Question on TPO cover to drive other cars..

[Johnny G Pipe]

Good afternoon gentlemen.

I got an IN10 lately (see recent winge, and-EDIT- extremely unfairly, I should add), and have now been quoted £500 to insure my £500-value merc (pre-IN10 premium = £110..). Similar things are happening to my 200sx (track car) policy, and Christ alone knows what will happen to the classic policy on my 911 when its renewal time.

So, I'm going to have to duck and dive a bit, and here's my question: Careful questioning of insurance types seems to reveal that the TPO cover you often get on driving other people's cars only stipulates that the car in question is:
1. Not owned by you
2. Taxed and MOT'd

..and that it doesn't need to be actually insured by anyone - it will be still be legally covered in 'emergency' situations.

So -why can't I sign the Merc and Nissan over to my wife, keep them road legal, and drive them with her permission?

I'm sure there's a catch..

Cheers
JGP

>>> Edited by Johnny G Pipe on Thursday 5th May 18:15

[rsvmilly]

Catch number one would be you'd never be able to tax it.

[Nickccc]

Johny, I think it goes like this.
The car driven TPO must not be reged to you,
it must be taxed, MOTed and as It does not belong to you whoever it is reged to, (girlfriend mum whatever)
must have their own insurance policy on it.
In my opionion it is only worth it if your licence is loaded with points or convictions.
Nick

[Johnny G Pipe]

rsvmilly said:

Catch number one would be you'd never be able to tax it.

Ahh, good point that man! I guess it would involve insuring, taxing, and then cancelling insurance within the 14 day opt-out period. Messy, and probably illegal in some way.

Nick - this is what I'm trying to verify. Although not happy with my question, the girl I spoke to at the insurance company clearly said that the car doesn't actually have to be officially insured by anyone to still be covered TPO under a separate policy. I wondered if anyone had actually done this, I suppose.

Don't want to come over as a barrel-scraper here, but IN10 is second only to Driving Under the Influence as a heinous crime, as far as insurance weighting is concerned. Doing things this way could save me several thousand over the five years just for 2 cars.

[pdV6]

Catch number 2 is that you'd never be able to park it on the street... as soon as you get out the car reverts to completely uninsured.

[Johnny G Pipe]

pdV6 said:

Catch number 2 is that you'd never be able to park it on the street... as soon as you get out the car reverts to completely uninsured.

Ah-ha! Another good point well put.
I'm prepared to accept TPO cover anyway, however, so it was never covered for theft in the first place, if you see what I mean. Neither the Merc nor the Nissan are particularly attractive to the TWOC types, anyway. There isnt a straight or rustless panel on the Nissan. They're not parked on a public road for 99% of the time, either..

Next!

>> Edited by Johnny G Pipe on Thursday 5th May 18:07

[trax]

The only thing I can think of is already mentioned, the owner of the car has to insure the car for TP cover, whilst it is on the highway. So the best idea, as you are likely to have it on the road when you arnt drving it, is for her to insure them TPO herself aswell, then you drive them with your own driving other car extension, with the car that you have TPO cover on.
She will be able to tax them too.