Car Insurance - no more driving other cars

I recently realised that my current car insurance (Halifax) doesn’t allow me to drive other cars third-party only, which is something I’ve always had on every insurance I had got since I started driving a little over 13 years ago.

Looking at renewals, no HBOS company includes it, but neither does Carole Nash. Halifax chat agent gave me a quote that includes driving other cars and it was 48% more expensive than my current renewal price (£370 vs £250). I haven’t checked other insurers yet.

My wife just renewed hers with Halifax and her certificate includes driving other cars, as it always has.

The agent couldn’t say why this is the case, they just said it depends on the underwriter. I don’t have any points, claims or convictions.

Would anyone have any insight into this? Does your insurance still cover driving other cars, and would anyone have any idea why this feature suddenly dropped out of mine?

I know talking about insurance algorithms is like talking about next week’s lottery numbers, but maybe there is someone here who knows something more.

I’ve got it with Tesco.

I wouldn’t get insurance without it.

2 Likes

I have renewed in November with Halifax - it includes driving other vehicles (private ) with the owners consent - underwriter is Ageas

1 Like

I think I’ve always had it. It’s Third Party Only, though, so I usually get one of those hourly ones through an app if I’m going to drive someone else’s car.

3 Likes

It’s mostly fully comp policies that allow it and then also their risk policy internally.

The vehicle owners insurance also have to confirm this is allowed, to be valid, otherwise you’re not insured with these types.

I’m up for renewal and it’s something I’d picked up scrolling some policies, some insurers don’t mind, but then others said unnamed users driving my car wasn’t allowed, even with their own insurance policy. I’d have to go through them all again to see which were against specifically.

I’d have naturally just assumed I’m insured and I can drive whatever my insurer says I can drive, but apparently not :upside_down_face:

1 Like

thanks for highlighting this my insurance is due in may will need to check this out , i have to have business cover for the nauture of my job and it can affect the premium if direct line were not so dam expensive id go with them , but their prices can be rediculous

1 Like

It’s not always a given these days even on fully comp policies

https://www.comparethemarket.com/car-insurance/content/can-i-use-family-member-car/

Sometimes there are caveats to what cars you can drive third party too.

Like similar power / value. So no jumping into a Ferrari and using that every other day while being insured on a Micra :wink:

1 Like

I’ve been with Hastings for about the last 10 years, and driving other cars is still on my policy :+1:

Thanks for your replies so far.

I’ve always had it too, and what’s more, it has never (ever) shown up on any insurance quote I’ve ever obtained online as an option, extra or otherwise, I mean it’s never mentioned, and it’s always been on my certificate.

And it still doesn’t show anywhere, I go through quotes all the way to payment and it’s not mentioned anywhere, except the one at Carole Nash where the information PDF shows driving other cars as not included (but still, this shows nowhere on their web quote system).

Hmm this is new to me. I wonder what new profitable ways they have discovered that make these underhand limitations more popular nowadays.

1 Like

I’m just going through insurance and seems if I don’t have my car locked up in a garage every night I save £100 a year. Crazy.

Tesco Bank offer a good deal, but can you accrue points too?

Edit: added clubcard for a discount and it added £175 to the price. AXA it is. :sweat_smile:

1 Like

I can drive other vehicles up to 2L engine and value of £30k fully comp on my insurance with AXA NI. Used to be third party but few years back changed to fully comp on other vehicles too.

4 Likes

It is worth mentioning that there are caveats with 3rd party cover on other vehicles. it’s worth checking your own policy.

For mine it specifies that the car being driven has to be fully comp insured by another person. It doesn’t specify any further requirements (ie checking the fully comp policy allowances for 3rd party drivers)

As with most insurance policies it is always best practice to check the policy details on every renewal for changes, it even to check your own assumptions are correct. This 3rd party cover has caught a lot of people out when the renewal doesn’t include it.

Another one to make sure you’ve got right, is usage eg social, domestic, commute & business (traveling between employers sites or even job tasks eg. Posting the company mail or traveling for a training course, rather than commercial business cover)

Mine just sates that the car being driven must have a valid insurance policy (no specifics)
So as far as I can see, because my insurance is SDP and commuting, I would assume I’m covered in another car for the same use.

1 Like

Garage door lock is a lot faster to bypass than the car locks, so having the car in a garage gives thieves somewhere to work under cover while they get into the car… :face_in_clouds:

1 Like

Just seemed crazy.

1 Like

I think it’s not allowed when you are using the existing policy on the car as the base on the road insurance and your own as third party, then you are using the cars policy as an unnamed driver, but with hourly insurances some like cuvva.com give you fully comp insurance in your own name so it doesn’t matter what the other policy says, but some hourly ones only give you third party so be sure to check.

I did it! After numerous quotes with all kinds of websites, here are the highlights of my journey (and more evidence insurance is theft not based on any logic):

  • Various insurers through comparison websites: quotes between £260 and £300, no driving other cars

  • Tesco Bank: £300, no driving other cars

  • Tesco Bank with Clubcard discount: £350 :clown_face:, no driving other cars

  • Tesco Bank through compareni.com: £270, with driving other cars included :partying_face:

4 Likes

This is crazy.

2 Likes

Another tip, check out Top Cash Back and Quidco for comparison website and insurance offers for cashback to get further reductions, I usually quote using incognito with similar details then when I decide run it through the cashback sites to boost the discount.

1 Like