Insuring a car when not the registered keeper
Discussion
My Son's car has failed it's MOT, requires considerable repairs just to reinstate it's banger status as such it's not economical to do.
As he is a poor Uni student, he can't really afford to replace it but his older Brother is away in Thailand for a few months and has a car here which is not being used.
So the plan is for younger Son to use older Son's car until he either gets another or older Son returns from his travels, both are OK with this arrangement.
Now, with regards to insurance obviously it will need to be insured for younger Son but is it necessary or better that the insured is both the owner and keeper? - asking because I know insurance companies always ask this on renewals.
If it is better/cheaper for him to be the keeper/owner then we can transfer the V5 over and re-transfer back at the end of the loan period - the extra keeper change on the V5 is not going to affect the value as it's an old car not worth much anyway.
Obviously a change of keeper means tax ending/re-taxing but as it's almost the end of the month we can do that for the new month and so not have to pay May's tax twice but my main concern is over the owner/keeper status for the insurance.
Any advice gratefully received.
As he is a poor Uni student, he can't really afford to replace it but his older Brother is away in Thailand for a few months and has a car here which is not being used.
So the plan is for younger Son to use older Son's car until he either gets another or older Son returns from his travels, both are OK with this arrangement.
Now, with regards to insurance obviously it will need to be insured for younger Son but is it necessary or better that the insured is both the owner and keeper? - asking because I know insurance companies always ask this on renewals.
If it is better/cheaper for him to be the keeper/owner then we can transfer the V5 over and re-transfer back at the end of the loan period - the extra keeper change on the V5 is not going to affect the value as it's an old car not worth much anyway.
Obviously a change of keeper means tax ending/re-taxing but as it's almost the end of the month we can do that for the new month and so not have to pay May's tax twice but my main concern is over the owner/keeper status for the insurance.
Any advice gratefully received.

As it happens his insurance (on the old car) expires in a couple of weeks anyway so (because he's a poor student) he'd like to get it as cheap as possible and I would think temporary insurance maybe quite costly?
Not sure how much the ins. co. might charge for a change of vehicle at this late stage or if it's best to just get a new policy but then he can't get this year's no claims benefit until the old policy ends.
The reality is that older Son probably won't come home until next year anyway and may even get a new car if and when he does so having 12 months insurance wouldn't likely be an issue.
Not sure how much the ins. co. might charge for a change of vehicle at this late stage or if it's best to just get a new policy but then he can't get this year's no claims benefit until the old policy ends.
The reality is that older Son probably won't come home until next year anyway and may even get a new car if and when he does so having 12 months insurance wouldn't likely be an issue.
Who is his insurance company?
I added a car on to my Aviva policy for the wife, there was only a month left on the policy, they just charged me for the month, then I renewed it the following month on the policy renewal. Just get him to call the insurance company and change the vehicle, they shouldn't charge any admin fees, the price should be for however long is left on the policy, that way he can keep his no claims. If the cars are like for like it probably won't cost him anything to swap over the insurance to another vehicle.
It's fine with him not being the registered keeper, it's exactly the same way that lease cars work.
I added a car on to my Aviva policy for the wife, there was only a month left on the policy, they just charged me for the month, then I renewed it the following month on the policy renewal. Just get him to call the insurance company and change the vehicle, they shouldn't charge any admin fees, the price should be for however long is left on the policy, that way he can keep his no claims. If the cars are like for like it probably won't cost him anything to swap over the insurance to another vehicle.
It's fine with him not being the registered keeper, it's exactly the same way that lease cars work.
samjlevy said:
Who is his insurance company?
I added a car on to my Aviva policy for the wife, there was only a month left on the policy, they just charged me for the month, then I renewed it the following month on the policy renewal. Just get him to call the insurance company and change the vehicle, they shouldn't charge any admin fees, the price should be for however long is left on the policy, that way he can keep his no claims. If the cars are like for like it probably won't cost him anything to swap over the insurance to another vehicle.
It's fine with him not being the registered keeper, it's exactly the same way that lease cars work.
I added a car on to my Aviva policy for the wife, there was only a month left on the policy, they just charged me for the month, then I renewed it the following month on the policy renewal. Just get him to call the insurance company and change the vehicle, they shouldn't charge any admin fees, the price should be for however long is left on the policy, that way he can keep his no claims. If the cars are like for like it probably won't cost him anything to swap over the insurance to another vehicle.
It's fine with him not being the registered keeper, it's exactly the same way that lease cars work.
Shiv_P said:
Admiral allow this
Insurance is with Admiral, we looked online but says we need to call to make any changes. I'm just trying to get some info in advance as he likely won't ask any questions when he speaks with them (because despite being in the last few weeks of a degree course and going on to study medicine, he's a bit thick!), maybe I should speak to them.Hoping they'll be flexible and not charge (much) for the change which isn't much of an 'upgrade' - going from a 1.2 Polo to a 1.4 Clio.
Thanks.
To follow up; called insurer today, charged £7.50 for the 'upgrade' until renewal, didn't charge the normal admin fee of £25 and quoted a renewal of around £50 more than the Polo would be so painless enough.
Have transferred ownership/keeper as even if not needed in this case it makes it easier for future renewals and it costs nothing to do.
Best of it is the local breakers are collecting the scrap Polo and paying him £350 for it - it only cost (me) £200 6 years ago.
Have transferred ownership/keeper as even if not needed in this case it makes it easier for future renewals and it costs nothing to do.
Best of it is the local breakers are collecting the scrap Polo and paying him £350 for it - it only cost (me) £200 6 years ago.
gottans said:
It's only the best bit if your son gave you the 350 from the local breakers otherwise you're still 200 down but with no car.
You're right I'm afraid. 
Plus I spent most of the morning 'transferring' the full tank of petrol from the Polo to the (empty) Clio. Syphoning from the filler doesn't work on newish cars, you need to get inventive...
Pica-Pica said:
Just to pull their chain, tell the insurance company that the older son is the registered keeper, you are the owner, and the younger son is the named driver.
The response will either be 'the Computer says no...' or 'does not compute, does not compute and cuts you off and sets up a direct debit big enough to bankrupt Switzerland'.CLX said:
My insurance company don't allow this (NFU). Had to change the RK to me first (Wanted to use my son's car, which he wasn't using)
Direct line wouldn't allow it with my step daughters car, she was away at uni and I got bored and listed my car on facebay not expecting much interest and it sold within a few hours, ended up having to use cuvva who were pretty fair for a weeks insurance. Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff


