Do I own my wife's car?

zg3409

My car insurance allows me to drive anyone else's car as long as I don't own the car.

My wife's car is in her name. I assumed I would be covered to drive it, under the driving other cars clause.

However someone said to me once you are legally cohabiting/married then you have joint property rights on all things, so we both own all cars, so I can't use my policy to drive her car as I own it

I rang my insurer to check (AXA) and the person on the phone said this was not the case and I am OK to drive, but the friend I spoke to before said this was the advice he got from his insurer so I am still not 100% sure. Is there a legal name for this and does it apply to cars where the car is in a sole name?

whomitconcerns

Your not ok to drive it on third party as your married and would have an insurable interest in the car. You need to be a named driver on her car to be covered.

Or for the pedants...�������� if she had open drive on the car, you would be covered also.

Edit: it does appear their are exceptions to this... Not sure how that works though... I'll let the experts weigh in.

Smee_Again

If Axa say its OK then its OK.

It'll depend on the insurer, Liberty won't let me drive my spouses car using my policy but it would appear that Axa will let you.

It doesn't matter what your mate was told by a different insurer.

padraig737

Smee_Again wrote: »

If Axa say its OK then its OK.

I agree but since the policy document is vague, I'd prefer the answer through email or post rather than a phone call. Print it and leave it in her car in case you get stopped by the Gardai.



OP you normally get a discount when adding your spouse to a policy so it would make more since to do that.

Victor

Smee_Again wrote: »

It doesn't matter what your mate was told by a different insurer.

Or ever the same insurer relating to someone else's policy.

Eggs For Dinner

It's down to policy wording. Some policies say 'any vehicle not owned by you .....etc' and others say 'any vehicle not owned by you or your spouse....etc'.

You have an insurable interest in your wife's car but you do not own it.

zg3409

padraig737 wrote: »

I'd prefer the answer through email or post rather than a phone call. Print it and leave it in her car in case you get stopped by the Gardai.

OP you normally get a discount when adding your spouse to a policy so it would make more sense to do that.

If I try contact them via their online contact system I have to accept

This enquiry is not a confirmation of any cover

but I have done so and asked them to respond by email.

I agree normally the best thing is to be a named driver on the policy if you drive a car regularly. It can even reduce the annual cost. Insurers can be slippery in the event of a claim, so I prefer to be sure. I don't trust anything said over the phone, they may lose the recording of the call if it suits them.

The policy document says...
This cover only applies if you do not own the car...

Thanks all for help

meathstevie

The best advice anyone can give you is read your policy documents and what it says there is what it is.

Not all insurance companies use the same wording, some exclude cars owned by your spouse or partner on driving other vehicle extensions, others don’t.

For vehicle ownership purposes, the registered owner is the person who’s name is on the registration document. If that’s not your name you’re not the registered owner.

jimmycrackcorm

padraig737 wrote: »

OP you normally get a discount when adding your spouse to a policy so it would make more since to do that.

This is true, at least with my recent insurers. Adding a spouse as a named driver is cheaper than just on your own. So it cheaper for each souse to add the other as a named driver.

coylemj

zg3409 wrote: »

However someone said to me once you are legally cohabiting/married then you have joint property rights on all things, so we both own all cars, so I can't use my policy to drive her car as I own it

If that was true, your wife would need your permission to sell her car. And you wouldn't be guilty of any crime if you took all of her jewellery and sold it. Neither of which is the case.

To answer the question in the thread title - no, you do not own your wife's car and the proposition quoted above is incorrect. The Married Women’s Property Act 1882 says so....

1. (1) A married woman shall, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, be capable of acquiring, holding, and disposing by will or otherwise, of any real or personal property as her separate property, in the same manner as if she were a feme sole, without the intervention of any trustee.

So the condition (under 'driving other cars') that you cannot drive a car which you own does not apply to a car owned by your wife, since it is her sole property.

Of all the mainstream insurers, Liberty is the only one I can find which excludes your spouse's car...

'the other car is not owned by your spouse / partner/cohabitant or employer or hired to them under a hire-purchase or lease agreement'.

Axa does not have this condition so you will be covered to drive your wife's car.

Claw Hammer

zg3409 wrote: »

However someone said to me once you are legally cohabiting/married then you have joint property rights on all things,

That is not true. Each party to a marriage or cohabitation owns their property in their own right. They may also own property jointly with their spouse/partner in the same way they can own property jointly with anyone else.

Outkast_IRE

We were given discounts for adding our names to each others policies . No negative as far as I know .

Joe4321

Just go as named driver, it should not increase you policy price more than likely will lower it, from personal experience it has always lowered the price if you have a named driver with full licence and own policy,

silver2020

A policy can be up to 20% cheaper if you have a partner as named driver. Seems if you are co-habiting there is less insurance risk!

B-D-P--

silver2020 wrote: »

A policy can be up to 20% cheaper if you have a partner as named driver. Seems if you are co-habiting there is less insurance risk!

Less driving over to young wans houses

zg3409

Got an email response from AXA which totally is opposite of what was said over the phone, as clear as mud:

You can only drive your spouses car if you are named on their policy as a named driver. You can clarify this with your spouse's insurance provider if she is not with AXA direct.

So it seems as if AXA don't know either

zg3409

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

We were given discounts for adding our names to each others policies . No negative as far as I know .

Only slight negative is if your spouse crashes your car they claim from your policy which affects your no claims bonus. The person who drove the car (your wife etc.) has no claim on their insurance but you have a problem/claim for 5 years. An issue if you split up or are not sharing bills/cash etc.

Only a slight problem more if an issue if you add a friend or housemate to policy and they crash your car, it's your problem, not their problem as its your policy. The upside is you might get cheaper insurance , until they crash. My brother had a nanny on the policy, and she crashed 3 times..she walked after that but policy was high for 5 years.

zg3409

Rang AXA again. Person on the phone this time said if you have regular use of car you should not be driving it under other cars policy. He also noted that I might own my wife's car in case of separation etc. Safest is I am not insured and he said wife's car is a grey area, so I don't think even AXA has a clear yes/no on the issue.

He said main reason people don't put partner down as named on policy is if partner has a load of penalty points or convictions, otherwise it reduces the premium

So to answer the first question, it's grey..at least from a car insurance perspective

db

I was asked to produce insurance at a garda station once while driving my wife's car. I produced my own insurance as I thought I was covered under the driving other cars clause but it wasn't accepted by the garda as it was my wife's car. This was with Aviva and he was right - the policy states that the clause does not cover you on your spouse's car. Luckily I was a named driver on her policy so I was covered anyway.
It does however cover me for driving my daughter's car should I ever need to.

coylemj

zg3409 wrote: »

Rang AXA again. Person on the phone this time said if you have regular use of car you should not be driving it under other cars policy. He also noted that I might own my wife's car in case of separation etc. Safest is I am not insured and he said wife's car is a grey area, so I don't think even AXA has a clear yes/no on the issue.

Which, along with your earlier (#16) post, proves that there is no point in phoning your insurance company regarding cover. Because you will get different answers from different call agents.

Axa explicitly state that if you have comprehensive cover to drive other cars, it will not apply if you use the car regularly and/or it is owned by your 'husband, wife or partner'. Neither of those exclusions are mentioned in the third party section dealing with driving other cars.

If you read the policy document, there is no 'grey area'. The fact that the call agent even used that term shows that they don't know what they're talking about. Because you either are or you are not covered and my reading of the Axa policy document says that you are.

Lantus

Either it's an open policy and anyone can drive it.

Or you are a named driver which is the norm and as many have said will get you a discount.

Or you can drive another car on your policy but this is normally third party cover only so quite risky.

There are variations as always but you need to be named driver

The owner of the car is written on the registration document and typically is paying for the car.

Edit, axa state you can drive other cars with the paid for policy extension on a third party basis. That means no damage caused by you will be paid out on your policy so as long as the car is v old and the risk is acceptable.

But seriously. Just get added as a named driver and nice versa. Cheaper insurance and get no claims protection.

Sleeper12

You should be named on each others cars. Believe it or not this usually reduces the cost of the insurance