Insurance question, driving someone elses car 3rd party on my policy

curiosity

Folks,

Tricky question.

I'm currently driving a 1.4 golf thats been in our family for almost 14 years, so I'm very attached to it. But she's old and somewhat lacking in creature comforts for the 100km round trip to work each day. So I'm on brink of buying a 2003 focus. However I dont want to get rid of the golf. Now the expensive thing to do would be to insure it, albeit I'd have to start from scratch re an NCB as I'd use it on focus. A chap I was on phone to from ins co. suggested I could 'sell' the golf to someone (not a family member or partner) and drive it under the 'covered for driving other cars 3rd party' part of the focus' insurance. I was wary, but I mentioned it to a workmate later in passing and she said she'd be ok with doing it, as she'd trust me re paying motor tax and avoiding speed fines.

So to summarise, I sign golf over to her, while still being the person physically keeping it. I'm the only person driving it under the open driving part of my policy. There then would be no other insurance on the car.

Any pitfalls I'm not seeing?

Wishbone Ash

curiosity wrote:

Any pitfalls I'm not seeing?

Yes - the Golf would also have to be insured with someone else. Otherwise we would all be at it .

Cerberus

I think I'd have to agree with Wishbone. I asked my insurer that same question once and they said that in their eyes I was covered in an accident but that the guards might have a problem with it. So I asked the guards then but they said that it was fine as well. So I looked into the law myself and and the jist I got from it was that a car has to have a valid current insurance certificate displayed on the windscreen. Technically I think the car wouldn't have one because your own cert would not have the particulars of that car on it. So in the event of an accident you could the see the situation that your insurance company would pay up for 3rd party damages but that the law would prosecute you for driving without insurance. So in the end I decided not to go down that route. Maybe it would be worth asking a solicitor to look into the technicalities of it for you?? Would be a cheap way of having a performance car for weekends and a cheap runaround for work...

alias no.9

Re: Third party driving of other cars, some insurance companies specifically state that the car can't be owned by you, your spouse or business partner, and must be insured by the owner. Others simply state that you can't be the owner, but then the law about displaying a valid insurance disk kicks in. You'd probably be ok at a checkpoint if you had your insurance cert and the log book / registration cert for the golf, but if you ever parked it up in a public place, your work colleague would be looking at 5 penalty points and a hefty fine as the owner, your cover only counts when you're behind the wheel.

I'm really surprised someone from the insurance company would suggest this. Was it a brokers or a direct insurance company?

One alternative would be to look for a low mileage policy.

curiosity

alias no.9 wrote:

I'm really surprised someone from the insurance company would suggest this. Was it a brokers or a direct insurance company?

One alternative would be to look for a low mileage policy.

Twas a brokers, albeit one of the most reputable firms in the country. Tbh, he was just throwing something out there as he saw the spot I was in.

Lads, thanks for confirming what I'd suspected anyway. I'll go down the route of a cheapie 3rd party only policy on the Golf, and see if a low mileage option would help. I can see money sense intervening and the Golf going at this rate.