Insurance question (adding drivers)

[ZrByte]

Basicly my Dad has taken ill and is unable to drive his car. He and I where wondering how much i would cost (roughly) to add me to his policy for the remainder of the contract.
Im pretty sure you guys wont be able to tell me anything solid but if any of you have done similar it may shed a bit of light on how much it would cost.

Im 21 with no no-claims. He is over 40 paying £210 per year with protected no-claims on an insurance group 3 car, there is only 5 months left on the policy I want to be added to.

[Chimaera]

Best to ring the company directly and ask, my old insurance company wanted somethng like £200 to put my daughter on my policy for 2 months (I'm not with them any more!) but my Mum's insurance company (Saga - well she is retired!) put her on for nothing - as a named driver! So it seems there are no hard and fast rules - check with them.
Sorry to hear about your Dad - hope he gets better soon

[bob_builder]

Your (lack of) no-claims-bonus should not affect the price because you will not be the first driver.

If you know what company it is, get an online quote (if possible) with and without you added and multiply the price difference by 5/12. That should give you a fairly good approximation of what it should cost.

[etccarmageddon]

Originally Posted by ZrByte

Basicly my Dad has taken ill and is unable to drive his car. He and I where wondering how much i would cost (roughly) to add me to his policy for the remainder of the contract.
Im pretty sure you guys wont be able to tell me anything solid but if any of you have done similar it may shed a bit of light on how much it would cost.

Im 21 with no no-claims. He is over 40 paying £210 per year with protected no-claims on an insurance group 3 car, there is only 5 months left on the policy I want to be added to.

I suggest when you ring them initially ask how much it would cost to add you to the policy but dont mention your dad's illness as this may cause them to make enquiries as to his illness and worse case is they may cancel the policy as he is no longer insurable. I'm no expert so dont take this as gospel.

I think he is duty bound though to inform them of any changes to his circumstances which may affect the policy and perhaps if he doesnt tell them about his illness, if you get involved in an accident and make a claim they may try to avoid paying out as he didnt notify them that he was no longer insurable or he had become a higher risk due to his illness.

[ZrByte]

Originally Posted by etccarmageddon

I suggest when you ring them initially ask how much it would cost to add you to the policy but dont mention your dad's illness as this may cause them to make enquiries as to his illness and worse case is they may cancel the policy as he is no longer insurable. I'm no expert so dont take this as gospel.

I think he is duty bound though to inform them of any changes to his circumstances which may affect the policy and perhaps if he doesnt tell them about his illness, if you get involved in an accident and make a claim they may try to avoid paying out as he didnt notify them that he was no longer insurable or he had become a higher risk due to his illness.

Thats a good point I hadnt considdered, would depression count?
Basicly he is or rather was still able to drive his car until he started his medication, he just didnt want to. Now he is unable to drive it but only until the course of meds is over.

Originally Posted by ZrByte

Thats a good point I hadnt considdered, would depression count?
Basicly he is or rather was still able to drive his car until he started his medication, he just didnt want to. Now he is unable to drive it but only until the course of meds is over.

That might mean that you would become the first driver by default. Check the policy to - suspect you may need to disclose your dad's condition as it affects his ability to drive

[Chris]

Originally Posted by ZrByte

Thats a good point I hadnt considdered, would depression count?
Basicly he is or rather was still able to drive his car until he started his medication, he just didnt want to. Now he is unable to drive it but only until the course of meds is over.

Don't mention that to them. If they think you will be doing more miles than him, they will want to make you first driver and that will push the price through the roof due to your age and lack of no-claims.

Just checked a policy document which states: "You must advise us as soon as possible of any changes to your name, address, employment circumstances or fitness to drive". This is a broker's document and so is likely to be true of many (probably all) underwriters. So I guess your dad had better advise the insurer or the policy will be invalid should you need to claim (assuming they find out of course)

[Chris]

I imagine the 'fitness to drive' clause is open to some interpretation. Technically I'm unfit to drive if I come down with flu for a week. I don't imagine they want to be told about that though. Zrb's dad is not in himself unfit; he just can't operate machinery while on a course of medication. Plenty of heyfever treatments render you similarly unfit.

[ZrByte]

Originally Posted by Chris T

I imagine the 'fitness to drive' clause is open to some interpretation. Technically I'm unfit to drive if I come down with flu for a week. I don't imagine they want to be told about that though. Zrb's dad is not in himself unfit; he just can't operate machinery while on a course of medication. Plenty of heyfever treatments render you similarly unfit.

So basicly its probably best to just let the policy run its course unchanged then just not renew it in november if hes still unfit to drive it?
The main reason we where considdering this is because we dont want to just leave it standing for 5 months. It allready shakes when its idling, I'd hate to think of what it will be like in 5 months time.

Could you not pick up a cheap(er) third party policy just so you can give the car the occasional run?

[ZrByte]

Originally Posted by andyl

Could you not pick up a cheap(er) third party policy just so you can give the car the occasional run?

Im not sure, what type of things do they offer? To insure my own car for a year costs me £740 at the moment, to insure my dads would be about £850 from the same place but thats assuming a standard policy. Do they offer anything else? Like a short term or low mileage policy?

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by ZrByte

Im not sure, what type of things do they offer? To insure my own car for a year costs me £740 at the moment, to insure my dads would be about £850 from the same place but thats assuming a standard policy. Do they offer anything else? Like a short term or low mileage policy?

Are you fully comp on your insurance? If you are, you may be insured to drive other cars third party only on your policy anyway...

Originally Posted by ZrByte

Im not sure, what type of things do they offer? To insure my own car for a year costs me £740 at the moment, to insure my dads would be about £850 from the same place but thats assuming a standard policy. Do they offer anything else? Like a short term or low mileage policy?

Third party means you're covered for damage to other vehicles, injuries to others and that's it. You might feel more comfortable with third party fire and theft.

Most policies take mileage into acount, some allow you to increase your excess to reduce your premium.
__________________

Originally Posted by orangebird

Are you fully comp on your insurance? If you are, you may be insured to drive other cars third party only on your policy anyway...

That is an exceedingly good point.

[bob_builder]

If you know the car will not be used for 5 month and is on private land you could always SORN it reclaim 5 month road tax and insurance and insure it not to be driven.