Hi guys, I've got a quick question regarding insurance, it's a bit of a weird situation but stick with it...

I'm in the process of selling my car, I've got someone interested but understandably he wants to take the car for a test drive before he parts with any cash. The car is currently registered as SORN, so it needs tax. My Dad went to try and tax it yesterday (oh, I'm in Australia at the moment, just to complicate matters), and they need an insurance document to allow him to tax it.

So basically I need to get insurance that I will never use, due to being 12000 miles away. So I'm looking for the shortest policy possible that will cost me the least amount of money overall. My Dad phoned Adrian Flux who quoted over 700 quid (despite quoting me half that a year ago!?!), and the minimum period is 3 months, so it would cost me getting on for 200 pounds, which seems a lot of money to spend on insurance I'll never use.

Does anyone know of anywhere I can get a cheaper/shorter policy or some sort of special deal to cover me for just a day or two?

Cheers,

Pete

I think I'm right in saying that every insurance company is obliged to offer a 14 day money back guarantee. It’s probably set by the regulators to stop people being ripped off.

You know the rest

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Originally posted by wesley_uk2k
I think I'm right in saying that every insurance company is obliged to offer a 14 day money back guarantee. It’s probably set by the regulators to stop people being ripped off.

You know the rest

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I'm not sure to be honest. But if its anything like mobile phone contracts, then no.

Sounds promising, I can't find any policy details online, can anyone confirm a company that offers a money back period?

Pete

hmmm awkward situation.

I've not come across the 14 day coolihg off period.

...but if you think about it, what is there to stop someone getting insured with a different company each time, then cancelling on the 13th day? Insurance companies are not stupid; surely there is some cost involved otherwise you can keep doing this and be insured for nothing?

You say the quote is £700!! ouch!! Is this quoted for you as main driver? What about your dad getting a quote, limited mileage of say 100 miles?

I would expect the cheapest way would be to get insured then cancelling but you need to find out what proportion the companies charge.

Bear in mind ideally your vehicle should be insured FComp in case any test pilot prangs it - they are covered third party and that does not include your car. As there is no guarantee the person will buy the car so you should think of covering it for say a couple of months. It is gonna cost you one way or the other.

You may want to consider dropping the price because the car cannot be driven - again it is to you to work out what makes best economic sense.

[Edited on 27/11/05 by 02GF74]

i cancelled a home insurance policy after 10 days under the above rules, i stated that i had found a better deal. Make sure that you are definatley able to cancel though i wouldn't want to give you duff advice

Wouldn't it be easier to get the possible new owner to sign a waver saying he damages it, he buys it.

Works in shops...???

Just borrow some trade plates, job done

Go to your existing insurance company (on another car ??) and ask for temporary insurance i.e. for a week... cost me £11 for a week so i could get another car MOT'd !

or just risk it... or go with my earlier suggestion.

I'm sure you'd easily get away with no tax on a test drive. Police aren't that good

Tax is not really the issue but definitely make sure it is insured fully comp, the best way is like has already been said is to get your Dad to insure it in his name for a very limited mileage policy, make sure he tells them that you are the owner though, if he just tells them you have gone to Aus and while you are there he wants you to drive it.

Should be a reasonable quote I would have thought.

Also it isn't unusual to ensure that anyone who test drives a performance car gets there own insurance and MAKE SURE they prove it before they get in it!!

HTH,
Rich.

[Edited on 27/11/05 by shortie]

I'm not sure why the quote was as high as 700, I am quoted as the main driver, but I was last time I got quotes over a year ago, so now I'm a year older with a years no claims and my premium has almost doubled... Unfortunately being so far away my Dad is getting the quotes so it's difficult to know why the price has changed so much.

As for getting my Dad insured, that was my first though, but to get tax apparently they need an insurance document covering the owner (me). I thought of transferring the ownership to my Dad but that would take ages and I've got a guy ready to buy at the moment.

As for covering myself fully comp, how would it make a difference if he pranged it? I can't exactly pretend it was me driving when I was on the other side of the world! I thought the best thing would be to just insure myself as cheaply as possible.

A damage waiver sounds like a pretty good idea, so I might get my Dad to sort that out.

I'm not keen on driving it without tax, I know the chances of getting caught are pretty slim but it might still happen, and the fine would wipe out any money I got from a sale!

Cheers,

Pete

www.dayinsure.com

I was thinking of using them so that I could move a donor car, I haven't bought it yet but when I do I'll use them. 1 day to 28 days, £10.50 a day, they offer "DVLA Approved" insurance certificates, could be what you're looking for.

Dare i suggest taking out a policy and then cancelling it as soon as you recieve the cover note ??

By far the cheapest way will be to get you Dad to insure it etc etc.

Ref other people driving - i have heard of people only doing a test drive if the prospective purchaser has the means to pay (ie to ensure they are serious rather than test pilot) and even to negotiate the deal to completion and take payment on the understanding that it is refundable if test drive doesnt go well. That way if the car is smashed the other guy has already bought it and not just agreed to fix it.

To be honest the risk is probably low anyway. Ive not heard of many crashes on test drives.

Below from the esure website...

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If you have bought or renewed your policy recently, you can take advantage of our 14 day cooling off period. Under this you can cancel your cover by simply returning all your policy documents to us within 14 days of receiving them. As long as no incidents have arisen which could result in a claim under your policy, we will refund any premium you have paid for this cover. If any incidents have arisen, we will apply a pro-rata charge for the time you have been on cover.

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Originally posted by scoobyis2cool

As for getting my Dad insured, that was my first though, but to get tax apparently they need an insurance document covering the owner (me). I

As for covering myself fully comp, how would it make a difference if he pranged it?

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Thanks guys, my dad managed to get some insurance that we can cancel within 14 days and only pay some admin charges which is cool. Test drive is this coming Saturday so fingers crossed!

Pete