Driving FIL car. Is it worth being a named driver?

[Wackywoo105]

My FIL (who can't drive atm) wants to put me on his insurance. I probably wont drive his car much. I already have cover to drive other cars, as long as they are not owned/leased/hired by me, and they are separately insured.

I think some of my previous policies have said third party only for other cars, but I can't find that wording with my current policy, which is fully comp.

How would it work if I had an accident? Would my FIL insurance cover his car and my insurance cover the third party? Is it worth being on his insurance for very occasional use?

I will likely be driving him to his caravan and then bringing his car home and keeping it where I live over the weekend occasionally. Is this something the insurance Co would need notifying about?

[alscar]

It’s probably just easier to get yourself added as a Named driver to your FIL’s policy given the added “ complication “of a caravan.
As regards the second question it might be better to ask the Insurer.
If your FIL’s policy is based on the car being at a certain address the vast majority of the year and you have it at your address say only very occasionally then that is no different to him being away anywhere though.
If however you are doing this every weekend Insurers may take a different view.

[Bob T]

The thread on the driver looking at 6 points due to invalid insurance is currently at 13 pages.

He also "thought" that he was covered, plenty of differing views / opinions!
Personally if it's not stated in my paperwork I take the view I'm NOT covered. One of my policies provides 3rd party cover on other vehicles, another has 3rd party cover on other vehicles - but only on vehicles over 25 years old!

I had a friend as a named driver on one of my cars. That way we both knew we were fully covered on the off chance they wanted to drive

[TownIdiot]

It's highly unlikely that you are comprehensively covered for driving other cars
Only a few policies offer that cover and they are generally expensive.

If you don't want to suck up the cost of it's nicked or damaged it will be worth getting covered in his policy

The lever of cover for DOC will be in the policy documents not the certificate.

[Drumroll]

I am a named driver on my FIL policy, I have never driven his car. It is for that just in case moment, if/when for whatever reason he doesn't feel like driving the car.

[Sheepshanks]

Wackywoo105 said:

Would my FIL insurance cover his car and my insurance cover the third party?

No to the first part and yes to the second.

If you’re driving using your 3rd party DOC cover then FIL’s insurance won’t get involved at all.

[GasEngineer]

Sheepshanks said:

Wackywoo105 said:

Would my FIL insurance cover his car and my insurance cover the third party?

No to the first part and yes to the second.

If you’re driving using your 3rd party DOC cover then FIL’s insurance won’t get involved at all.

So in the event of an accident, would repairing any damage to the OP's FIL's car be down to the OP personally, with the OP's insurance DOC cover picking up only the TP costs?

[TownIdiot]

GasEngineer said:

So in the event of an accident, would repairing any damage to the OP's FIL's car be down to the OP personally, with the OP's insurance DOC cover picking up only the TP costs?

Depending on the arrangement either the OP or the FIL yes.

[FMOB]

The safest bet is to be a named driver unless you are happy to pick up the tab in the event of any damage to FiL's vehicle, etc.

[5lab]

GasEngineer said:

Sheepshanks said:

Wackywoo105 said:

Would my FIL insurance cover his car and my insurance cover the third party?

No to the first part and yes to the second.

If you’re driving using your 3rd party DOC cover then FIL’s insurance won’t get involved at all.

So in the event of an accident, would repairing any damage to the OP's FIL's car be down to the OP personally, with the OP's insurance DOC cover picking up only the TP costs?

whilst I agree this is the case, surely if OP was driving FILs car and smashed it up, the FIL is a third party who has (at that point) suffered a loss - so why isn't it covered? If the OP drove the car into another one of the FIL's cars I think the other (non driven) car would be covered

[cpszx]

I think one of my policies excludes "family owned cars" from the driving other cars cover, so we have to make sure we are all named on each others cars for that reason.

[Uncle boshy]

My fil put me on, it reduced his insurance cost

[E-bmw]

Uncle boshy said:

My fil put me on, it reduced his insurance cost

Had that years ago with Mrs E's car with Sheila's wheels?

Put a bloke on & it went down.

[Aretnap]

5lab said:

GasEngineer said:

Sheepshanks said:

Wackywoo105 said:

Would my FIL insurance cover his car and my insurance cover the third party?

No to the first part and yes to the second.

If you’re driving using your 3rd party DOC cover then FIL’s insurance won’t get involved at all.

So in the event of an accident, would repairing any damage to the OP's FIL's car be down to the OP personally, with the OP's insurance DOC cover picking up only the TP costs?

whilst I agree this is the case, surely if OP was driving FILs car and smashed it up, the FIL is a third party who has (at that point) suffered a loss - so why isn't it covered? If the OP drove the car into another one of the FIL's cars I think the other (non driven) car would be covered

By law the insurance has to cover the driver's liabilities to other people, that's true. However certain types of liability are excluded from this - one of which is liability for damage to the car itself. See subsection 4 here.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/secti...

So if the OP wraps the FiL's car round a tree he might well be liable to his FiL for the damage, but the insurer is within its rights not to cover that liability. It would be a different matter if he drove into the FiL's other car, or into the FiL himself.

[TownIdiot]

Aretnap said:

By law the insurance has to cover the driver's liabilities to other people, that's true. However certain types of liability are excluded from this - one of which is liability for damage to the car itself. See subsection 4 here.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/secti...

So if the OP wraps the FiL's car round a tree he might well be liable to his FiL for the damage, but the insurer is within its rights not to cover that liability. It would be a different matter if he drove into the FiL's other car, or into the FiL himself.

Exactly this

DOC covers liabilities under the Road Traffic Act.
The insurer (the second party) would cover the driver (the first party) for the liabilities under the act.
These do not extend to the vehicle being driven.
The FIL would have to recover the money from the driver.

[Gas1883]

Be careful adding other drivers to your insurance policy , I put my daughter on mine & have hardly seen car for 3 weeks ( other than to fill it with fuel ) , it’s bigger than her car so idea for tip runs , ikea etc .

[Pica-Pica]

The least complicated way is get your FiL to add you as a named driver on his policy.

[ChevronB19]

Although a slightly different point, and I’m sorry your FiL can’t drive at the moment, wouldn’t that mean you would technically be the main driver, and the insurance should be in your name? So technically ‘fronting’, although not for the reason some people do it? Note: I may well be wrong!

[TwigtheWonderkid]

ChevronB19 said:

Although a slightly different point, and I’m sorry your FiL can’t drive at the moment, wouldn’t that mean you would technically be the main driver, and the insurance should be in your name? So technically ‘fronting’, although not for the reason some people do it? Note: I may well be wrong!

If f.i.l. can't drive for over 6 months, then maybe yes. But if he can't drive for a month or 2, then under an annual contract, he's still going to be the main driver.