Unusual Motor Insurance Question

JanesAddiction

I have searched motor insurance threads here in vain and am hoping someone out there can answer this.

An elderly relative has offered me her car free gratis. She has driven very little for the last few years and is now stopping completely for health reasons. I've driven the car regularly to keep it ticking over and its recently been NCTed. Although its 20 years old it is immaculate and a pure pleasure to drive . Its the original Lexus LS400.

In this country tax and insurance on a car like this is just criminal and it might not be practical to run this as a family car very long term. Anyhow she now tells me that she has taxed and insured it for the next year and it is ours to take away. Too good to be true !

She has always had a fully comp open policy though I am not sure what open means exactly. She believes she has done us a favour by insuring the car but I would have thought that regardless I will have to insure this car myself. Her insurance cannot transfer to me in the way the Motor Tax can. Or can it ?

If not I presume she would be entitled to a substantial refund on her premium if she disposes of the car. Otherwise the car is being insured twice for the same period by two different people.

Any thoughts?

galwaytt

Oh wow, you lucky boy/girl/W.H.Y.........Carpe Diem !

Open driving (usually) means that anyone can drive the car, with the owner's permission (it's usually with the caveat that they are full licence holder's and are over 25, or some such).

That's about it - free motoring, it looks like, to me !!

If in doubt - just read the Insurance Cert -it'll be written on it.......

Edit: thoughts ? - If you're not sure, I'll be there in half-an-hour and use it for the year myself !

Squirm

We have a fully comp open policy on our vehicle I have found most other fully comprehensive insurance does too. For us, this means that any fully licensed driver can drive our vehicle and vice versa.... but that they only have third party insurance when doing so. I have often allowed friends to rive my car (as I do not have a full license as of yet) and it is at the risk of only being third party insured when doing so. I do not believe you can transfer insurance, as the policy has been priced and granted with the driver's personal circumstances in mind. However, you could continue to drive this car for the year, only I think you are only driving with third party F&T insurance, rather than the fully comp that your relative would have, were she driving. Hooe that makes sense!

mawk

She could name you as a driver, or you can get a policy on another car which allows you tio drive other insured cars. Almost all fully comp policies allow this. Though your insurance almost certainly won't cover you if she hasn't been driving it lately

bazz26

The simplest solution probably would be to be added as a named driver on her policy.

galwaytt

Squirm wrote: »

..I think you are only driving with third party F&T insurance, rather than the fully comp that your relative would have, were she driving. Hooe that makes sense!

I'll check our policy, but I don't think that's correct: you're mixing up Driving Other Vehicles clause, with a specific Open Drive policy.

Like I said, I'll check it in the a.m. - need to be sure for myself !

As bazz says, though, to add you as named driver would be easy/cheap on the policy anyway.

Esel

Imo, by far the best/safest thing for you to do would be to advise your relative to seek a refund on her insurance premium (if she only renewed recently, she should get the vast majority back), have the car transfered to your ownership, and insure it yourself. If she is as kind as she sounds, she might even give you the refund!

Otherwise, being the full-time user of the car while driving it on your relative's open-drive clause could come back and bite you if you are unluck enough to be involved in an accident. Insurance companies will look for any way they can find to avoid paying out on a claim (the bigger the claim, the harder they look), and one phone call to your possibly innocent and trusting relative might be enough to put the cat among the pigeons.

Same would apply if she puts you on her policy as a named driver and they found out you were actually the main driver.

Wish I had elderly relatives like yours! If you're thinking of selling, or if she wants to adopt anyone, PM me quick!

Antiquo

mawk wrote: »

you can get a policy on another car which allows you to drive other insured cars. Almost all fully comp policies allow this. Though your insurance almost certainly won't cover you if she hasn't been driving it lately

That's the problem they won't

Esel wrote: »

Imo, by far the best/safest thing for you to do would be to advise your relative to seek a refund on her insurance premium (if she only renewed recently, she should get the vast majority back), have the car transfered to your ownership, and insure it yourself. If she is as kind as she sounds, she might even give you the refund!

Otherwise, being the full-time user of the car while driving it on your relative's open-drive clause could come back and bite you if you are unluck enough to be involved in an accident. Insurance companies will look for any way they can find to avoid paying out on a claim (the bigger the claim, the harder they look), and one phone call to your possibly innocent and trusting relative might be enough to put the cat among the pigeons.

Same would apply if she puts you on her policy as a named driver and they found out you were actually the main driver.

Wish I had elderly relatives like yours! If you're thinking of selling, or if she wants to adopt anyone, PM me quick!

+1 best way to go can get messy very quickly if an accident occurs.

I too am up for adoption:)

Zubeneschamali

You should ring the insurance company she uses and explain that you will be the main driver, and is that OK with them.

Another thing to consider: do you have insurance in your own name, with a no-claims bonus? If you are not renewing it, how long can you keep the NCB? Ring them too, and find out.

JanesAddiction wrote: »

In this country tax and insurance on a car like this is just criminal and it might not be practical to run this as a family car very long term.

But consider that you're getting it free. It would take a lot of years running costs to pay to buy anything even half as good.

Squirm

galwaytt wrote: »

I'll check our policy, but I don't think that's correct: you're mixing up Driving Other Vehicles clause, with a specific Open Drive policy.

Like I said, I'll check it in the a.m. - need to be sure for myself !

As bazz says, though, to add you as named driver would be easy/cheap on the policy anyway.

I can't speak for your police but that is the case with mine and my families.

It makes sense though. I'm surprised to hear it's not the norm. Although like I said, I am not well informed about this, so Im not disputing you.

Why would anyone pay to become a named driver once they have their full license otherwise? You could just drive your spouse's vehicle all the time via open drive, with no issue. Also, why take a person's no claim's bonus, age, location, etc etc into consideration when pricing and providing insurance, if that person can lend their car every day to any 25yr old, male, boy racer, NO no claims bonus, driver they wish??

I agree with the above posters, become a named driver, it's much safer. Insurance isn't something you want to take risks with.

Del2005

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Another thing to consider: do you have insurance in your own name, with a no-claims bonus? If you are not renewing it, how long can you keep the NCB? Ring them too, and find out.

NCBs are generally valid for 2 years after the policy ends, not all insurance companies are the same so you'd need to confirm when renewing.

Squirm wrote: »

I can't speak for your police but that is the case with mine and my families.

It makes sense though. I'm surprised to hear it's not the norm. Although like I said, I am not well informed about this, so Im not disputing you.

Open drive, where any fully licensed person over 25 and under 70 can drive your car, is generally an additional item on insurance policies and adds about 20% to the premium. The drawback with this is that if the other person crashes you loose your NCB.

Driver Other cars is usually free on Fully comp, and some TPFT, policies which allows you to drive other cars on your own policy with Third Party Only cover. The draw back with this is that if you crash the car you don't get any money for it and need an understanding friend.

Squirm wrote: »

Why would anyone pay to become a named driver once they have their full license otherwise? You could just drive your spouse's vehicle all the time via open drive, with no issue. Also, why take a person's no claim's bonus, age, location, etc etc into consideration when pricing and providing insurance, if that person can lend their car every day to any 25yr old, male, boy racer, NO no claims bonus, driver they wish??

Because of what Esel said.
Spouses are free on nearly all policies, adding a spouse will usually reduce the premium also.

Squirm wrote: »

I agree with the above posters, become a named driver, it's much safer. Insurance isn't something you want to take risks with.

The only way the OP is guaranteed worry free driving is to take out their own policy on the car. Generally a named driver can't be the main driver of the vehicle, which the OP will be.

Tax is the killer on this, you should get insured for normal money on it. This lady seems a really lovely person for taxing the car for a full year for you.

JanesAddiction

Thanks all. Some good advice.
Situation is she is giving me the car and she was good enough to tax it up front. There's big tax on this.

This doesn't happen everyday so I think it makes sense to go by the book to enjoy the full unrestricted benefit of this car.

We'll register the car in my name or my other half's. We'll compare our insurance quotes. Our current car is registered in her name as she got a very good rate through her Union. Insurance might not be crazy if the engine size is not the big issue it is for Motor Tax.

Spouses are free on nearly all policies, adding a spouse will usually reduce the premium also.

Does a spouse have to be married ?
Think I'm a named driver on our policy must check this out too.

My relative thought she had insured it for us in advance as the insurance is open.
Seems this was too good to be true but we are still getting a very fine car for free. We'd wanted to change our car this year anyway but had more or less decided we'd have to put it off a while.

It was only insured very recently so she should get most of her premium back.

I'm thinking it might be expensive to run but as Esel points out

But consider that you're getting it free. It would take a lot of years running costs to pay to buy anything even half as good.

And it's taxed to Jan 2012 so I can start saving now.
Bangernomics and all that.

I do prefer quality older cars to expensive OK new cars. Have driven some old Mercs (Eclasses 190s etc) but never anything like this, its probably more like an S class or a 7 Series.

Eoin

In this country tax and insurance on a car like this is just criminal

Tax is certainly high, but that adds to why these types of cars can be bought for little money. Insurance shouldn't be too bad - as others have said, engine size is just one criterion, and I can't see it being a high risk car (for what it's worth, I posted recently that my insurance in Ireland is far cheaper than any quote I've gotten from UK websites). Hopefully they won't have a problem that it's 20 years old.

That's really nice of your relation.

YourName

JanesAddiction wrote: »

I have searched motor insurance threads here in vain and am hoping someone out there can answer this.

An elderly relative has offered me her car free gratis. She has driven very little for the last few years and is now stopping completely for health reasons. I've driven the car regularly to keep it ticking over and its recently been NCTed. Although its 20 years old it is immaculate and a pure pleasure to drive . Its the original Lexus LS400.

In this country tax and insurance on a car like this is just criminal and it might not be practical to run this as a family car very long term. Anyhow she now tells me that she has taxed and insured it for the next year and it is ours to take away. Too good to be true !

She has always had a fully comp open policy though I am not sure what open means exactly. She believes she has done us a favour by insuring the car but I would have thought that regardless I will have to insure this car myself. Her insurance cannot transfer to me in the way the Motor Tax can. Or can it ?

If not I presume she would be entitled to a substantial refund on her premium if she disposes of the car. Otherwise the car is being insured twice for the same period by two different people.

Any thoughts?

Just keep driving the car like you did before, nothing has changed, just that you will be driving it a lot more now, and she will be a lot less, I presume you had open insurance or something to keep you going on that car, simples ! ! ! !

Esel

Squirm wrote: »

I agree with the above posters, become a named driver, it's much safer. Insurance isn't something you want to take risks with.

What an oxymoronic pair of sentences. As someone above already said in reply to this: named driver *cannot* be main driver.

YourName wrote: »

Just keep driving the car like you did before, nothing has changed, just that you will be driving it a lot more now, and she will be a lot less, I presume you had open insurance or something to keep you going on that car, simples ! ! ! !

OP, you probably don't need to be advised to ignore this inane advice.

Del2005

JanesAddiction wrote: »

Does a spouse have to be married ?
Think I'm a named driver on our policy must check this out too.

Unfortunately here a Spouse is a husband or wife

Insurance companies give discounts for co habiting couples. I'm not too sure what the procedure is when they own 2 cars though, the only people who can answer that is the insurance company .

JanesAddiction wrote: »

My relative thought she had insured it for us in advance as the insurance is open.
Seems this was too good to be true but we are still getting a very fine car for free. We'd wanted to change our car this year anyway but had more or less decided we'd have to put it off a while.

It was only insured very recently so she should get most of her premium back.

If she paid by phone/internet within the last 7 days she's entitled to a full refund under distance selling laws. Otherwise she'll loose a few months off her premium.

brianwalshcork

At what age does a car become eligible for classic car road tax? 20 or 25 years?

Del2005

brianwalshcork wrote: »

At what age does a car become eligible for classic car road tax? 20 or 25 years?

30

Esel

Del2005 wrote: »

If she paid by phone/internet within the last 7 days she's entitled to a full refund under distance selling laws. Otherwise she'll loose a few months off her premium.

Not 'a few months', surely? Normally a refund is pro-rata, with possibly a reasonable administration charge as well.

Del2005

Esel wrote: »

Not 'a few months', surely? Normally a refund is pro-rata, with possibly a reasonable administration charge as well.

She'll loose at least 1 months premium. I can't see an elderly lady, assuming full NCB and clean licence, paying that much for insurance so even a €20 admin fee would be about another month.

I hope I'm wrong. But when are insurance companies ever reasonable?

galwaytt

..you'd be nut's to put the car in your name. What if she want's it back in 12 month's - you'd have to revert all the papers again.

W.Shakes-Beer

Take the car, sell your current car and use that money to tax/insure/fuel it.

Esel

galwaytt wrote: »

..you'd be nut's to put the car in your name. What if she want's it back in 12 month's - you'd have to revert all the papers again.

Not remotely likely, though. Not much paperwork either even if it did happen.

Do you not agree that the OP owning it and insuring it himself or herself is the onlly way to go?