Driving license revoked – Is car still insured?

A relative has been told they can no longer drive for medical reasons. They have given me their car keys and asked me to sort things out for them. I have all the insurance details, but the insurance people will not talk to me at the moment (and close shortly for general enquiries until Monday). There are no other drivers listed on the policy.

I can get day insurance to move it (they want it gone from the driveway). At the moment I am struggling a little bit to find somewhere to park it, but had the idea of chatting to a local farmer who has some lockups to rent.

However, is still insured if anything happens to it after my day insurance runs out. This is not a veiled dodgy insurance Q. I just want to know if I park it somewhere and something happens that it is still insured under the main policy (i.e. branch breaks off a tree, lands on car roof and damages it)

It’s only worth about £4.5K, but selling it could fund something like a mobility scooter so I don’t want to risk any financial hit.

Anyone ‘in the know’?

TIA

Revoking of licence will not void insurance if it’s not being driven by that person. If he’s declared that it’s usually kept on a private drive and then it gets damaged being stored somewhere else, it’s fair enough of them to question it though. You may not need short term cover to stay legal whilst moving it if your own policy allows you to drive other cars On a 3rd party Basis.

I’m going to have to go through this with my own father’s car in the very near future, so I have looked into it a bit

Good point. I will hopefully be able to ‘communicate’ with the insurers on Monday after 9am

AFAIK the policy is still valid EXCPET for if they actually drive the vehicle. Your own policy quite possibly (but not always, so check first) enables you to drive another persons vehicle 3rd party only with their consent, which would cover it being moved. Should anything untoward happen whilst it’s parked up, their insurance would still cover it as long as they have not driven it.

Have you got a copy of the full policy documents – that may cover it?

If it were me I’d leave it on the drive where it is until Monday and get them to sort (as a minimum) an answer on the insurance and potentially cancel the policy. Once that’s done you should be able to get a month’s cover from one of those day insurers or your existing insurer (if you have one), which would allow you to park it on the road.

The other option (if no prospect of keeping it) might be a one day policy and straight down to webuyanycar with the registered keeper next week and just deal with it in one quick swoop.

Evenin’ all 👮🏻‍♂️

What you’re proposing is fine.

Thanks @thegreatape

Day insurance is £20ish, a Months worth is £181 so it will be a day to drive it somewhere and then another day when it ‘moves on’. The owners insurance can look after it in the meantime.

I don’t have my own car insurance as I have been driving a company car for about 30 years. My wifes car insurance (although comprehensive) does not cover her to drive another vehicle. I think the “can drive another vehicle 3rd party” is possibly an old fashioned idea these days

I do have the policy document, but have a bit of a barrier when trying to read long T&C’s/Small print.

Already valued it on webbuyanycar (hence the £4.5K value mentioned earlier)

I would just drive it to webuyanycar (on a single days cover, although they might pick up?) and flog it there. Zero hassle, probably lose a few hundred quid vs what you could get privately but it seems a lot of those costs might get eaten up anyway

Insurance contracts are “contracts of utmost faith”. Practically, that means that you must tell the insurer anything that a reasonable insurer would want to know. Moving the place of storage comes in to that.

For £4.5k I’d try and get it sold without moving it and sell it quickly even if you don’t get the best offer – if you can arrange a quick sale, get day insurance to take it to the buyer if necessary.

Re moving it: my insurer wanted to increase my premium when I told them my car was occasionally not at home overnight, so check that.

To be honest you would best asking how much it would be to add you as a named driver on their policy, after 2 or 3 day insurances it would probably be cheaper. Especially if you need to move it or take someone for a test drive later on.

I think the “can drive another vehicle 3rd party” is possibly an old fashioned idea these days

Usually Fully Comp insurance allows you to drive other vehicles you do not own, but you cannot just assume that. I had it when I was on the company car policy, it’s worth at least checking.

Day insurance is £20ish

Have a look at https://www.insuredaily.co.uk/

my insurer wanted to increase my premium when I told them my car was occasionally not at home overnight, so check that.

Why would you do that? Is the question not where it is usually parked?

^ yes. Nobody* tells their insurers when they stay overnight at their mums or go away for a week.

* awaits the STWer who does…

The insurance policy will be invalid
The material conditions have changed because the driver is no longer allowed to drive, dosent matter if he is driving it or not.

He would need to contact insurance company and inform them of the change of circumstances, they may still insure it.

If your policy allows you to drive other vehicles not belonging to you , the vehicle you are driving MUST still be insured by someone else

@easygirl – I know what thegreatape does. Can you give me a hint at what you do (PM if you prefer). You sound like you know this stuff (rather than think you know), but you disagree with what I have been told/found out so far.

@Cougar – Thanks, that link is much cheaper.

However, for this bit I will be spending my money not theirs so, at the moment, I am more worried about the potential lack of cover for the car when I am not insuring it….

Why would you do that? Is the question not where it is usually parked?

I was planning to leave it somewhere for a week or so and they quoted silly money for that so I said I’d move it and not bother. At some point I let it slip that wasn’t at home 365/365 and they said they’d need to increase the premium. I don’t remember the policy wording.

Thats bollocks, the car is allowed to be away from the address occasionally…no one could go on holiday otherwise! I’ve not seen anything in my T&Cs that suggests short/occasional time away from home overnight is not allowed, the only real stipulation was that if you declare it to be parked on a drive/garage, it MUST be done during hours of darkness unless you are away from home.

This happened to my mother’s car when she surrendered her licence, it expired actually. We transferred the car into a family members name but on the car title transfer, had to reinsure it in that same family member name.

Be careful though, sods law the car was written off (not our fault at all some Muppet just drove into it) and all names on policy had a policy uplift imposed as deemed a higher risk.

The vehicle will still be insured if the driver has his/her licence taken away. Mate with a heart condition had his car insured on his drive for 14 months , as had to prove he didnt have a heart attack etc for 12 months , then the DVLA dragged their butts , even with all the medical evidence to show he was well for another 2 months. He just paid direct line monthly to keep the policy ticking away.
Ironically , he sold the car a year later and then 2 weeks into new car ownership , he had another medical episode , so he had to do the same again. He decided to put me as a named driver on it this time round as his old focus banger didnt matter about being used, but a new Skoda VRS needed regular runs moreso. He has had heart surgery now and only had a 6 month license revoke this time round.
But just because you dont have a license , doesnt make the vehicle uninsured. It maybe better for the OP to get the original owner to add him to his policy for now , until the vehicle is sold. WBAC is a good way to clear the car quickly and I had done this for works vehicles we needed to shift at disposal time.
You will have to advise the insurance anyway of the vehicle being parked at a different location than the chaps house, if this is going to be longer than a week or two.

I was planning to leave it somewhere for a week or so and they quoted silly money for that so I said I’d move it and not bother. At some point I let it slip that wasn’t at home 365/365 and they said they’d need to increase the premium. I don’t remember the policy wording.

Ouch!