My car insurance specificaly excludes driving other peoples cars.

If I buy a car from a garrage, is it likely that a dealer will have insurance to cover this? If not, how on earth do you buy a car without being able to test drive it?

Otherwise how do they sell cars to new drivers or people who are between cars?

Dealers ins will cover you but you'll need to sign for any excess requirements etc.

Dealers have insurance – some have cover that says you have to have a rep in the car, others (who pay more) allow you to go out by yourself. With private sales you would have to make sure you have cover or just risk it. When I was younger people often just risked it – no idea what happens these days as I haven't bought privately for years and the last people to buy from me were: Sale one – driven by me. Sale two – trusted me that the car was okay and came back the next day having paid via bank transfer and drove it away on their new insurance.

cheers, looks like I'll be paying the inevitable premium and going to a dealer, which is pretty much what I expected the answer to be.

You won't have to pay any premium with a dealer – as long as you don't crash

Dealer will have it covered under theirs. For private sales, either get temporary cover from your insurer (usually cheap) or dayinsure.com will cover it for a small fee.

I meant as in paying more for the same car form a dealer than a private seller. Not actualy paying an insurance premium.

My insurance wont cover it (allong with a load of other things), its one of the only downsides to classic cars 🙁

That and the fact I need something with a boot/rear seat to carry a bike arround in and a cheep banger + Swinley permit is still less than a years membership at the gym.

If it is just a cheap banger then give it a good look over, check bearings/suspension and oil/water leaks (inc looking for foaming under the oil filler cap) then get the owner to drive it (asking them to use all gears and show you braking etc (hands off wheel to check for swerving etc).

Not ideal, but solves your problem and as it is an old banger the risk is minimised.

If I was buying an old banger I would avoid dealers like the plague – they know all the tricks to hide any faults and any warranty you get is pretty much worthless.

I can spot most faults (and after classic car ownership, fix them too)

But stuff like worn CV joints and clutch are hard to spot without going out and playing.

Spotted a Ford KA for £800 with 55,000 miles, which either means its done a lot of town driving or its been clocked. Either way clutch and/or CVs will probably have suffered.

Just need 4 relable wheels and a back seat that folds flat really.

My car insurance specificaly excludes driving other peoples cars.

Why? If you are fully comp then surely you are at least 3rd party on other vehicles?!

hora – doesnt work like that these days esp if under 25

unless you get a policy that specifically permits it even on FC – usually costs more

mines FC, think its the classic car bit that excludes it rather than anythingn else, it has some odd exclusions.

worn clutch can be found with the car stationary. third gear, build revs, hold the car on the handbrake and lift the clutch pedal, and keep the gas in compensating for the load you are applying. basically either trying to overcome the h/brake or stall the engine ( but don't stall, you'll look silly 🙂 ). repeat until good and hot – the clutch that is. if it survives a good few attempts at that it'll likely be fine for a goodly while.
cv joints – go to carpark, wind down windows and turn circles on full lock, listening for any clicking noises. if all is quiet you're good to go, but check the boots and the arches/shafts for grease that will be sprayed around if the boots have failed in the past.

have a chat with your insurers – they're surprisingly amenable in my experience. mine even furnished me with a letter for a regular insurance company that permitted me to use no-claims for the new nail i bought… 8)

Day insurance is the way to go, cost me about £25 or £30. You can get insured on the spot, cover note can be printed out (which is advisable if you are test driving a car with no current insurance.

Many Fully Comp policies don't cover driving other cars, mine doesn't. Suggest everyone reads their small print as they won't specifically tell you!