have the CIDRA issue that you have failed to declare a major change and so were you to need to claim it could be your insurance is void... your nephew is then in the same problem above, that they've allowed an uninsured driver to use their vehicle.

Finally, you'd need to check your policy to confirm you have Driving Other Cars, not all comp policies do these days and realise that its only Third Party Only cover and so no insurance for damage you do to your nephews car. 

A minority of insurers may allow you to have the policy running for a short time without a vehicle on cover but most will say you have to transfer the policy to another vehicle or cancel it. The cost of the admin fee however may be more than the cost of adding you to his policy as a temporary additional driver for a few weeks.

BoGoF

Even if you have driving other cars cover on your policy it only covers you 3rd party on your nephews car so if you total it they get nothing - however seeing as you will no longer have an insurable interest in the old car you should cancel it - your insurer could still be held liable if something happened to it.

bluelad1927

The policy should be cancelled. If the car is still insured and involved in an accident then a claim could possibly be made against the insurer. If this happened they will no doubt be chasing you to recoup their costs

prettyandfluffy

Better to get yourself added to your nephew's policy.