Dropping the second family car - how to maintain insurance record for both drivers?

pwurple

Due to COVID my terms of employment have changed, I am now permanently working from home. My spouse is a stay at home parent and we have children. One of the cars has not moved at all in 4 months. We no longer need two cars all the time, as mine isn't stuck in a carpark all day anymore. We are now considering selling one.

However, if we do this, one of us will be the primary driver, and the other the "named" driver.

Is there is a risk to the "named driver" of losing no claims bonus long term?

Or, is it a possibility to co-own the car, and both be primary drivers?

I'm trying to figure out if we need to transfer ownership of the car between eachother every couple of years, or how this works long term. I imagine we will need two cars again when the kids are older for example, and we are both back at work, so I don't want to be hit starting from scratch with no claims bonuses in 6 or 7 years time.

coylemj

pwurple wrote: »

I'm trying to figure out if we need to transfer ownership of the car between eachother every couple of years......

Do it every year so that neither of you will ever be more than a year without a policy in your own name. That will preserve the no-claims discount for both of you.

pwurple

That's a bit of overhead though is it? Do you do this

Sell the car to each other every year? The tax and insurance renewal are not aligned at the moment... they are 6 months apart.

Any other way around it? Or , is it needed?

coylemj

pwurple wrote: »

That's a bit of overhead though is it? Do you do this?

Wouldn’t apply to my situation but that scheme has been recommended multiple times in this forum. Where is the ‘overhead’? Just transfer the registration, it costs nothing.

pwurple wrote: »

Sell the car to each other every year? The tax and insurance renewal are not aligned at the moment... they are 6 months apart.

The tax isn’t affected at all, the disc stays current when the change of ownership happens.

Cakerbaker

If your married you don’t need to transfer ownership of the car. A spouse is considered to have an insurable interest in their spouses car so can be the insured driver. My car is in my name, my husband and I swap being named / insured drivers every year for the exact reason you want to. There’s no issue with our broker, tbh from talking to them it seems to be fairly common.

conndeal

My parents also insured the car in turn every second year for several years to maintain their two no claims bonuses and they did not have to transfer ownership. The person who is the named driver has to be careful because they do not have driving of other cars e.g. you cannot just borrow your brother or sister's car because you do not have an insurance policy in your own name - it is in your spouses name that year.

Cakerbaker

conndeal wrote: »

The person who is the named driver has to be careful because they do not have driving of other cars e.g. you cannot just borrow your brother or sister's car because you do not have an insurance policy in your own name - it is in your spouses name that year.

Yes! My mam ended up naming me on her policy so that I’d be covered to driver her car when the named driver on my car.

pwurple

Cakerbaker wrote: »

If your married you don’t need to transfer ownership of the car. A spouse is considered to have an insurable interest in their spouses car so can be the insured driver. My car is in my name, my husband and I swap being named / insured drivers every year for the exact reason you want to. There’s no issue with our broker, tbh from talking to them it seems to be fairly common.

Perfect, thanks!

1874

Seems to have been sorted, but highlights the whole NCB business, an excuse to foist higher insurance with the NCB "discount", I guess we have to work around it,