Selling my car. Only me insured to drive. Would test driver be covered if THEY have fully comp insurance?

Question

Am in predicament - potential buyer naturally wishes to test drive the car. My insurance covers only myself and wife. I have heard that so long as the buyer himself has fully comp insurance, he will be insured to drive any car. Is this correct?

Answer 1

Yes, this is true, but they would only be insured third party to drive your car. Don't let anyone go out alone in your car, by the way. If you want to make sure everything is covered and ok, contact your insurance company and get temporary any-driver coverage - this is the only way to absolutely cover yourself, but will cost you.

Answer 2

The buyers fully comp insurance may cover him, it may not. You need to see the words" the policyholder may also drive a vehicle not owned by him or under a hire purchase agreement" or similar on his certificate. The cover will be 3rd party only, so If he crashes it you will have to get the costs back from him. As owner you are responsible for checking the driver is insured, and can be prosecuted if it goes wrong. Note that the extension of cover to drive your car will cease the moment he buys it, but it will take a few days to get your name off the DVLA records.

Answer 3

Now it he doesn't already have a car, he doesn't have insurance, does he? Insurance is on the vehicle. Call your agent or broker. If I drive your car, I have insurance that comes into play to protect me if your liability turns out to be non-existent, and I have borrowed your car, but I do not know anybody that carries insurance in case they test drive a car.

Some answers are a little silly. Let's say you are a newly licenced driver, shopping for your very first car. Do you have car insurance? NO, because you don't have a car. No new drivers could ever buy cars if they were required to have car insurance to test drive. If a test driver has a current licence for the class of vehicle he is considering driving, meets any age and GDL conditions, and has the permission of the owner of the car to test drive it, the car will be covered by the owner's insurance. When was the last time a dealer asked you for a copy of your insurance policy? Never, he asks for your driver licence.

Selling your car? Call your broker to ensure you have coverage. If you were in Manitoba, that would be me at the other end of the phone.

Answer 4

The test driver needs to have insurance that allows him / her to drive another motor vehicle 3rd party (at least) with consent. Just because they are fully comprehensive doesn't mean they can drive any other car. It has to be specified in the policy. If I were you I would ask any proposed buyer to be in possession of a valid insurance certificate for you to inspect.

If the test driver was stopped by police and not insured you would be permitting the offence. It is not good enough that they said that they wre insured on some other policy. You need to inspect the policy personally.

Answer 5

Yes, provided that HIS insurance allowed him to drive another vehicle with the owners permission. However, you'll need to check this, and also check that it covers him fully - as some policies only cover third party, so if there is a accident you could be out of pocket.

Ask any buyers to confirm there insurance cover and if necessary bring their insurance certificate with them if the want to test drive.

Answer 6

Please refer to my other postings about driving other cars.

1) Check his certificate. If he is the policyholder and the certificate has the words. "The policy holder may drive with the owners permission thereof a motor car which he does not own and is not hired to him on a hire purchase agreement" then he may drive your vehicle.

2) Cover will be third party only.

3) The benefit is given on both comprehensive and third party policies - the factors are : age and occupation of driver to decide if the benefit is given.

4) If you allow him to drive and he does not have the DOC extension then both he and you are committing an offence under section 143 of the 1988 RTA

5) Final Caveat. Motor policies exclude theft by deception.

Answer 7

I think that is so on a lot of comprehensive policies... they allow you to drive other car's (not HGV trucks ect) providing you have the explicit permission of the owner.

However... due to abuse of this allowance (it was only intended for short-term sensible and infrequent needs.... not for some boy-racer fully comprehensively insured on a Corsa to go out and race his Dad's BMW around town and thrash it down country lanes)... some insurance companies were talking about closing this section of the policy about a year ago.

So... I'm not 100% sure. GL.

Answer 8

This depends on the policy he has:-
Some policys cover driving any other car with the owners permission but under 3rd party only.
Some policys do not cover this at all

So at best he will only be covered 3rd party driving your car. If he crashes you get nothing for your repairs. Tell him if he crashes it - he buys it!

Answer 9

You need to check that the prospective buyer does have cover. It's be third-party only, with your consent, and a lot of companies now restrict it to "in an emergency only". Either ask to see the policy, conditions & certificate or ask your insurers to give you temporary "any driver" policy.

Answer 10

Yes from a legal point of view he can.But the insurance is only third party,so if there was an accident with him driving, you would not be covered for any damage to your car or for any personal injuries to the occupants of your car.The only persons to benefit would be the third parties.The decision must be yours.By the way if there was an insurance claim it would be to his insurers ,not yours, although they should be advised.