Can you have 2 Policies on one Car?

[CJ1]

Hi All,
Looking for advice.
Here’s the backstory, My dad has a 2018 BMW 640i xDrive Gran Turismo. He travels abroad a lot for work and is only home a couple of days a month, therefore his car gets very little use. He wanted to add me to his policy as the car is basically sitting around rotting away under a tree. Meanwhile I’m doing about 16000 miles a year in a Mini

However, his insurance company (NFU) wouldn’t even consider insuring me on the 640i until I am 25 (currently 21). So theres no chance of me being a named driver. I called my insurance company Adrian Flux and they quoted £4500 for the year.

I have done a few honest quotes through compare the market and to my surprise admiral were happy to insure me for £670 a year, With no NCD as it’s used on my other policy. A few other companies offered similar prices. So it is possible!

Is it legal to double insure a car? My dad is unsure and google has many different answers... I will only be doing about 5000 miles a year in the car, just to give my Mini a bit of a break!

Thanks for any advice,
cj1

[Pica-Pica]

Well, I don’t know, but...
The insurance covers a risk.
His insurance would cover his risk driving that car.
Your insurance would cover your risk driving that car.

Two separate risks.

Ask to find out. However, tell both insurers.

[Caddyshack]

I think it is illegal, if it is stolen you could ask a pay out each, so not allowed.

Later shown to not be illegal, just a bad idea.

Edited by Caddyshack on Tuesday 12th November 20:17

[QuartzDad]

Get your Dad to cancel his policy and add him to yours as a named driver.

[Pica-Pica]

Caddyshack said:

I think it is illegal, if it is stolen you could ask a pay out each, so not allowed.

No, one or both of the two claims would be illegal (fraud).

[anonymous-user]

A very quick search on the web takes me to Admiral's site, where they clearly state it's NOT illegal (honestly no idea why anyone would think our government would tie themselves up making legislation to stop people paying twice for something)

They advise against it, primarily as it coudl make claiming a slow process:

https://www.admiral.com/magazine/guides/car-insura...

"Can you insure a car twice?
It's certainly not impossible, and it's not illegal, but that doesn't mean that you should choose to do it.

In fact, doubling up on your insurance is not only potentially costly but it could cause real problems should you ever need to make a claim.

Contribution clauses mean that both insurers would be in contact with each other to see how much they each need to put towards your pay-out, and there's no guarantee that they will agree. Such cases can delay your claim significantly, causing you an entirely unnecessary and avoidable headache.

Making a claim from two insurers can push up the price of your renewal significantly, as well as seeing you lose your no-claims bonus across both providers. It's also worth remembering that you can't claim for a full amount from multiple insurers, as that's fraud."

[Caddyshack]

Pica-Pica said:

Caddyshack said:

I think it is illegal, if it is stolen you could ask a pay out each, so not allowed.

No, one or both of the two claims would be illegal (fraud).

That is what I was saying. What you mean is yes, one or both claims would be illegal surely?

[anonymous-user]

Read above: it's not illegal, and only fraud if you try and make a full claim from both insurers - which very obviously would be fraud.

I get the impression Admiral are referring to insuring the same car twice by the same person, not two different people and one car.

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 12th November 17:57

[Caddyshack]

RogerDodger said:

A very quick search on the web takes me to Admiral's site, where they clearly state it's NOT illegal (honestly no idea why anyone would think our government would tie themselves up making legislation to stop people paying twice for something)

They advise against it, primarily as it coudl make claiming a slow process:

https://www.admiral.com/magazine/guides/car-insura...

"Can you insure a car twice?
It's certainly not impossible, and it's not illegal, but that doesn't mean that you should choose to do it.

In fact, doubling up on your insurance is not only potentially costly but it could cause real problems should you ever need to make a claim.

Contribution clauses mean that both insurers would be in contact with each other to see how much they each need to put towards your pay-out, and there's no guarantee that they will agree. Such cases can delay your claim significantly, causing you an entirely unnecessary and avoidable headache.

Making a claim from two insurers can push up the price of your renewal significantly, as well as seeing you lose your no-claims bonus across both providers. It's also worth remembering that you can't claim for a full amount from multiple insurers, as that's fraud."

I do not think it is govt. based. I think there definitely was an issue with double insurance, maybe it has gone away but I am sure it was potential for fraud or conflict of interest. Obviously for life insurance you can have as many policies as you like as long as there is incurable interest. I.e. you cannot insure Donald trump just Cos you think he might be slotted and fancy a payout.

[anonymous-user]

Caddyshack said:

I do not think it is govt. based. I think there definitely was an issue with double insurance, maybe it has gone away but I am sure it was potential for fraud or conflict of interest. Obviously for life insurance you can have as many policies as you like as long as there is incurable interest. I.e. you cannot insure Donald trump just Cos you think he might be slotted and fancy a payout.

It's not Govt. based. It's Admiral based - straight from the horses mouth.

[Caddyshack]

RogerDodger said:

Caddyshack said:

I do not think it is govt. based. I think there definitely was an issue with double insurance, maybe it has gone away but I am sure it was potential for fraud or conflict of interest. Obviously for life insurance you can have as many policies as you like as long as there is incurable interest. I.e. you cannot insure Donald trump just Cos you think he might be slotted and fancy a payout.

It's not Govt. based. It's Admiral based - straight from the horses mouth.

Yes but Admiral say that the insurer will only pay their share so you then open yourself up to a world of pain, therefore not illegal but not advisable.

[Caddyshack]

If you underinsured your house by 50% I.e. 500k rebuild and you chose 250k rebuild most people think the insurer will only payout 250k, this is not true, the insurer will say you under insured by 50% so pay out £125k....crazy but true.

[Caddyshack]

RogerDodger said:

Read above: it's not illegal, and only fraud if you try and make a full claim from both insurers - which very obviously would be fraud.

I get the impression Admiral are referring to insuring the same car twice by the same person, not two different people and one car.

Edited by RogerDodger on Tuesday 12th November 17:57

Exactly so I would not rely on just a google search, 2 different drivers on 1 car with two polices and one not being the legal owner would cause a mine field. I leant my car to my pa, she tried to insure it and her insurer said it was not possible as I had it insured, I had to add her to mine.

I image the govt that you mentioned earlier may also have an issue due to police ANPR too.

[CJ1]

Thanks All, a lot of interesting comments. Still unsure on whether it’s a good idea or not. Regarding the suggestion about my dad cancelling his policy with NFU and adding him as a named driver on the new policy, my dad really likes NFU and it’s a multi car policy with my Mothers car, So he’s not keen as it gets a bit complicated.

I will probably be sensible and just wait until I’m 25. It’s his dream car and don’t really want to be messing around with a £30k car, if it was a £3k car i would be willing to risk it.

[dxg]

I thought you had to have an "insurable interest" in the car, and that meant you had to own it (or lease it, I suppose...)...

Maybe I'm wrong.

[Caddyshack]

It is fact that each insurer would only look to pay 50%

[Superleg48]

Caddyshack said:

It is fact that each insurer would only look to pay 50%

But in this example there are 2 different individuals insuring entirely separately with different insurers. In the event Son has to make a claim, it is only Son’s insurance company that will be involved. Father’s insurance has nothing to with it, as Son is not named on risk. It is the driver that is insured to drive any given car, not the car being insured for any given driver. Not sure if I explained that well, but it is an important technicality.

[Caddyshack]

I also suspect that as Nfu declined to cover you that in the even of you binning it your company might pay 50% and nfu would decline cover. Do not take the word of any bloke on the internet though, phone each insurer and ask them their stance on a claim, do not rely on the bloke that answers the phone, ask for someone in technical and ask for it in writing if you proceed on that basis.

[anonymous-user]

Superleg48 said:

Caddyshack said:

It is fact that each insurer would only look to pay 50%

But in this example there are 2 different individuals insuring entirely separately with different insurers. In the event Son has to make a claim, it is only Son’s insurance company that will be involved. Father’s insurance has nothing to with it, as Son is not named on risk. It is the driver that is insured to drive any given car, not the car being insured for any given driver. Not sure if I explained that well, but it is an important technicality.

It made sense . The problem is what to do if it's stolen. Neither were driving it :-)

As for ANPR - nothing changes - you get a ticket you have to declare who was driving. You get stopped and they do an insurance check, and you are going to come back as insured.

And regarding my "google" search, common sense tells me it's not illegal, Admiral tell me its not illegal. That's good enough for me until proven otherwise :-)

[Superleg48]

RogerDodger said:

It made sense . The problem is what to do if it's stolen. Neither were driving it :-)

That is, of course, an excellent point. Back to previous advice which is discuss with both insurers first in the case of this very example.