Selling my car - are test drives insured?

zippy08

I intend to sell my car privately, and it occurred to me that any prospective buyers wanting to test drive the car would need to be insured.

Question is on whose insurance?

They wouldn't be on my policy, so does that mean my policy would have no cover for this scenario?
Their policy would not include my car, so similar question as above.

Catch-22?

TheSpectator

They may have driving other cars on their own insurance but this is normally 3rd party only so not much use if they damage your car.

You would have to do the driving.

400ixl

Your policy would not cover them. If they have cover to drive other vehicles on their policy it is likely only 3rd party so would not cover any damage to your vehicle.

Basically you can drive them on a test drive or risk them only being 3rd party (and have them prove they have that cover).

Kim_13

400ixl said:

Your policy would not cover them. If they have cover to drive other vehicles on their policy it is likely only 3rd party so would not cover any damage to your vehicle.

Basically you can drive them on a test drive or risk them only being 3rd party (and have them prove they have that cover).

This. Dad is currently with Saga and when he had cause to check that he had DoC cover, he didn’t see any wording limiting it to 3rd party (only that the car was not owned by or hired or leased to him or my mother) so there must be a few that are fully comp.

You might also suggest the potential purchaser tries TempCover (if they offer fully comp cover.)
 

I’d always assumed that if being able to test drive a car is important, you go to a dealer. Yes, you pay a premium but you get that test drive and would in theory have more protection if the car went wrong soon after purchase.

DullGreyGuy

Kim_13 said:

400ixl said:

Your policy would not cover them. If they have cover to drive other vehicles on their policy it is likely only 3rd party so would not cover any damage to your vehicle.

Basically you can drive them on a test drive or risk them only being 3rd party (and have them prove they have that cover).

This. Dad is currently with Saga and when he had cause to check that he had DoC cover, he didn’t see any wording limiting it to 3rd party (only that the car was not owned by or hired or leased to him or my mother) so there must be a few that are fully comp.

You might also suggest the potential purchaser tries TempCover (if they offer fully comp cover.)
 

I’d always assumed that if being able to test drive a car is important, you go to a dealer. Yes, you pay a premium but you get that test drive and would in theory have more protection if the car went wrong soon after purchase.

You need to read the policy properly... the driving other cars only exists in the section headed by "liability to others". You will find no such wording in the "damage to your vehicle" section hence you are TPO. 

Saga however are a little different in that the DoC is for insured and spouse whereas most policies are insured only. There are some insurers that do offer Comp level DoC but they are HNW policies (though they often have a limit of the vehicle being £100,000 or less in value or less than your own vehicle value if its higher than £100k)


Temp Cover does offer Comp cover. 

zippy08 said:

I intend to sell my car privately, and it occurred to me that any prospective buyers wanting to test drive the car would need to be insured.

Question is on whose insurance?

They wouldn't be on my policy, so does that mean my policy would have no cover for this scenario?
Their policy would not include my car, so similar question as above.

Catch-22?

Unless you have an Any Driver policy then your policy terms will only cover those named on your policy. 

If they claim to have DoC then check for yourself, you need to look at their certificate of insurance to see for certain. It normally only covers the policy holder and only for damage they do to others not your car. Note also most have an exclusion on DoC if their own car is undriveable or has been sold etc so if they say they're buying cos their car died last week their DoC will be invalid. 

Another option is that they could buy temp insurance, it can be in place for as little as a couple of hours if needs be. Again make sure they have it.


RTA Insurer
Be aware that were they to have an accident in your car and for whatever reason their insurance is invalid then your insurer will be considered the RTA insurer of the vehicle. This means in the absence of any other insurance they will still have to deal with the third party's claim but will have a right of recovery from them, as the driver, but also you as the insured who allowed an uninsured driver to use the vehicle. Back in my claims days we had a customer repaying a 6 figure sum with a charge on their home etc because they let their mate drive the car and it turned out they didnt have DoC. Because the debt came from an injury claim its excluded from any bankruptcy.


Theft By Deception
Most insurers exclude theft by deception, seen plenty of claims where someone has taken a car for a test drive, they pull in, policyholder gets out to close the deal and the person who'd had the test drive doesn't get out but drives off with the car. Similarly two of them turn up, open the bonnet to look at the engine, one asks for the keys to start the engine, once engine running the other drops the bonnets and runs, the other drives off with the car.  You'd have no cover for the loss of the car in either case. 


There are certainly some who refuse to allow the potential buyers to touch the keys or sit behind the wheel. The test drive is conducted by the owner driving it with the buyer as a passenger.  You'll lose some buyers for sure but it reduces the risks. Up to you to decide the right balance. 

chrisw

Hence the popularity of car buying websites like We buy any Car.

RobM99

chrisw said:

Hence the popularity of car buying websites like We buy any Car.

...for peanuts.   I got more selling a car to a breakers' than them!

movilogo

If you are selling to private buyer, ask to see their license and proof of drive other cars insurance.
But as others already said, it will be still 3rd party cover only. 

If you don't want to take that risk then either sell to a garage or companies like We Buy Any Car, CarWow etc.

I used CarWow last year to sell my 8-yr old car and they offered good price, higher than WBAC.

zippy08

movilogo said:

...

I used CarWow last year to sell my 8-yr old car and they offered good price, higher than WBAC.

Interesting! That may well be my last resort. Have already spoken to a dealer who offered around 20-25% below market value.

zippy08

@RobM99

Yup! Exactly this. 
They won't do this unless there is a corporate-sized margin in it for them.

DjangoUnchained

I use to buy all my cars privately and was never refused a test drive, often been let to take it for a drive without the owner.  Only occured to me a few years ago that it was probably not covered. I have cold sweats thinking back at the potential problems that could have happened. Thankfully im better informed now.