new licence address, new v5, trying to get insurance

G5C3PO

Hi everyone.  im struggling to get my head round a problem. i have ADHD and ive wasted over 4 hours on this. 
i just bought a car so sent off the v5 this morning. 
i just changed my address on my licence with the DVLA too. also this morning. 
now im trying to get insurance. 
do i need to wait till i get my new licence and v5 before i can get valid insurance?

JGB1955

No, you need to get insurance from the moment you bought the car (and road tax too).

CliveOfIndia

Strictly speaking, no.  Most insurance policies will ask two key questions - what is your address, and where is the car normally kept overnight.  As long as you answer both of these questions honestly, there's no issue.

You may find that your quotes are ever so slightly higher if the systems haven't been updated, so your home address appears to be different to where the car is "usually kept".  But even then, depending on the statistics for the two addresses, that can make more of a difference than the fact that the car is not being kept "at home", as it were.

But you don't need to wait until you've got the physical documents in your hand.  In fact, you shouldn't - if the systems register that your car is taxed but not insured then you could find yourself in trouble.

Don't worry overly about this - what normally happens is that if you have tax but no insurance, you'll get a letter telling you to either insure the car or SORN the car.  If you don't do either, that's when you'll find yourself in hot water.  But if you're just talking about a few days, you'll be fine.

But the bottom line is, you don't need to wait for the documents to arrive, you can insure it straight away.