Additional drivers on car insurance

Touser

Hi,

I just want to ask if anyone can explain to me how it is possible/how it works that if you add an additional driver onto your car insurance that it actually can bring the price of the quote down, as I would have thought that this would increase the price instead.

The reason I ask is that I have just renewed my insurance and it was quite high and a friend was telling me that he added his mum onto his car insurance and it brought the cost down.

One more question is that if you add an additional driver onto the insurance and they have an accident will it affect my no claims bonus even if I pay extra for the guaranteed no claims bonus protection?


Thanks.

V_tricky

Well I'm no expert on insurance ratings at all - and there are plenty on here more knowledgeable and eloquent on this subject than me, but insurance is all about risk.

If you are 21 and drive the car full time, you are a high risk.

If you are 21 and drive the car part time (with the other user being in their 50's) then you are still a high risk, but overall the risk is less, because the assumption is that the named driver will be driving at least some of the time, hence why your insurance might reduce.

Both people can't drive the car at the same time remember!

If any driver on the policy has an accident, it will affect the no claims discount (unless you have no claims discount protection) - however - this does NOT mean that your premium wont change.

Thanks to mattymoo for the following link which highlights how NCDP works:

Association of British Insurers

" Note, however, that it is the discount that is protected. Insurers need to take into account a person’s claims history in setting the next year’s premium, whether or not the discount is protected. "

So once a claim is made, the base risk will change (increase) but you will still get a discount on the overall figure.

shelly

Touser wrote: »

One more question is that if you add an additional driver onto the insurance and they have an accident will it affect my no claims bonus even if I pay extra for the guaranteed no claims bonus protection?

Just wanted to add further to what V_tricky said about the above that not only will a claim affect your NCB (whether it is protected or not) but also for X yrs the named driver will have to declare the claim too. So you as policy holder have to declare that a claim has been made on your policy by a named driver and the named driver will have to declare the claim as it was them that made it.
Also after a claim base premuim can go down as well as up.

mum2one

also if the named driver on your policy has an accident in there car you also need to notify your ins company/

Touser

Would you be able to add an additional driver to get the premium down e.g. my mum, even if she would never use the car or is there normally some kind of terms and conditions where the additional driver has to use the car a certain amounts of times in a year etc. (although I can't see how they would be able to monitor this)?

This method would also reduce the risk of the additional driver having an impact on my No Claims Bonus.

mum2one

Touser wrote: »

Would you be able to add an additional driver to get the premium down e.g. my mum, even if she would never use the car or is there normally some kind of terms and conditions where the additional driver has to use the car a certain amounts of times in a year etc. (although I can't see how they would be able to monitor this)?

This method would also reduce the risk of the additional driver having an impact on my No Claims Bonus.

That is illegal, as your bringing down the price of the policy based on the additional driver, on there gd driving record, this person would needs to use the car.

Your 1st yr of ins is always high,but once 1yr has passed claim free in therory your new quote would be 30% cheaper. Def worth shopping around.

My example - held full licence since 17, had 2 accidents non fault - other drivers admitted liability both, and luckly my no claims had been protected. As both were compensation claims, there were claimed via legal bitof the policy, I felt that I had a loyalty to that insurers, but then I tjhought do they give me loyalty - at time I was driving 1.6 Escort Ghia (upped the ins a bit), the renewal quote came in at £450, (I was on maternity leave at time -crap money (back in 2002) shoppedaround got exactly same terms conditions for £200). Never looked back since. x

Dan29

Touser wrote: »

Would you be able to add an additional driver to get the premium down e.g. my mum, even if she would never use the car or is there normally some kind of terms and conditions where the additional driver has to use the car a certain amounts of times in a year etc. (although I can't see how they would be able to monitor this)?

I don't see a problem with this, and certainly don't see how it could be illegal. You've added a driver to your policy so that they are insured to drive the car if they want/need to. If they happen not to drive it during the course of the year, who's to say you knew that was going to be the case when you took out the insurance? You're insured as the main driver and you have been the main driver, so no problem there.

It's completely different from 'fronting', where you claim that someone is the main driver when you know they won't be, IMHO.

slipp_digby

mum2one wrote: »

That is illegal, as your bringing down the price of the policy based on the additional driver, on there gd driving record, this person would needs to use the car.

Are you sure this is correct?

I also insure my dad as a named driver on my insurance in case I am ill or cannot drive for some reason (say I got injured playing football and the car needed to be driven home).

I do not pretend he drives it, but he is insured should he need to. Surely the risk is based on the main driver.

I only left him on it because the premium was un-affected, so I presume so is the risk?

lisyloo

Are you sure this is correct?

The basic rule is that you need to be honest with insurance companies so that they can adequately consider the risk.
What you are doing slipp_digby sounds fine to me because you genuinely anticipate that your dad might drive (although he may end up never driving the car).

Deliberately adding people that you know will never drive the car to get the price down is mis-representing the risk to the insurer and technically would be illegal.

Although it has to be recognised that in practice it would be quite hard for an insurer to tell the difference between the two situations (unless it was something obvious like they resided in a different country).

My advice is to be honest, throughly read and understand your contract and get any importatn agreements in writing (in the meantime get names, times and dates).

Touser

This is the thing I was trying to find out.

I can't see how anyone can prove that the additional driver hasn't used the car in the year the car is insured.

Dan29

Touser wrote: »

This is the thing I was trying to find out.

I can't see how anyone can prove that the additional driver hasn't used the car in the year the car is insured.

No they can't, and even if they did, as long as when you took the insurance out you weren't being dishonest, you've got nothing to worry about.