“Joint ownership” of cars with a partner: pros and cons?
Discussion
Evening all,
The wife and I will shorty start looking at updating our fleet: she currently has a terribly drab Volvo S60; I have a 2005 Jaguar XJ8 and a TVR Tuscan. Certain recent appalling political choices mean I can no longer comfortably run my two cars, hence the impending change.
To enable us to still have a ‘fun’ car, as well as a family slogger, we’re thinking of owning both future cars between us, rather than individually (if that makes sense).
For context: she earns a bit more than I do, but I’ll be contributing more to our communal pot. Neither of us earns an enormous salary (public sector), but we live comfortably enough. Point is, neither of us are a “kept” woman/man, so it would be a genuine 50/50 split on ownership.
Long story short: what are the potential pros and cons of this proposal? Anyone done something similar?
The big one I’m seeing currently is deciding on which cars to buy, but not much beyond that…
The wife and I will shorty start looking at updating our fleet: she currently has a terribly drab Volvo S60; I have a 2005 Jaguar XJ8 and a TVR Tuscan. Certain recent appalling political choices mean I can no longer comfortably run my two cars, hence the impending change.
To enable us to still have a ‘fun’ car, as well as a family slogger, we’re thinking of owning both future cars between us, rather than individually (if that makes sense).
For context: she earns a bit more than I do, but I’ll be contributing more to our communal pot. Neither of us earns an enormous salary (public sector), but we live comfortably enough. Point is, neither of us are a “kept” woman/man, so it would be a genuine 50/50 split on ownership.
Long story short: what are the potential pros and cons of this proposal? Anyone done something similar?
The big one I’m seeing currently is deciding on which cars to buy, but not much beyond that…
You are married. From a legal point of view they would be a joint asset in any case. Most (all?) insurance companies don’t care about ownership when it comes to married couples. 1 person will need to go on the V5 but all that does is nominate a keeper, V5 is not proof of ownership.
The only downside I can see is finding out your wife has the “nice” car when you want it.
The only downside I can see is finding out your wife has the “nice” car when you want it.
kwittery transferring plates into other names first.
For clarity: I’m aware of the legal position (for better or worse etc.), I was merely after some pointers of any pitfalls to avoid in terms of running/buying two cars to be jointly-owned practically - as well as legally - speaking.
I currently have a private reg, so whichever car that gets transferred to would probably feel more like “mine”, though that’s a discussion for the future…
I currently have a private reg, so whichever car that gets transferred to would probably feel more like “mine”, though that’s a discussion for the future…
My wife and I supposedly jointly-own one of our cars, a newish V70. What that really means is in reality, she uses it as “her car” because it has heated seats and it’s my job to maintain it.
It’s “her car” right up until the point it needs fuelling or cleaning, then it’s “our car”.
In all seriousness though, it doesn’t really matter. We’re both insured to drive all the vehicles within the household, so we both each pick whatever is most suitable for whatever journey we’re about to undertake. We don’t worry too much about the ins-and-outs of it, ultimately I’m the RK on the V5 for some and she is for others. Provided the insurance has both your names on the policy, the rest is all just a bit trivial in reality.
It’s “her car” right up until the point it needs fuelling or cleaning, then it’s “our car”.
In all seriousness though, it doesn’t really matter. We’re both insured to drive all the vehicles within the household, so we both each pick whatever is most suitable for whatever journey we’re about to undertake. We don’t worry too much about the ins-and-outs of it, ultimately I’m the RK on the V5 for some and she is for others. Provided the insurance has both your names on the policy, the rest is all just a bit trivial in reality.
The above posts are right about legal ownership.
So, OP, are you talking about sharing the cars between the two of you? That’s what we do: we don’t have my car or her car. We have the black car and they red car.
The black one is a shed and the red one will be one day if she carries on like she is
ETA: pros - we have two cars between us, which works fine for our lifestyle. Cons: she had to take the shed to the airport at the crack of dawn the other day (flip side: I had the decent car all week when she was away).
So, OP, are you talking about sharing the cars between the two of you? That’s what we do: we don’t have my car or her car. We have the black car and they red car.
The black one is a shed and the red one will be one day if she carries on like she is
ETA: pros - we have two cars between us, which works fine for our lifestyle. Cons: she had to take the shed to the airport at the crack of dawn the other day (flip side: I had the decent car all week when she was away).
Edited by OMITN on Sunday 20th November 22:26
What a bizarre question!
Of our 4 cars, my wife is only on the documents for one of them (the camper van as it used to be her daily driver).
The Abarth was mine before I bought the old BMW for my London runs, it's still in my name, but I told the insurers she'd be the main driver.
If you're married it matters not who 'owns' the car or even where the money came from.
Throughout our married lives, I've generally bought the cars with only a few exceptions.
Of our 4 cars, my wife is only on the documents for one of them (the camper van as it used to be her daily driver).
The Abarth was mine before I bought the old BMW for my London runs, it's still in my name, but I told the insurers she'd be the main driver.
If you're married it matters not who 'owns' the car or even where the money came from.
Throughout our married lives, I've generally bought the cars with only a few exceptions.
Unless you get two very different cars with obvious specific purposes it's almost inevitable that you will default to having one car which each of you generally drive.
This is because it's a right faff having to adjust the seat/mirrors every time you get in the car, and there will be various person specific things which will need to live in one or other car - things like your office parking permit, umbrella, sunglasses, favourite types of sweets etc.
My wife and I tried it for a bit when we were renting a house with a tandem drive - whoever left the house first took the car nearest the road to save shunting cars in and out. After a few seriously uncomfortable drives back home in low sun (if I tried to wear my wife's prescription sunglasses and she wear mine both of us would be really dangerous!) and having to pay £10 for the NCP car park because the parking permit was in the other car, we gave up. It was less hassle to anticipate who was going to need to go first and get the cars the right way round in the evening than to keep moving all the stuff between cars.
The other one I've discovered more recently is that if you pair two phones to one wireless Android auto and then have both those phones in the car, that causes a load of hassle as well - for modern cars, that would be yet another reason not to be completely interchangeable between two cars as a couple.
This is because it's a right faff having to adjust the seat/mirrors every time you get in the car, and there will be various person specific things which will need to live in one or other car - things like your office parking permit, umbrella, sunglasses, favourite types of sweets etc.
My wife and I tried it for a bit when we were renting a house with a tandem drive - whoever left the house first took the car nearest the road to save shunting cars in and out. After a few seriously uncomfortable drives back home in low sun (if I tried to wear my wife's prescription sunglasses and she wear mine both of us would be really dangerous!) and having to pay £10 for the NCP car park because the parking permit was in the other car, we gave up. It was less hassle to anticipate who was going to need to go first and get the cars the right way round in the evening than to keep moving all the stuff between cars.
The other one I've discovered more recently is that if you pair two phones to one wireless Android auto and then have both those phones in the car, that causes a load of hassle as well - for modern cars, that would be yet another reason not to be completely interchangeable between two cars as a couple.
abzmike said:
Don’t really understand the problem here. Do you have issues sharing the bathroom, be best seat for watching telly, or argue over ownership of the washing machine?
One name goes on the V5, one name at the top of the insurance certificate…
Not quite right. I have been renewing insurance, settled on a multi-car policy. For each car they wanted to know, who is the main driver, who is the registered keeper, and who is the legal owner. The joint policy came with my name as the PROPOSER (of the multi-car policy).One name goes on the V5, one name at the top of the insurance certificate…
Pica-Pica said:
abzmike said:
Don’t really understand the problem here. Do you have issues sharing the bathroom, be best seat for watching telly, or argue over ownership of the washing machine?
One name goes on the V5, one name at the top of the insurance certificate…
Not quite right. I have been renewing insurance, settled on a multi-car policy. For each car they wanted to know, who is the main driver, who is the registered keeper, and who is the legal owner. The joint policy came with my name as the PROPOSER (of the multi-car policy).One name goes on the V5, one name at the top of the insurance certificate…
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