Lending a van to a ...
 

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[Closed] Lending a van to a Canadian friend - insurance

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I own a small campervan, it is insured with Admiral Van Insurance. A friend is visiting from Canada and I want to loan it to them for about 2-3 weeks. What is the best way to insure it for them to drive?

They have told me that their Canadian driving licence is 'valid for 12 months in the UK' but I guess that just means they could drive around without a UK test for 12 months.


 
Posted : 08/05/2019 10:43 pm
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You normally add them to your insurance policy for extra, we do that with family when they visit from the US/Canada - deductible goes up if they are driving


 
Posted : 08/05/2019 10:52 pm
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OK, sounds encouraging. I have tried to call Admiral but got weary of the hold music!

I had in mind a company called Cuva that I had seen adverts for but they only cover UK licences (not surprising I guess).

https://www.cuvva.com/support/who-can-we-cover/


 
Posted : 08/05/2019 11:06 pm
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Can only have one policy on a vehicle so would either need to add to current OR cancel and have them take out their own policy.


 
Posted : 08/05/2019 11:33 pm
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OK, very useful to know. Sounds like I need to hang on that hold music a bit longer!


 
Posted : 08/05/2019 11:34 pm
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It should just be a matter of adding them to your policy for a temporary period. That's certainly the way it worked when I first moved over here. Although admittedly, that was 16 years ago.


 
Posted : 08/05/2019 11:41 pm
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We've added on relatives before for a short period of time. Was relatively straight forward


 
Posted : 09/05/2019 12:10 am
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Can only have one policy on a vehicle so would either need to add to current OR cancel and have them take out their own policy.

Where have you got that from? It's entirely possible to take out a temporary policy to drive someone else's car and I wasn't aware of any problems doing so, have done it multiple times in the past.


 
Posted : 09/05/2019 1:41 am
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I agree with that. We had a separate learner driver policy running concurrently with the standard insurance a couple of years ago.


 
Posted : 09/05/2019 6:20 am
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Can only have one policy on a vehicle so would either need to add to current OR cancel and have them take out their own policy.

I’m guessing your misinformation comes from the idea that when making a claim you are usually required to declare that there is no other policy of insurance in place? There is certainly nothing in law precluding you from insuring separate drivers on separate policies. Cuvva (backed by one of the big insurers) entire business model is based on it. The only issue I can see is if the second policy wipes the record at the MIB when the temporary cover expires you may flag on ANPR as being uninsured. A quick check on AskMIB and an email to your insurer would get that remedied though.

Even if you were insured for the same driver twice the issue would be if you tried to profit by claiming twice for the same damage.

Admiral should be able to sort it out for the OP but have a bit of reputation for being cheap on the headline prices and then charging expensive “admin fees” for this sort of thing.


 
Posted : 09/05/2019 9:00 am
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Ah turns out I will need to invoke the ability to have a second insurance policy since Admiral do not insure drivers who are not UK residents.

Any tips as to which provider might be able to help?


 
Posted : 09/05/2019 1:57 pm
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As I found out temporary insurance from many of the providers is really expensive , 2 weeks cover for my Saab estate - whilst I find a new owner for it, is more than half the price of a years cover..
This is due to wanting to use my 10+ years no claims on the new car , its a pain.


 
Posted : 09/05/2019 2:56 pm
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Hi Keppoch, I have a french brother in law and loaned him out camper last summer , our insurance wouldn’t cover/add anyone that was a non uk licence holder so I ended up getting cover through Dayinsure, they were the only ones to not have a melt down trying to cover a converted van. Was reasonable for a week. Hope this helps.


 
Posted : 09/05/2019 8:56 pm

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