We are going through a complicated process of trying to compare options and quotes to put our 17 year old daughter onto our second car policy.
She has been driving for about 6 months with a provisional licence, as a 3rd named driver on my wife's policy. We are thinking of changing cars, so are putting in various hypothetical options into quote comparison sites. I have been warned that a competitive premium for a provisional driver can suddenly rocket when the person passes the test, so have been testing the effect on premiums by pretending that she had already passed the test.
Even when she passes, this will not be a case of "fronting". She will be a genuine secondary user, but perhaps becoming a more frequent driver later. At some point in a year or so she may take over the car as main driver, which obviously we would declare.
As a secondary driver on my wife's policy, there is no problem. But could she be or become the main driver on that policy, or would she then have to become the proposer in her own right? Some sites seem to allow that option, others don't. Would my wife's NCD still be valid if our daughter became the main driver? Who gets the discount - the main driver or the proposer?
We are going round in circles arguing about it, and trying to compare hypothetical quotes. But the best quotes change from day to day, so no comparison is ever real.
Anyone any thoughts on these matters?
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Maybe a real-life human being-type insurance broker could help?
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I remember some years ago about trying to get a an insurance company to define what is a main user. Time, miles, trips, claims...... etc
The discussion started when they said that my daughter (who was a student with her own car and policy) would be regarded as the main driver of our second car if she took it away for a weekend. Using their logic, I pointed out that at at any point in time the driver could be defined as the main user if they attempted to shorten the time period to a short enough period!
Fortunately I was able to speak to an underwriter who was willing to take a more pragmatic view that since it was an annual policy, integration over the period of the policy was 'probably' a better interpretation. I suspect however that the view is probably likely to be (retrospectively) more dependent on claim history than anything else.
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your making this too complex. Its boils down to three things
1/ The main driver is the "proposer", or the "main risk"
2/ Putting a younger, risk laden driver onto your policy as a named driver will increase your premium.
3/ Putting a named older less risky driver onto a young persons (who is the proposer) policy will reduce their premium.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 20 Jan 11 at 09:49
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A few years ago I ran a policy for about 5 years which had my son as the main driver but the policy in my name. Premium calculated on son's age & driving record, therefore high, but my maximum no claims of 60% applied to that premium so the combination of youngster as main driver on Mum / Dad's policy was OK then.
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>> your making this too complex. Its boils down to three things ...>>
Yes, I see that, but do you mean that automatically becomes the case? On Quotezone I filled in details for the 3 drivers - self, wife, daughter, and then it asked for main driver. I could tick any of the three, regardless of which was the proposer.
Is it cheaper to have a safe proposer with a risky named driver, or a risky proposer with a safe named driver? I suppose the former, because she can use her NCD, but on the other hand my daughter would then not accumulate her own NCD?
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>> I remember some years ago about trying to get a an insurance company to define
>> what is a main user. Time, miles, trips, claims...... etc
I remember going through the same conversation, I don't recall ever getting a satisfactory answer! So is someone who uses a vehicle for many short journeys a greater risk than someone who drives more miles but only on the odd occasion, all other things being equal? Insurance companies are keen to interpret their policies rigidly when it suits them and to tie up all the loose ends, but this seemed at the time to be a grey area.
It was also in the area of a student that it came up, with my son using the car every day for a job during a relatively short period when he came home during the holidays, yet having no access to it most of the year, when I used it as my "station" car.
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>> As a secondary driver on my wife's policy, there is no problem. But could she
>> be or become the main driver on that policy, or would she then have to
>> become the proposer in her own right? Some sites seem to allow that option, others
>> don't. Would my wife's NCD still be valid if our daughter became the main driver?
>> Who gets the discount - the main driver or the proposer?
>>
Both of our cars are registered and insured in my name, but my wife is declared as the main user of one of the cars.
I "own" both the NCB's.
I did consider my wife becoming the proposer for the 2nd car but our insurer (LV=) said it would make no difference to anything, costs, cover etc. The only possible advantage I could think of is that it would give her Driving Other Cars cover which you just never know when that could be useful.
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>> The only possible advantage I could think of is that it would give her Driving Other Cars >>cover which you just never know when that could be useful.
One major advantage is what happens if you get hit by the proverbial bus - if both are in your name both lapse immediately and she cannot drive either car.
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>> >> The only possible advantage I could think of is that it would give her
>> Driving Other Cars >>cover which you just never know when that could be useful.
>>
>>
>> One major advantage is what happens if you get hit by the proverbial bus -
>> if both are in your name both lapse immediately and she cannot drive either car.
>>
I guess that's not that unusual an event and I wonder how many people think to tell the insurer before the renewal comes.
Could be fixed with a telefone call though. Happened to some neighbours of ours when the bloke died - their insurer was happy to allow their son to continue to use the car, although I think there was a time limit.
Last edited by: Bill Payer on Fri 21 Jan 11 at 12:25
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Insurance - main driver = proposer? - Old Sock
