Insurance For Test Drives (Modified Cars)
Discussion
Hi everyone,
I've seen this topic covered a few times on various forums but without any concrete conclusion.
Essentially i'm looking to find out how to protect yourself if you're trying to privately sell a modified car and a buyer asks to take it for a test drive.
Every time i've ever test driven a car i've always been covered under my own fully comp insurance policy that allows me to drive other cars. The problem with this is that you're only covered on a third party basis so if you were to take someone's £30k Porsche and drive it up a tree, your insurance company aren't going to pay out for the car.
What happens then?
The closest i've seen to a solution is to request that anyone wanting a test drive takes out temporary cover with a company like Dayinsure or Tempcover. However none of these companies cover modified cars, so technically if your selling a car that you've added some aftermarket wheels to or even a new stereo, the insurance would be invalid.
I rang Adrian Flux and they do offer temporary cover for modified cars, however the shortest period offered is 7 days and the quote they gave me (for a Nissan 350z with aftermarket wheels and body kit) was £145.
I'm not sure too many people would be willing to pay £145 to test drive a car!
It seems a bit crazy that there doesn't seem to be a viable solution for something that happens on a daily basis and it seems to me based on past experience that thousands of private sellers are risking losing a fortune by allowing people to test drive their cars who aren't covered if they damage the vehicle?
I've seen this topic covered a few times on various forums but without any concrete conclusion.
Essentially i'm looking to find out how to protect yourself if you're trying to privately sell a modified car and a buyer asks to take it for a test drive.
Every time i've ever test driven a car i've always been covered under my own fully comp insurance policy that allows me to drive other cars. The problem with this is that you're only covered on a third party basis so if you were to take someone's £30k Porsche and drive it up a tree, your insurance company aren't going to pay out for the car.
What happens then?
The closest i've seen to a solution is to request that anyone wanting a test drive takes out temporary cover with a company like Dayinsure or Tempcover. However none of these companies cover modified cars, so technically if your selling a car that you've added some aftermarket wheels to or even a new stereo, the insurance would be invalid.
I rang Adrian Flux and they do offer temporary cover for modified cars, however the shortest period offered is 7 days and the quote they gave me (for a Nissan 350z with aftermarket wheels and body kit) was £145.
I'm not sure too many people would be willing to pay £145 to test drive a car!
It seems a bit crazy that there doesn't seem to be a viable solution for something that happens on a daily basis and it seems to me based on past experience that thousands of private sellers are risking losing a fortune by allowing people to test drive their cars who aren't covered if they damage the vehicle?
As I mentioned though, the problem with them insuring the car themselves is the cost involved. I personally don't think i'd be willing to pay £145+ to test drive a car.
Adding them to your insurance seems the best solution but it's still not ideal as your no claims bonus would be at risk if the worst were to happen.
Also it seems like a right pain in the ass to sort out. You'd have to ring the insurance company when they're there, put them on the phone for 20 minutes then take payment off them for the admin / extra fee and if they're not carrying cash you're going to have to rely on them sending the money over by bank transfer.
You could arrange it all before they turn up I suppose but then you're looking at a lot of potential wasted time, getting it all set up and then they don't bother to show.
Surely there has to be a temp cover provider that covers mods and doesn't charge the earth?
Adding them to your insurance seems the best solution but it's still not ideal as your no claims bonus would be at risk if the worst were to happen.
Also it seems like a right pain in the ass to sort out. You'd have to ring the insurance company when they're there, put them on the phone for 20 minutes then take payment off them for the admin / extra fee and if they're not carrying cash you're going to have to rely on them sending the money over by bank transfer.
You could arrange it all before they turn up I suppose but then you're looking at a lot of potential wasted time, getting it all set up and then they don't bother to show.
Surely there has to be a temp cover provider that covers mods and doesn't charge the earth?
Something else I just thought of too.
What happens if you add them to your insurance policy for the test drive and they're either younger / have points / have had accidents and your insurance premium for the rest of the year suddenly skyrockets?
"Yes, we can add them sir that will be an additional £1500 for the remainder of the year, would you like to go ahead?"
Errrr....
What happens if you add them to your insurance policy for the test drive and they're either younger / have points / have had accidents and your insurance premium for the rest of the year suddenly skyrockets?
"Yes, we can add them sir that will be an additional £1500 for the remainder of the year, would you like to go ahead?"
Errrr....
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff