Insurance for vehicle where you are not the owner

TheGame21

Hello,

My wife owns a vehicle as her parents were unable to buy one due to credit history etc however the vehicle resides at her parents property and they use it. When taking out the insurance, we have only ever taken a policy in her parents name however I fear we have been doing this wrong and that she should be listed as the policy holder and her parents as main drivers?

My wife is also listed as the registered keeper however is there another option to change the registered keeper to one of her parents as this doesn't necessarily have to be the owner I believe?

Can someone advise please?

Thanks

Aretnap

There isn't necessarily a right or wrong way to do it - in principle either your wife or one of her parents can insure the car. The insurer will ask  who is the owner, who is the registered keeper and who is the main driver (or mention something in the assumptions and ask you to tick a box to confirm that the assumptions are correct). Whoever is insuring the car has to make sure that these things are all declared correctly, and it's then up to the insurer whether to offer cover or not.

Not all insurers will quote if the RK, owner and policyholder are all different people, and not all will offer the same price, so it's probably worth getting quotes with both your wife and your parents as policyholder and seeing which results in more/lower quotes. 

Where it becomes a problem is if your in-laws have ticked a box to say "yes I am the owner and registered keeper" - if that's not true then it could invalidate the policy.

If your wife dies end up insuring it remember that Shrek have to declare that it's usually kept at a different address than her own, as well as the fact that it's her mum or dad who is the main driver.

prettyandfluffy

It's not a problem, I lent my car long-term to my niece.  I remained the registered owner, she was the keeper and insured it in her own name.  As long as you keep things factually correct there shouldn't be any issues.

TheGame21

Thanks for your responses, I've looked through the policy documents and the only time it mentions registered keeper is in the case of a courtesy car. I've also looked through the word owner however there is nothing saying you have to be the owner so I may just clarify this with them as the policy is up for renewal. We also may list one of her parents as the registered keeper to be sure. 

chrisw

Your wife could always gift the car to her parents or sell it to them for £1 to make them the owners. There is an element of trust required in that if the vehicle's ever sold or written off you'd like some money back, assuming you do.

DullGreyGuy

When you buy the insurance you will have to declare who the registered keeper/owner is relative to the policyholder so as long as you are correctly answering that then it's all fine from an insurance perspective. 

Presumably the Finance company know about this arrangement too? Most don't accept cases where the debtor and the main users aren't the same person outside of cohabiting spouses 

chrisw said:

Your wife could always gift the car to her parents or sell it to them for £1 to make them the owners. There is an element of trust required in that if the vehicle's ever sold or written off you'd like some money back, assuming you do.

The vehicle is on credit, you'll be causing problems if you sell a car with outstanding finance 

Aretnap

If the car is on a finance agreement then presumably changing the registered keeper could be a problem as well as outright selling it/giving it away.

Though I note that the OP doesn't actually say that it's on a finance agreement, just that the in laws couldn't get a car themselves due to poor credit history. The wife could also own it outright under various other arrangements (bought with her own cash, cash from personal loan etc).

TheGame21

Thanks again for comments, the vehicle isn't on a finance agreement. We've decided to make my father in law the registered keeper and have confirmed this is ok with the insurance company.