Car Insurance Check

cosmarchy

Hi,

I'm curious how car insurance works when you insure the car with a driver who can drive multiple vehicles.

I am insured on my and other halves car and both our policies permit we can drive another persons vehicle with their permission - reasonably straight forward.  

But if I were to drive someone else vehicle who doesn't have insurance on that vehicle and a check is made, they'll presumably come up with no insurance but I have insurance - how does that work?

When I insure a car, I use that particular cars registration number so the vehicle has insurance but if I were to drive another, I don't have insurance on that particular vehicle so anyone checking would find it uninsured.

Seems strange and curious about how it works...

user1977

Suspect the answer is that you're at risk of being stopped and the vehicle impounded (because the keeper has failed to insure it), even though you're not committing a personal offence of driving while uninsured?

Hoenir

cosmarchy said:

But if I were to drive someone else vehicle who doesn't have insurance on that vehicle and a check is made, they'll presumably come up with no insurance but I have insurance - how does that work?

With no insurance in place the vehicle would also be untaxed. May well be impounded as a result.  Expensive mistake. 

BarelySentientAI

Don't a lot of the "drive other cars" policies also say that the vehicle must be insured by its owner?

DullGreyGuy

cosmarchy said:

But if I were to drive someone else vehicle who doesn't have insurance on that vehicle and a check is made, they'll presumably come up with no insurance but I have insurance - how does that work?

When I insure a car, I use that particular cars registration number so the vehicle has insurance but if I were to drive another, I don't have insurance on that particular vehicle so anyone checking would find it uninsured.

Seems strange and curious about how it works...

First of all check the Driving Other Cars' requirements on the policies, increasingly they will have a requirement that there is another policy on the vehicle itself. 

There are two legal requirements, continuous insurance says that any vehicle that isn't SORNed must have insurance on it. RTA says a driver must have insurance. Clear the registered keeper is breaching the first requirement and there may well be consequences for them. You aren't breaching the second because of the DoC cover however the vehicle may be untaxed given its got no insurance and that would be an offence for you.

Either way you'd be pulled over as the ANPR is going to flag the vehicle as uninsured

Remember also that DoC is TPO cover so no assistance at all for your own vehicle damage irrespective of fault. 

cosmarchy

Thanks for your responses.

I do have to clarify, I AM NOT in a situation where this effects me as I am fully insured on all the vehicles I drive as well as being main or named driver. 

The question really came about out of curiosity after reading through my documentation which states that I can drive another vehicle and it got me thinking how that worked when you insure the vehicle.  

There is another situation which now springs to mind in that if you do a check and find a vehicle is showing as uninsured as is the case with a neighbor, what if the individual driving it has insurance when the vehicle belongs to someone else who doesn't have  insurance?

BarelySentientAI

cosmarchy said:

There is another situation which now springs to mind in that if you do a check and find a vehicle is showing as uninsured as is the case with a neighbor, what if the individual driving it has insurance when the vehicle belongs to someone else who doesn't have  insurance?

That's been answered at least twice above, if I'm reading your question correctly.

Many "driving other cars" policy wordings require the car to have insurance before the clause is valid.  If the vehicle is uninsured, they will not cover.

DullGreyGuy

cosmarchy said:

There is another situation which now springs to mind in that if you do a check and find a vehicle is showing as uninsured as is the case with a neighbor, what if the individual driving it has insurance when the vehicle belongs to someone else who doesn't have  insurance?

How are you proposing to check if a neighbour's car is insured or not?

MID has two tools, for one you have to declare you are the registered keeper of the vehicle you are checking and the other you have to pay a fee and declare they have caused damage to your property or injured you... which fraud are you proposing to commit?