Test Drive Insurance

Hi All
Unfortunately the time has come to sell my 1997 AS Trident.

I'm just thinking ahead to test drives for potential buyers; my insurance company isnt flexible enough to offer cover for this  and I wondered if anyone has experience of using the temporary/short term policies that some  companies offer online and whether there are any that are recommended or best avoided.

Thanks in advance

That’s one of the drawbacks of a private sale. I suspect most people will rely on the clause in the prospective buyer's insurance which will allow him to have third party cover on another vehicle not belonging to him.

I think the third party cover for driving another vehicle is less common than it was.  Neither our van insurance nor our car insurance allows that.

merv wrote:I think the third party cover for driving another vehicle is less common than it was.  Neither our van insurance nor our car insurance allows that.

I’m surprised as both our policies give that cover.

I think it’s less common than it used to be. Our present policies for cars and motorhome are with Saga and they have it. But before we settled back with Saga they were moved about a bit with different insurance companies and if I remember rightly most didn’t have it and a least one limited it to the policy holder so excluding named drivers.

Mike

As Tinwheeler said, the cover is only third party. If your van is also damaged, you would have to recover the repair cost from the prospective buyer - who may be a man of straw. 

You could add the prospective buyer to your comprehensive policy, if he agrees to pay the additional premium and the excess in case of accident. 

Cymro

Mike187 wrote:I think it’s less common than it used to be. Our present policies for cars and motorhome are with Saga and they have it. But before we settled back with Saga they were moved about a bit with different insurance companies and if I remember rightly most didn’t have it and a least one limited it to the policy holder so excluding named drivers.

Mike

I think it’s always only the policy holder who gets that clause, not named drivers.

My motorhome policy with Safeguard has never allowed me to drive another vehicle not belonging to me. Two years ago my wife's car policy (Rias, not sure who the underwriter is) made a point of specifically excluding her from driving another vehicle not belonging to her and that's how it remains.

Tinwheeler wrote:

Mike187 wrote:I think it’s less common than it used to be. Our present policies for cars and motorhome are with Saga and they have it. But before we settled back with Saga they were moved about a bit with different insurance companies and if I remember rightly most didn’t have it and a least one limited it to the policy holder so excluding named drivers.

Mike

I think it’s always only the policy holder who gets that clause, not named drivers.

Our policies includes policy holder and spouse/partner to driver other vehicles, third party only, but not other named drivers, to be honest very rarely used in our case.

Mike

If a potential buyer wanted to drive my Symbol (I’ve actually got it for sale at present) and said that’s it’s ok as they have 3rd party cover on their own insurance the answer would still be sorry but no.
Maybe it’s just me but imagine the hassle if they drove into another car/lamp post up the road.

Indeed so.
I think that, subject to my next paragraph, the vendor should insist on seeing evidence that the prospective purchaser has comprehensive cover to drive the vehicle which is for sale. 

But let’s return to the original question: “ I wondered if anyone has experience of using the temporary/short term policies that some  companies offer online and whether there are any that are recommended or best avoided.”


I’m afraid I don’t. 


Cymro 

Hi.
If you need any help with short term insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards,
Dan.

Dbvwt wrote:If a potential buyer wanted to drive my Symbol (I’ve actually got it for sale at present) and said that’s it’s ok as they have 3rd party cover on their own insurance the answer would still be sorry but no.
Maybe it’s just me but imagine the hassle if they drove into another car/lamp post up the road.

Your perogative, but no way would I buy a vehicle until I had driven it. Would anybody??

merv wrote:My motorhome policy with Safeguard has never allowed me to drive another vehicle not belonging to me. Two years ago my wife's car policy (Rias, not sure who the underwriter is) made a point of specifically excluding her from driving another vehicle not belonging to her and that's how it remains.

You need to specifically state that it is a requirement. It is always an option it may add a couple of pounds, but worth it to me. If your provider doesn't want to offer it as you are too high a risk, try somebody else.

matchlessman wrote:

Dbvwt wrote:If a potential buyer wanted to drive my Symbol (I’ve actually got it for sale at present) and said that’s it’s ok as they have 3rd party cover on their own insurance the answer would still be sorry but no.
Maybe it’s just me but imagine the hassle if they drove into another car/lamp post up the road.

Your perogative, but no way would I buy a vehicle until I had driven it. Would anybody??

I never drove any of my three vans that I've had.  All were from dealers with warranty so I took the chance of warranty taking care of any problems that arose and any problems were taken care of without any hassle.

Buying from a dealer is not the same as buying privately. 

I want to ensure it is good to drive, after all hopefully many thousands of miles will be covered and little problems you find when driving eat away at the enjoyment.

matchlessman wrote:Buying from a dealer is not the same as buying privately. 

I want to ensure it is good to drive, after all hopefully many thousands of miles will be covered and little problems you find when driving eat away at the enjoyment.

So do you make sure you have fully comprehensive insurance when going to view a private van/car beforehand? I stand by my decision not to allow anyone with only 3rd party insurance to test drive my van.

That's fine, as i said, your perogative. I would however expect most buyers would want to test drive, so you would be loosing potential sales.