Private sale - test drive insurance & tax

[ph9]

I've been offered a test drive in a car being sold by a private seller. I'm wondering about insurance if i drive it. Would I be covered under his or my insurance?

I've also just checked the car's Road Tax status and discovered it expired on 2nd October. It has an MOT until 10th November 2021. I'd never personally drive a vehicle which wasn't taxed, so I'm not sure what to do about the test drive. Any advice?

Edited by ph9 on Wednesday 18th November 15:42

[Richard-D]

His insurance is very unlikely to cover you. Yours may. The only person who can answer this is you though, does your policy cover driving other vehicles? I wouldn't care about road tax for the purpose of a test drive.

[PrinceRupert]

His almost certainly will not, yours might, but likely only third party only. You can get temporary cover from firms like Cuvva.

[SierraBravo]

Use something like Cuvva it's less than £20 for an hour, less than you would spend on 5 pints and means you wont have anything else to focus on other than the car.

You're only covered if the owner has fully comp insurance on their car. You have fully comp insurance in your own name on your own car. And your policy allows. This is usually the case if you are 25+, but really easy to ask your insurer. Also this is only ever 3rd party cover, not fully comp, so if you bin the test drive car...

[ph9]

Thanks. I've checked with my insurance company, and they've confirmed I'm covered to drive another car, but only 3rd party.

[ph9]

Well, I went to see the car, but everything seemed a bit dodgy, so it just wasn't worth the risk.

[davek_964]

SierraBravo said:

Also this is only ever 3rd party cover, not fully comp, so if you bin the test drive car...

Not strictly true. There are policies that provide fully comp when driving other peoples cars, and even provide fully comp cover to other people driving your cars. Obviously if the OP had one like that he'd likely know it - but "only ever" is a bit misleading.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

davek_964 said:

SierraBravo said:

Also this is only ever 3rd party cover, not fully comp, so if you bin the test drive car...

Not strictly true. There are policies that provide fully comp when driving other peoples cars, and even provide fully comp cover to other people driving your cars. Obviously if the OP had one like that he'd likely know it - but "only ever" is a bit misleading.

Yup, Chubb & Tradex offer policies with comp cover on DOCs.