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Quick question with regards to car insurance, is it legal and above board for two people to be insured on the same car with different policies?
The background, my daughter is away at university, but when she is back at home during holidays she needs use of my car, to save me being a taxi service, I tried adding her to my new policy and they won't take her on, looking for other policies it's going to add more than £1000 to the cost. However she can get her own insurance with another provider for £700, which she can afford (just) and that is much cheaper than getting temporary cover three times a year. But is that legal? Doesn't seem like there should be a problem, all questions were answered truthfully with regards to ownership etc. but I do have a deep mistrust of insurance companies.
Thanks.
I had a (bit similar) question a few days ago - it wasn't the question I asked but in true STW style got some additional helpful replies which may be relevant.
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/car-insurance-help-please/
Still not completely sure TBH, but might help you.
Ask your insurer!
What happens when she tries to add you as a named driver on her insurance instead? Obviously this is problematic if she is not the actual main driver, but uni holidays seem to cover half the year anyway these days so it might be closer than you think.
Is this your only car? If not, how about she insures it with you as a named driver?
Ask your insurer!
This.
Car gets stolen/torched/vandalised or just plain crashed into when you’re not driving, who pays out (you know they’ll both point to the other insurer)?
Being double insured is a potential shit show and to be avoided but, as above, speak to your insurer
Or try Veygo as they will do temporary cover ** and you tell them if you already have cover, they do short terms like days or weeks and this may help cover holidays etc, worth a look.
** we used this for learning but also now young'uns passed to do temporary cover, similar situation i.e. we don't need full cover, just temporary for holidays.
Not a great idea as both insurers will try not to pay out, as someone else is covering it.
I have looked into this a little more and it does appear to be totally legal, though most commentators seem to suggest that having two policies would be more expensive than one with named drivers, however that is not what we are finding at all.
With regards to claims, I can see what some of you might mean should the car be stolen from the drive way or vandalised, however if it was involved in an accident then the driver at the time would have to claim as it would be the only insurance at the time, hard to see how an insurance company could dispute it otherwise there would be no cover at all.
To those who suggested phoning my insurance company, I don't know how often you speak to your insurance companies but all the ones i've had dealings with lately make it hard to just pick up the phone, current insurer don't even have a phone number listed, just an automated chat bot, last insurance company charged £12 to speak to an adviser🤔
however if it was involved in an accident then the driver at the time would have to claim as it would be the only insurance at the time, hard to see how an insurance company could dispute it otherwise there would be no cover at all.
If someone crashes into it whilst it’s parked, then there is no driver at the time. Obviously you hope this is unlikely to happen (tell her to park at the far away end of any car park) but something to bear in mind
I'm with direct line. They've been very helpful to me in the past and no trouble at all getting through to an advisor.
however if it was involved in an accident then the driver at the time would have to claim as it would be the only insurance at the time, hard to see how an insurance company could dispute it otherwise there would be no cover at all.
As others have said - two insurers covering the same car has all the potential to become a right pickle very quickly.
From experience, no. As mentioned above it causes confusion in the event of a claim.
She can only be added as a named driver.
Probably cheaper to buy a shed and insure her on that.
last insurance company charged £12 to speak to an adviser
Errr...who the hell have you insured your car with..?
To those who suggested phoning my insurance company, I don’t know how often you speak to your insurance companies but all the ones i’ve had dealings with lately make it hard to just pick up the phone, current insurer don’t even have a phone number listed, just an automated chat bot, last insurance company charged £12 to speak to an adviser
So, you have a deep mistrust of insurance companies, and you use ones that charge you to speak to them? I'd be interested who that was as well.
🤔
Indeed.
£700 would buy a lot of temporary Veygo cover. Car still needs a primary insurance policy. Go online get a instant quote, operated by Admiral.
Change your insurance to one which will accept her.
We did this part way through a year, but now just stick with Admiral as they are ok with new and young drivers at ok cost, and no black box.
Funny I have the same problem. We want to drop to 1 car. My work insists they insure it in order to claim my car allowance. But they will only cover my wife for basic commuting not business which she occasionally needs.
So I suggested 1 car 2 separate policies. One for me (via work) and one for her. 100% legal but work insurers say no. So now have a car on the drive simply to claim an allowance against.
Direct Line don't have admin fees so you can add temporary drivers and only pay the extra premium for the period..... or receive the refund! When I was put onto my father in law's policy for 2 weeks, he got a £5 refund
Which is correct. It's being ignored in this thread.
The situation - legally - is that you cannot have two separate insurance policies on one vehicle.
The solution is a named driver or a second car.
Thanks for the replies, plenty to mull over. The company that wants to charge for phone calls was Hastings direct.
For what it's worth my car is a complete shed, after paying the excess I doubt I'd have enough for a meal out if it was written off!
The situation – legally – is that you cannot have two separate insurance policies on one vehicle.
Do you have a source for this? Everything I have read says this in not the case. You must not claim from multiple policies for the same event but I cannot find anything that says you cannot have 2 (or more) policies in place.
As has been suggested by others, we use veygo for our son when he's home from uni...way cheaper than taking out an annual policy
So much wrong stuff on this thread 😔
Anyway, Hastings isn't an insurer company, it's a broker.
If they can't add what you want to your current policy, ask them to change your policy to one that does.
Do you have a source for this?
Two separate insurance companies over the years.
I forget which companies they were (although LV springs to mind).
It's 100% logical when you think about it. Although I'm happy to hear any reasoning that counters the logic.
I can't comment on the question of legality. But ignoring an incident, let's say that the car is stolen.
How does the insurance company handle the claim?
You don't get charged for talking to them, it's a charge for making a change.
Our fees
We charge fees to cover the costs involved in setting up, servicing and cancelling a policy and it's important you understand them. The fees below are for our services and each fee is non-refundable.Type of fee
Additional fee for arranging new cover through our call centre £12.50*
The situation – legally – is that you cannot have two separate insurance policies on one vehicle.
Not true, unless the law has changed in the past 10ish years
I have done it before. It was not illegal to have 2 policies on the same car, but fraudulent, and therefore obviously illegal, to claim on both for an incident. Source: both the insurance companies involved. For similar reasons to those earlier in this thread.
Edit:
No, doubling up on your car insurance isn’t illegal. But if you make a claim from two insurance providers, you can’t claim for the full amount from each of them. Doing so is considered fraud, which is illegal and can land you with a criminal record.
From https://www.comparethemarket.com/car-insurance/content/two-policies-one-car/?amp
If someone crashes into it whilst it’s parked, then there is no driver at the time.
IME it’s the person that last drove it that is named and has the claim against them.
At least on the two occasions I’ve had to claim when the car was driven into whilst parked, that is what the insurance co did.
IANAIB. It's legal to have two insurance policies, it just isn't advisable.
Insurance is there to put you back to the position that you were in before the reported incident, any better than this is fraud. They'll sort it out between themselves to achieve that aim
The problems start when two insurers (who know about one another because you told them on claiming and because they access the same claims database) value the car and the repair differently and get into protracted discussion, which delays payout/repair
Generally any overlap between policies is going to be short, e.g. one renews at midday, one at midnight or one auto renews but you've already gone elsewhere and the first hasn't been told, etc.
It's also possible if you have travel insurance "hidden" within your bank account t&c (for example) and take separate cover out
I discussed dual policies for travel insurance with a friend who works in insurance. I had an annual policy, and was assisting on a DoE Expedition for which all the volunteers would be insured by the school. He explained the principle of contribution, you can have double insurance but only claim on one. You are usually obliged (by the policy terms) to tell them about the other policy and they will reclaim part of the payment from the other insurer.
This appears to be legally correct, see https://www.penningtonslaw.com/news-publications/latest-news/2022/the-complex-issues-of-double-insurance-and-contribution
I see no reason why it doesn't apply to motor insurance.
On the issue of having your daughter as main driver and you as an additional.
I was trying to get quotes to add my daughter to the insurance as an additional driver, but as she was the highest risk, she had to be the main driver.
I said that this would be wrong as she will not be the main driver, only using the car a few times a year. In effect we would be 'fronting', but in a reverse manner to normal.
They said it was the only way, I said by doing that I'd be lying, as I was the main driver, and effectively they were asking me to commit fraud.
The line went dead almost immediately....
The other option is to get a cheap to insure runabout, as others have suggested. We did that to keep son on road when his car broke (needed car to get to work) and for daughter to learn in. Roll on a year, daughter still learning (took ages to get lessons) and son's car is OK and he has a company van. We've just taken my son off the renewal as he's got 4 points (had the points when we got the car but insurance has shot up since renewal) and him being on the policy added £200. If needed I'll just get temporary cover if he needs it, although I suspect he's covered third party with his own insurance.
It's definitely legal to do it and there are a number of specialist insurers for young people that offer them free-standing insurance on a vehicle, with one of the conditions being that the vehicle is fully insured for a named main driver. We have one with Marmalade for my son to drive my wife's car, the main condition being that he cannot do more than 50% of the mileage.
although I suspect he’s covered third party with his own insurance.
Be very, very careful with that sweeping assumption!
Be very, very careful with that sweeping assumption!
This. Check certificate of insurance carefully.
Indeed: definitely don't assume that because he has a comprehensive policy that 'driving other cars' is included. Often it's excluded for young or inexperienced drivers. Exact cut offs will vary by insurer of course.