Insurance - who is the main driver?

[stevesey]

Firstly let me say I'm not planning on pulling a fast one (or fronting), and will ask my insurance company to confirm this, but I though I'd get opinions here first.

So - What constitutes the main driver?

My son will be home from university soon and is working at our office over the summer (as he did last year) - the problem is I'll be on customer site a lot of the time, so he'll need to get himself to the office for a significant chunk of the time. Some days he can take my wife's car, others get a lift with me and my wife could drop him off some days. I'm concerned at what point the insurance company would consider him the main driver and not my wife.

Having had a google, the definitions people give are basically "the person who uses the car most" - is that in mileage terms or possession terms? E.g if my wife has the car for one day and does a 100 mile trip, then my son has the car for three days and only does 50 miles who's the main driver? Also if my sone takes the car to work, he may only be driving the car for 1 hour, but has "possesion" of it for 8 hours say. But if my wife has the car and it's sat on the drive for most of the day between a couple of trips to the shops can that be counted as 8 hours?

I can see that once we have worked out out summer arrangements I'm going to have to run them by the insurance company (probably in writing) so that in the result of a claim they can't accuse us of fronting.

Ideally I'd like the answer to be mileage based as that will be the easiest to demonstate/prove (and probably most favourable to us in terms of how flexible we can be and how much he can use the car).

Thoughs please.

N.B Having tried some quotes it costs about £400 extra to have him nominated as the main driver - don't want to do this so want to know how much he can use the car without becoming the main driver, then we'll shuffle the travel arrangements to suit this.

 

[crockers]

IMHO - in the situation that you are describing I feel you can state your wife is the main driver. I think you will find that an insurance company will look at who covers the most mileage in a year...but if you're not sure why not call an insurance broker and ask them..

 

[television]

What ever you do, if you cheat and they find out, then it will be void, take care

 

[gaz_l]

You're right to speak to your insurance company, because it will all be about the risk from their perspective. Personally, I'd think the main risk underwritten with car insurance must be the risk of collision when the car is in motion, and therefore it's likely to be based on who drives the most miles - but I'm sure they have all kind of complicated algorithms for calculating this. Your son driving 30 miles may outweigh the risk of your wife driving 100, and therefore make him "main user". Bit of a minefield .

Alternatively, buy him a pushbike..

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[stevesey]

Crockers point is a valid one - over the course of the year my wife will be undisputedly the main driver.

 

[Will]

To be honest, another way I would consider this would be:

An insurance policy is normally valid to cover a period of 12 months (1 year).

If your son is at university for the majority of the year (away from home), then I wouldn't say that he'd be classed as the main driver - in my opinion.

Good luck with sorting it all out

Will

 

[Spinal]

I think the correct answer here is "it depends" (on the insurance company that is!)

I'd get a few quotes with your wife as the main driver, and then call them and verify it. Finally, get it in writing before committing to the company.

Michele

 

[DieselE]

Look at it another way. The policy is for twelve months. For the greater part of that period your son does not have access to the car as he is away at university. Your wife is the main driver.

IMHO the mileage covered during the period your son has access to the car would only be relevant if you have declared an annual mileage on the policy of, say, 10k and your son's usage takes it up to 15k. The insurance company would want to know of the overall increase in mileage but, even then, I still think your wife would be the main driver.

But hey, I'm only a bloke on t'internet.

 

[DieselE]

To be honest, another way I would consider this would be:

An insurance policy is normally valid to cover a period of 12 months (1 year).

If your son is at university for the majority of the year (away from home), then I wouldn't say that he'd be classed as the main driver - in my opinion.

Good luck with sorting it all out

Will

Sorry, I posted my response before reading down as far as yours.

 

[IanA2]

I'd be interested to know the outcome; my feeling is that the person doing the most mileage is the main driver.

 

[nickcc101]

Please don't think i'm suggesting that you break the law etc but how would the Insurance Company know what mileage your Son or Wife does. Whenever i have made a claim my insurance company has never asked this question and my cars have always been insured for more than one driver.

 

[Mudster]

Although the policy runs for a year, your son will become the temporary main driver of the vehicle for a pro rata period of that year and a premium should be adjusted accordingly.

You should be informing the insurers between what dates this will occur otherwise you will be not disclosing a material fact to the insurer.

Should your son have an accident whilst commuting to work (even if this is a summer job) you're going to be on thin ice if He's not been declared for that period.

Of course, your wife is the main user for the rest of the term and the premium reflects as much.