Would this car insurance trick work?

Quick background, I live in London in a bad postcode area (high premiums), aged 24 and to insure myself on my parent's car would cost 4k.

Would this be legal:

Insuring myself on a friend's vehicle i.e. toyota yaris who lives in a different postcode with really cheap premiums (i.e. 600 pounds), but the cover provides 3rd party protection to drive any vehicle. Could I drive my parent's car with it?

Reply 1

999tigger

Impossible to say without reading the policies. I doubt it. Im sure insurers would know if there was such a flaw becayse everyone would be buying small cars and doing the same. I doubt you are reading the policcy correctly and you would find yourself without cover. Ask an insurance broker or the insurer for clairifcation.

Reply 2

d3st1ny

Thing is, it would only provide third party coverage, which quite a few people won't want. But it is still incredibly cheaper than insuring my parent's car 3rd party only.

And yeah, i'll look for an insurance broker and give them a call see what they have to say.

Reply 3

Dez

A car must have an insurance policy on it to be considered road legal. That policy does not have to be your own, but it has to exist. So if your parents aren't insuring the car already it won't work. And if they are, why not just get them to add you as a named driver? Far less hassle and you'll get full coverage.

Reply 4

JC.

You can... you'd need to have the owners permission to drive it and there has to be another policy in force on it.

You'd only be covered 3rd party, but I suppose yes you're technically legal.

Reply 5

Alfissti

I highly doubt this would work as most insurance policies no longer work that way.

It certainly won't be the case if you are a new policy holder and most don't allow it if you are under 25.

Reply 6

Talon

When you say you want to be insured on your parents' car, is this just for occasional use or would you be the main driver of the vehicle? If they are driving the car every day and you are just using it once or twice a week then it would be ok for you to be a named driver on their policy which should cost less than 4k. If it is a second car that they are basically letting you have and you are driving it the most, then you would not be able to do this and would need to have an insurance policy on the vehicle with you as the main driver.

The problem with your plan of insuring yourself on a friends car is that the policy asserts that you are the main driver of the vehicle in question and the 3rd party clause is intended for very occasional use of another vehicle. If you are in-fact using your parents' car as your main vehicle and never driving the other car the policy would probably be invalid.

Reply 7

spyka

Most of the time the '3rd party cover for other vehicles' a) costs extra b) is only available to over 25s and c) is only available to the policy holder (ie. your friend), not any named driver.

There may well be other restrictions too, such as limits on how many miles you can drive other vehicles and potentially prohibitions on using other vehicles owned by relatives. As said, you'd need to read all the small print in the policies.

You'd also have to make sure your parents are okay with you potentially writing off their car with no recourse.