Registering car/insurance to home or uni address?

Probably your home address, as uni is less than 6 months a year...

Reply 3

DMed

I've put it down as my home address, as that's where my licence is registered (and I've been told that's the best way to go about it). Plus (a) I reside there most of the time and (b) it makes things easier as students only tend to live in one place for a year at a time (or that's what's happened in my case).

Reply 4

GurlGamer

2

Typhoon

I pick up my shiney new Fiesta later this month, but don't know where to register it and the insurance to.

My dad's house in Leeds is my only permanent address, I'll probably be moving house in August. I'm down in London for uni.

Which address do I put on the forms?

Do a couple of insurance quotes with each address and put down the one with the cheapest insurance :P

Reply 5

GurlGamer

Do a couple of insurance quotes with each address and put down the one with the cheapest insurance :P

doesn't matter, because if he is taking the car to uni, the usual overnight parking address and arrangements will need to reflect that...

Reply 6

zippyRN

doesn't matter, because if he is taking the car to uni, the usual overnight parking address and arrangements will need to reflect that...

Only if it spends more time at uni than at his home address!

Reply 7

gbduo

Only if it spends more time at uni than at his home address!

insurers may have a different view, especially if 'taking it to uni means a good number of weeks of on street parking in an urban area when the proposer said it spends most nights tucked up in suburbia on a drive or in a garage ...

Reply 8

zippyRN

insurers may have a different view, especially if 'taking it to uni means a good number of weeks of on street parking in an urban area when the proposer said it spends most nights tucked up in suburbia on a drive or in a garage ...

Meh, my car was crashed into whilst it was 'away' from home at uni and the insurers never mentioned it.

If it spends more time at home than at uni, then the permanent address is home.

Reply 9

Kevmeister

9

zippyRN

insurers may have a different view, especially if 'taking it to uni means a good number of weeks of on street parking in an urban area when the proposer said it spends most nights tucked up in suburbia on a drive or in a garage ...

Surely this would only matter if the car was stolen from uni?

But even then they don't expect your car to be parked where you said it would be, not every night of the year anyway. 'I was visiting friends.....'

Reply 10

Kevmeister

Surely this would only matter if the car was stolen from uni?

But even then they don't expect your car to be parked where you said it would be, not every night of the year anyway. 'I was visiting friends.....'

It depends how deeply they look into things, that answer wouldn't wash if they were to determine that you spent a considerable period of time out of the year away from home ... or even if they decided to watch the address that you claim that you regularly store the car at ... could get fun if you have a serious collision and they start getting access to MG11s and the criminal and civil courts stuff.

also some areas of the country have claims investigated routinely especially if one or other parties meets the demographic of known dodgy claims ...

Reply 11

Sync

14

zippyRN

It depends how deeply they look into things, that answer wouldn't wash if they were to determine that you spent a considerable period of time out of the year away from home ... or even if they decided to watch the address that you claim that you regularly store the car at ... could get fun if you have a serious collision and they start getting access to MG11s and the criminal and civil courts stuff.

also some areas of the country have claims investigated routinely especially if one or other parties meets the demographic of known dodgy claims ...

I suspect the insurance company would be on very shaky legal ground if anyone decided to take it to court.

I'd interpret 'main' as the place my car spent the majority of its time, and it is perfectly reasonable to do so. Therefore, if it spends more than 50% of the year at a certain address, then that is the main residence. I take my car to Uni, but it still spends more than 50% of its time at my home address. So, home is where it's insured.

I'd be confident that they would pay up in the event that I needed to claim whilst at university. If not, I'd be quite confident in starting court proceedings and suspect they'd pay up before it reached court, as a test case is much riskier for them than it is for me...

Reply 12

Sync

I suspect the insurance company would be on very shaky legal ground if anyone decided to take it to court.

I'd interpret 'main' as the place my car spent the majority of its time, and it is perfectly reasonable to do so. Therefore, if it spends more than 50% of the year at a certain address, then that is the main residence. I take my car to Uni, but it still spends more than 50% of its time at my home address. So, home is where it's insured.

I'd be confident that they would pay up in the event that I needed to claim whilst at university. If not, I'd be quite confident in starting court proceedings and suspect they'd pay up before it reached court, as a test case is much riskier for them than it is for me...

avoiding a seven figure settlement might be worth it though ...

messing with motor insurance is a high stakes game - given the potential value of a claim resulting in disablement of yourself or another ...

Reply 13

zippyRN

avoiding a seven figure settlement might be worth it though ...

messing with motor insurance is a high stakes game - given the potential value of a claim resulting in disablement of yourself or another ...

Its really not messing with insurance though is it. What is your main address is the question. Your main address is the one you spend most time at, for most people, this is their permanent home address, not their uni address which you spend 5 months of the year at.

This isn't fraud.

Reply 14

DMed

gbduo

Its really not messing with insurance though is it. What is your main address is the question. Your main address is the one you spend most time at, for most people, this is their permanent home address, not their uni address which you spend 5 months of the year at.

This isn't fraud.

Exactly. It's one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't situations. A student is transient by definition, and will have more than one address. Maybe ask the insurance company?

Reply 15

Sync

14

zippyRN

avoiding a seven figure settlement might be worth it though ...

messing with motor insurance is a high stakes game - given the potential value of a claim resulting in disablement of yourself or another ...

It'd be impossible for them to waive their third party obligations, on the basis that you had no reasonable cause to suspect that your insurance was invalid. You've interpreted 'main' to mean where the car spends the majority of its time and it would be reasonable to do this. This is key in a legal document - reasonable interpretation plays a massive part in any court proceedings and would pretty much absolve you in such a case. So, they'd have to pay out the third party claim. Of course, that all changes if you actively lie when taking out a policy, as you then have reasonable cause to believe that the insurance is invalid.

Similarly, if they stopped using terms such as 'main address' and replaced them with terms such as 'any address where the vehicle will be located for 90 consecutive days or more' then everything changes. Then by not telling them you're keeping it at Uni, you've knowingly taken out an invalid policy. Though I'm still not convinced a court would allow them to waive all third party liabilities even in this case. So long as they keep using meaningless terms, use it to your advantage.

The worst they could do would be to threaten not to pay for damage to your car, or attempt to reclaim their costs retrospectively after meeting their third party obligations. They could try it, but I suspect they'd lose any court case if the car could be proved to have spent more than 50% of its time at the 'main' address stated on the policy, and the policy holder believed their policy to be valid.

I reckon if the car spends more than 50% of its time at home, the insurers need not be told you intend to take it to Uni. If it's going to spend more than 50% of its time at Uni, best to let the insurers know. However, read your policy small print incredibly carefully to ensure you are not misrepresenting. Give them absolutely every piece of information they ask for and ensure this information is 100% accurate. Do not give them any extra information which they do not explicitly request; it will only be used to your detriment.

Assuming you're not lying, have not provided false information and have answered all questions they have asked honestly, then the chances of them wriggling out of a claim are virtually zero. But of course, you'd have to be willing to take it to court to get that result.

Reply 16

JakeM

2

I paid my insurance on Friday, they asked me to confirm the address I put for the car was where it stays at least 4 days a week.

Reply 17

who was that with?

Reply 18

JakeM

2

Quinn

Reply 19