Most family cars are driven by more than one driver. Whether it’s dad, mom or your teenage kids’
someone different will land up driving the car at some stage. We are all guilty of this, but what happens if somebody other than the person whose name the car is insured in is involved in an accident?
Even if the accident was not their fault, you could land up having to pay for the bill or at least part of it if that person isn’t covered to drive the car under your car insurance policy. It is important to update the “regular driver” section of the policy when you get a new car, and the old one gets passed on to a family member.
The question in the driver section of a car insurance policy is designed to create a risk profile of the designated driver. This is regarding age, driving experience, whether the car will be driven and how much distance it averages over a given period. For example, a car that is driven mostly at night by a student will have a higher risk profile from one that is driven only on Sundays by an old lady.
If you drive the vehicle more often than anybody else over a 12 month period, then you are the regular driver, even if you are not the policyholder.
Insurance companies calculate your premium based on your risk profile as the regular driver. If anybody else happens to drive the car more than you do, that changes the risk profile. If you haven’t told your insurance company about the regular driver, they may decide not to pay the claim, or only pay a portion of it.
If someone else uses the car on an infrequent basis and they are in an accident, you as the policyholder are still covered. This does although differ with different insurance companies.
This depends on your insurer. You should start off by comparing car insurance companies on Likemoney to find insurers that do cover multiple drivers.
