New driver car insurance question

[Twirly]

I’ve recently passed my driving test, and am about to buy my first car. I have no insurance because I have no car – but isn’t it illegal to drive without insurance, presumably even when test driving? Yet I’m not going to buy a car without driving it first…

Has anyone else been in this situation and what did they do? I’ve looked at the RAC and AA websites and can’t find any information. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[drathzel]

tryhere for your car insurance they saved me £150

[Gav]

If you're buying the car privately, and they have fully comp. insurance, their insurance should cover you upto 3rd party level.
If you're buying through a dealer, again their insurance should cover you.
However, buy it and drive it home without getting your insurance first. You definitely won't be covered in that situation.
HTH.

[Twirly]

Thanks Gav - plan is probably to buy from a friend, but they will be driving the car up to mine for me to test, and I know they're fully comp, so that's great. If I buy it, I assume that they'll leave it with me, in which case I assume I can arrange cover pretty much immediately over the phone.

Anyone got any tips on buying insurance?

[Barry Shnikov]

Originally Posted by Twirly

I’ve recently passed my driving test, and am about to buy my first car. I have no insurance because I have no car – but isn’t it illegal to drive without insurance, presumably even when test driving? Yet I’m not going to buy a car without driving it first…

Has anyone else been in this situation and what did they do? I’ve looked at the RAC and AA websites and can’t find any information. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Speak to wherever you are going to buy the car from. A garage will have insurance covering it for test drives, as it would be stupid to rely on the word of a prospective purchaser. If you intend to buy off someone selling their own car, if his or her policy doesn't cover them (many policies will insure any driver with the owner's permission, though far fewer than used to be the case) you will have to arrange a cover note with a broker.

If you do drive a car and there is no policy in effect, and there is an incident which is your fault, you would be liable up to the full extent of your personal wealth for any damage caused. (A slight personal injury may result in £10,000s of compensation.) Plus, if the police become aware you will be prosecuted and you will have points on your licence and possibly a ban before you even own a car.

Another option would be to get the owner to drive the car to somewhere where a licence is not needed - I remember in my youth people used to go to an abandoned airfield. Though a court has held that driving a vehicle in a private place where there are large numbers of the public present may require insurance cover anyway.

[stewart38]

Originally Posted by Gav

If you're buying the car privately, and they have fully comp. insurance, their insurance should cover you upto 3rd party level.
If you're buying through a dealer, again their insurance should cover you.
However, buy it and drive it home without getting your insurance first. You definitely won't be covered in that situation.
HTH.

yes if the owner gives you legal permission to drive it,which i doubt will happen if they sell it to you ?

If your going to buy a car get Insurance BEFORE you text drive any private car

If your not sure , test drive just dealers cars although you wont be able to take the car of the forecourt (when you buy it) without Insurance

[Barry Shnikov]

Originally Posted by Gav

If you're buying the car privately, and they have fully comp. insurance, their insurance should cover you upto 3rd party level.

No, Gav, that's wrong. Unless a policy specifically provides cover for persons other than the person or persons named on the policy, then she would not be insured. Your statement would be correct if you replaced the word 'should' with 'may and you added 'make sure you check' at the end.

If you're buying through a dealer, again their insurance should cover you.
However, buy it and drive it home without getting your insurance first. You definitely won't be covered in that situation.
HTH.

Twirly should ring the AA. I'm sure this is an enquiry they've had before, and they may have something in place to help out.

[Gav]

Originally Posted by stewart38

yes if the owner gives you legal permission to drive it,which i doubt will happen if they sell it to you ?

Of course you're right, because you'd be able to test drive someone's car without them giving you permission wouldn't you? ***!

Originally Posted by Barry Schnikov

No, Gav, that's wrong. Unless a policy specifically provides cover for persons other than the person or persons named on the policy, then she would not be insured. Your statement would be correct if you replaced the word 'should' with 'may and you added 'make sure you check' at the end.

Yes, I worded that wrong. Thanks for correcting it, I wouldn't want to put Twirly in a difficult position.

[Lee Bartholomew]

Barrys pretty much right on this. Have my ACII qualification but haven't been in the insurance industry for a few years now.

The owner of the car you are test driving might have cover for another driver Third Party Only, but you would need to check this as driving without insurance will get you in to all kinds of trouble if caught and you can't get away with any excuses.

Can tell BS is a lawyer saying "If you do drive a car and there is no policy in effect, and there is an incident which is your fault, you would be liable up to the full extent of your personal wealth for any damage caused. (A slight personal injury may result in £10,000s of compensation.)" I have settled slight personal injury claims at £50 before now. £10,000's is gernrally for the more serious claims (don't beleive the adverts on TV!!!) but his point is correct. You could find yourself sued if you cause an accident. What would happen is the Motor Insurance Bureau (whome I worked for), pay the injured person and deal with the defence of the claim. They would then seek to recover as much money back from you as possible. Not a nice experiance.

Don't take the car to an abandoned airfield either. The RTA states that anything that is a passageway from one area to another or is govenment owned and is or has been used for "transportation", is a public highway. Don't have my copy of RTA at hand (suprisingly (or a dictionary)).

You can drive on private land, but unless you know someone that ownes a race track (and sometimes even these are covered by the RTA (as I once found out about Wimbledon!!!!) or has a large concreate garden, you are out of luck.

My suggestion is get someone who knows abit about cars to test drive it for you. Although it's always nice to have a go before you by your first car, without wanting to sound patronising, as a new driver, you prob wont be able to tell if anythings wrong with it anyway.

Hope this helps.

[Barry Shnikov]

Originally Posted by woodface

I have settled slight personal injury claims at £50 before now. £10,000's is gernrally for the more serious claims (don't beleive the adverts on TV!!!) but his point is correct.

True, but it's no comfort to someone being made bankrupt to satisfy a court order that it might have only been £50.

Don't take the car to an abandoned airfield either. The RTA states that anything that is a passageway from one area to another or is govenment owned and is or has been used for "transportation", is a public highway. Don't have my copy of RTA at hand (suprisingly (or a dictionary))

Has there been case law on this? Many WWII airfields were operated on land that was appropriated under one or other of the War Powers acts and is not (and never was) government owned; I'd have fun arguing that if it had only ever been used for launching and landing military planes it wasn't used for 'transportation'.

Of course, for Twirly the point is, abandoned airfields are not safe.

[Twirly]

Originally Posted by woodface

My suggestion is get someone who knows abit about cars to test drive it for you. Although it's always nice to have a go before you by your first car, without wanting to sound patronising, as a new driver, you prob wont be able to tell if anythings wrong with it anyway.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice everyone - much appreciated. Am sure there will be other questions in due course!

Yes, I do have someone to test drive the car as well. She's been driving for 30 odd years, so although she doesn't know much about the mechanics, she reckons she can drive something and get a decent feel for it as she's bought loads of cars over the years.

My friend is going to check the insurance policy.

I will also call the AA and get their advice. Obviously I don't want to have to shell out loads of money for a policy that allows me to drive anything when after a very short space of time I'll only need it for the one car. But am sure that there must be a way around this - there is no way that I am going to drive anything without insurance. I know there are some idiots out there - but I'm not one of them!

[Twirly]

Originally Posted by Barry Shnikov

Of course, for Twirly the point is, abandoned airfields are not safe.

I live in East Dulwich - fortunately abandoned airfields are a bit thin on the ground

Any test driving will be done on normal roads - otherwise how would I get a decent feel for how the car performs?

[stewart38]

Originally Posted by Gav

Of course you're right, because you'd be able to test drive someone's car without them giving you permission wouldn't you? ***!



Yes, I worded that wrong. Thanks for correcting it, I wouldn't want to put Twirly in a difficult position.

You could 'test drive my car' but you better have your own insurance

Because i allow you to drive my car doesnt give you 'permission' to claim on my Insurance

If you dont know the answer please dont miss lead people, i write the bloody polcies

[StokeBloke]

Originally Posted by Barry Shnikov

Another option would be to get the owner to drive the car to somewhere where a licence is not needed - I remember in my youth people used to go to an abandoned airfield. Though a court has held that driving a vehicle in a private place where there are large numbers of the public present may require insurance cover anyway.

Not wishing to cloud this issue, this is no longer the case. Under the public access law that was brought in a short time back. To drive a car anywhere that there is public access (a par park for example) you need the same standard of paperwork and roadworthinesss as if you were on a public road. Unless the area has an exemption certificate (race tracks for example - MOT on an F1 car... that would be interesting!).

This legislation was brought to stop the joy riding in car parks and claiming the area was not the public highway loophole.

[Gav]

Originally Posted by stewart38

You could 'test drive my car' but you better have your own insurance

Because i allow you to drive my car doesnt give you 'permission' to claim on my Insurance

I wouldn't be claiming on your insurance would I, because 3rd party cover enables the 3rd party to claim on your insurance, not me.

Originally Posted by stewart38

If you dont know the answer please dont miss lead people, i write the bloody polcies

That would explain why there are so many complaints about insurance policies being confusing and un-readable.

[Lee Bartholomew]

Originally Posted by Barry Shnikov

True, but it's no comfort to someone being made bankrupt to satisfy a court order that it might have only been £50.

Has there been case law on this? Many WWII airfields were operated on land that was appropriated under one or other of the War Powers acts and is not (and never was) government owned; I'd have fun arguing that if it had only ever been used for launching and landing military planes it wasn't used for 'transportation'.

Of course, for Twirly the point is, abandoned airfields are not safe.

MIB wouldn't chase up £50. Wouldn't chase up £5k unless there was 101% chance of recovery. Most uninsured drivers don't have anything of worth so their way of thinking is why rack up costs. But you point is correct. Not worth the risk

With regards to the airfield. Yes their is but off the top of my head im not sure what it is. I had a fatal where some oiks nicked a car and drove it around the old Croydon airfield / playing parks. Yes even parks are covered by the RTA. Infact the only places that aren't are privatly owned land, and even then if there is a right of way or bridal path, they are covered too.

Would argue back that if lauching missiles or Military planes, the property is still owned by the crown. (I miss arguing with solicitors)

Rep to Stoke Bloke. Bet me to it.

[Lee Bartholomew]

Originally Posted by stewart38

You could 'test drive my car' but you better have your own insurance

Because i allow you to drive my car doesnt give you 'permission' to claim on my Insurance

If you dont know the answer please dont miss lead people, i write the bloody polcies

If you say "you better have your own insurance" then you are putting a condition on the driving of it. If there was an accident though, the claim would still come off your insurance unless you explicibly stated that they only have permission to drive if they had their own insurance.

If you allow someone to drive your car, then you give them permission to claim on your insurance. Nothing you can do about it.

You an underwriter? Where do you work?

[Sheepman]

Originally Posted by Barry Shnikov

No, Gav, that's wrong. Unless a policy specifically provides cover for persons other than the person or persons named on the policy, then she would not be insured.

My fully comp policy does allow for un-named drivers to drive the car, but only covers them third party, (and if they have my permission.)

A pretty simple process to check the owners insurance policy before you test drive. Of course if you did mangle the car, the owner would be after you to cover the costs.
So if you drove it home, and then bought it, no problem.

There are companies out there that will cover you for insurance by the day, or week, not a cheap option, but maybe worth a look if you plan to test drive a selection of cars.

Greg

[Barry Shnikov]

Originally Posted by StokeBloke

(a par park for example)

Ah. That'll be where UP and his missus go then.