Car Ownership & Insurance for Newly Licensed Driver

byronwells

Hi everyone,

My wife recently passed her driving test and we're looking to purchase a car together. I currently drive a manual car but am considering switching to an automatic. Due to budget constraints, we're exploring the option of buying and sharing a single vehicle.

I have two questions:

1. Car Registration: Can we register a car in both of our names, or must it be registered to one person (me or my wife)?

2. Insurance: To get the most affordable insurance rates, should I apply for insurance in my name and then add my wife as a driver, or should she apply for insurance and add me as a driver?

Thanks for your help!

angrycrow

Car can only be registered to one person but with husband and wife it does not matter which of you it is registered to. 

For insurance it should go in the name of whoever will be driving it most. That said as long as you honestly tell the insurer who will be the main driver most insurers will rate on the worst risk i.e. your wife as a new driver. 

If you have some existing no claims bonus it will be cheaper to insurer it in your name and use your NCB to reduce the costs. If you do it in your wife's name she will be starting with 0 NCB.

Emmia

angrycrow said:

Car can only be registered to one person but with husband and wife it does not matter which of you it is registered to. 

For insurance it should go in the name of whoever will be driving it most. That said as long as you honestly tell the insurer who will be the main driver most insurers will rate on the worst risk i.e. your wife as a new driver. 

If you have some existing no claims bonus it will be cheaper to insurer it in your name and use your NCB to reduce the costs. If you do it in your wife's name she will be starting with 0 NCB.

But to be clear, you insuring it as the main driver but your wife being the actual main driver is not advisable, and is known as fronting.

Risks are policy cancellation,(which needs to be declared in future) an insurer declining to pay out in the event of an accident... prosecution.

All of which will push your premiums up quite a bit.

LightFlare

angrycrow said:

Car can only be registered to one person but with husband and wife it does not matter which of you it is registered to. 

For insurance it should go in the name of whoever will be driving it most. That said as long as you honestly tell the insurer who will be the main driver most insurers will rate on the worst risk i.e. your wife as a new driver. 

If you have some existing no claims bonus it will be cheaper to insurer it in your name and use your NCB to reduce the costs. If you do it in your wife's name she will be starting with 0 NCB.

not necessarily 

a new driver with an experienced one as a named driver “may” work out cheaper.

As stated - ensure you are up front about who will be the main driver and play around with the details.

Sometimes (if possible) easier to speak to a human

CliveOfIndia

In terms of the who the Registered Keeper is, it makes no difference.  There can only be one RK, but it doesn't matter if that's you or your wife.  In general, insurance tends to be ever so slightly cheaper if the policy-holder is the same as the RK - however, that's not applicable in a husband/wife scenario, it makes no difference to insurance costs.

As others have said, you need to make sure the true "main driver" is named as such - though if you'll genuinely be driving the car equally between you, it doesn't really make a difference.  Again, insurers are inclined to believe that a husband/wife will share the driving equally, more so than where you've got a young teenager named on a parent's policy when in fact the youngster is the main driver.

As for insurance itself, just shop around and see what difference it makes whether you or your wife are the policyholder.  People often get hung up on no-claims discount, but it's entirely possible that one insurance company can be cheaper than another, even if you've got zero no-claims.

And all things being equal, you might want to consider swapping policy-holder each year - put yourself down one year, your wife the next (assuming you do drive the car equally).  NCD usually expires after 2 years, so by doing this you can both build up and retain your own NCD.

Goudy

Registered keeper is just one person.
It doesn't need to be the owner, just who will be basically responsible for it.

Make the policy holder the same as the main user and registered keeper, whichever of you that is, just make them the same.

There's no other particular reason except avoiding confusion.
One of you deals with ALL the car stuff and knows it!

Also in the case of any dealings with the car, you don't want to be trying to explain one is RK, the other is the holder the policy and the first is a named driver!
Most will get it, but do you want to keep explaining it?

If you've a car in mind, shop around on the comparison sites and do quotes with each as policy holder/main user/RK and the other as named driver, see which comes out cheapest.

As Clive points out, you can swap over each year so each builds up a NCD of their own (though slower as each earns a discount every two years instead of one year). 

 

byronwells

Goudy said:

Registered keeper is just one person.
It doesn't need to be the owner, just who will be basically responsible for it.

Make the policy holder the same as the main user and registered keeper, whichever of you that is, just make them the same.

There's no other particular reason except avoiding confusion.
One of you deals with ALL the car stuff and knows it!

Also in the case of any dealings with the car, you don't want to be trying to explain one is RK, the other is the holder the policy and the first is a named driver!
Most will get it, but do you want to keep explaining it?

If you've a car in mind, shop around on the comparison sites and do quotes with each as policy holder/main user/RK and the other as named driver, see which comes out cheapest.

As Clive points out, you can swap over each year so each builds up a NCD of their own (though slower as each earns a discount every two years instead of one year). 

 

I will be the main driver... She works from home, so will only use it on the weekends.. Me will be using during it the week.. I totally forgot about the NCD aspect.. I have been driving for 12 years and never made a claim... If my wife gets added to my policy will she will get a NCD? Or does she needs to have a sperate policy?

byronwells

CliveOfIndia said:

In terms of the who the Registered Keeper is, it makes no difference.  There can only be one RK, but it doesn't matter if that's you or your wife.  In general, insurance tends to be ever so slightly cheaper if the policy-holder is the same as the RK - however, that's not applicable in a husband/wife scenario, it makes no difference to insurance costs.

As others have said, you need to make sure the true "main driver" is named as such - though if you'll genuinely be driving the car equally between you, it doesn't really make a difference.  Again, insurers are inclined to believe that a husband/wife will share the driving equally, more so than where you've got a young teenager named on a parent's policy when in fact the youngster is the main driver.

As for insurance itself, just shop around and see what difference it makes whether you or your wife are the policyholder.  People often get hung up on no-claims discount, but it's entirely possible that one insurance company can be cheaper than another, even if you've got zero no-claims.

And all things being equal, you might want to consider swapping policy-holder each year - put yourself down one year, your wife the next (assuming you do drive the car equally).  NCD usually expires after 2 years, so by doing this you can both build up and retain your own NCD.

I will be the main driver... She works from home, so will only use it on the weekends.. Me will be using during it the week.. I totally forgot about the NCD aspect.. I have been driving for 12 years and never made a claim... If my wife gets added to my policy will she will get a NCD? Or does she needs to have a sperate policy?

Goudy

Only the policy holder gets to earn a discount.
Discounts last around 2 years, so you can swap who is the policy holder each year or two.
She would then build up some NCD but at a slower rate obviously.

CliveOfIndia

byronwells said:

  If my wife gets added to my policy will she will get a NCD? Or does she needs to have a sperate policy?

Only the policyholder earns NCD.  There are some companies around who will give you some sort of discount if you've been claim-free as a named driver - though even then, it's only usually applicable if she insures herself with the same company.

But don't get too hung up on NCD - it's just a relatively small part of the overall pricing algorithms.  As mentioned already, you can alternate each year so that you both build up NCD, albeit at a slower rate.  But very often you'll find that a different insurer can give you a better price, even with zero NCD.

byronwells

Goudy said:

Only the policy holder gets to earn a discount.
Discounts last around 2 years, so you can swap who is the policy holder each year or two.
She would then build up some NCD but at a slower rate obviously.

No worries, Goudy. Thanks for your help!

When I first insured a car 12 years ago (a 2001 Peugeot 206), the cheapest option was fire and theft insurance. A year later, I bought a 2011 Fiesta and was able to get full comprehensive coverage for a good price, which I've maintained until now. I thought drivers with 10 years of No Claims Discount (NCD) would have significantly lower premiums. I didn't realize NCD resets every two years.

If my wife is added to my policy for the first year, will she be able to get cheap car insurance on her own in subsequent years?