My wife has a car.
It is not currently insured.
It is taxed and MOT’d.
My van insurance states that I am covered (3rd party only) to drive any vehicle not owned by me with permission from the owner.

So – can I drive my wifes car?

If so – why does there have to be a valid insurance policy in place for it when it comes to getting it taxed?

The law’s changed and under continual insurance you’re now required to insure any vehicle that us currently taxed.

Your third party cover may cover you, but you can be pulled for not complying with the above.

I knew it was too simple 😆

You cant.

The car has to be insured by the owner for you to be able to drive it insured by your policy. Otherwise we could have a fleet of uninsured cars under the mrs’ name and i could insure a cheap car f/c 🙂

Also youll flag on police anpr as uninsured.

You also wouldnt be able to park it in a public place.

The equivalent clause in my insurance says I can drive any car with the permission of the owner as long as it is otherwise ensured. i.e. can’t drive a car that doesn’t have it”s own insurance, even though that insurance doesn’t have to cover me. If that makes sense.

The C-I fines are now automatic and pretty punitive (£1000+) as well as seizure of the vehicle, (even if it’s not on the public highway) supposedly with very little lee-way. In some circumstances the vehicle can be destroyed.

The car has to be insured by the owner for you to be able to drive it insured by your policy.

This isn’t necessarily true.

You also wouldn’t be able to park it in a public place.

But this is.

Aye your right if its a traders policy.

Not all policies have the “as long as it is otherwise ensured” clause, I know most of mine haven’t (I’ve used about six or seven different insurers over the years).

The law’s changed and under continual insurance you’re now required to insure any vehicle that us currently taxed.

Not quite true. The simple way of looking at it is either SORN or tax and insured, however there isn’t actually any legal need to surrender your tax when declaring SORN.

Apparantly.

The real problem is not just that you can’t drive it, but your wife has to declare it SORN, ie, off the road. If she doesn’t she could be proscuted and I think it could be confiscated. The law is intended to make it difficult for people to who don’t insure their cars, but it has a daft side effect for law abiding people who are changing cars or are temporarily uninsured and not planning to use them.