to put my mother as a named driver to lower my insurance?

[PyongyangKipperbang]

She is now legally allowed to drive but doesnt as she wasnt allowed to (and didnt) due to a dx of epilepsy two years ago. Epilepsy is now controlled, no seizures in well over a year but she doesnt want to drive anymore and sold her car. She is 75.

She wasnt legally required to surrender her license so she didnt as it was her ID. I am naming her on my insurance as it lowers my premium, no idea why as she is well into her 70's and would be a bad liability! A colleague said that I shouldnt do it and that it is "dodgy" and could lead to my insurance being invalid.

Why? Is it not ok? She will never drive it, has no access to the keys even if she wanted to (she doesnt) so what is the problem. Am I missing something important?

So, since that is not whst OP is proposing (she specifically said mother would be a named driver) it's fine. But thanks for warning OP about an offence she's not planning to commit.

I tried to add my friend to my insurance for one day and the insurance said it was cheaper to add her for the year. She had no intention of driving my car ever again. Insurance were fine with this.

My mum and dad are listed on my brother’s policy as named drivers.

It brings his insurance down by about £3k a year. It’s a no brainer. They take his car out once every two weeks each - my dad uses it to go to golf and my mum will drive it round the block a couple of times.

Why is everyone going on about fraud?

You can add anyone you like as a named driver - they don’t need to ever drive your car. I have my mum on my insurance just in case there’s ever an issue and we’re out together in my vehicle.

The likelihood of her ever driving my car is tiny but I’d rather have her on there just in case.

The only illegal part is if you put someone as the main driver when they’re not. Oh, and not declaring the epilepsy, though it shouldn’t make a difference to insurance premiums.

I'm a named driver on DS's car. The insurance is his, but I'm named as a 2nd driver. It reduces the premium and is completely valid and genuine. I hope never to need to drive it but it is useful to have access to another car in an emergency or e.g. to be able to drive it home if he were taken ill, or even to be able to move it when he's out.

I don't know why adding your elderly mother woukd reduce the premium though. Does anyone else? I added DP, who doesn't live with me, to mine so we could share the driving on a trip. I expected it to go up becuase of his collection of points, but it didn't, it went down too.

They don't need to do that for the insurance to be valid, as long as he's the main driver.

My husband found it in equal parts annoying and amusing when adding me as a PROVISIONAL DRIVER as a 30 something woman made it cheaper. Yep, adding someone the can't even drive somehow made it safer 😂😂

But isn't the OP asking about a different situation? There's no suggestion that the Mum is going to be the main driver.

Do you have a link that says adding an additional driver who may not actually need to drive the car isnt allowed?

I think they just do it to be safe, but the savings are insane

Whats the purpose of driving round the block?

He mainly gets her to do it when it needs petrol 🤣

Of course it's fine.

Doesn't everyone do this? It's not fraud at all.

It's not fraud though.

Adding someone to your insurance as an additional driver to bring the premium down isn't fraud.

If she put her mum as the main user and added herself as second driver even though op was the actual owner and main user, that would be fraud.

They don't need to drive the car so they can stop doing that if they want to!

Of course it’s not fraud to add a named driver who won’t drive the car much! How ridiculous. A 17 year old putting parents as main driver - not ok. Putting your mum so she could take your car in an emergency as a second driver. Perfectly normal.

caveated that as long as epilepsy is disclosed.

She is not talking about fronting. She is talking about adding her Mum as an additional driver, with her as the main driver. That is allowed.

That's not what they asked at all

For a long time my Dad was on my insurance reduced it by about £30 a year.
Then there was a time he made no difference.
I binned him off there when he was about 73 as he was adding to the cost of my insurance.

I'd be very surprised if someone at 75 with epilepsy made your insurance cheaper. They have to increase the risk of accident rather than lowering it.

There is nothing wrong with this
Like others I find it surprising given the age and the medical condition but if they've given you the price with the full facts that's absolutely fine

People over 80 pay higher car insurance, because they go into a higher risk category

People over 70 have to self certify their driving licence every 3 years to the DVLA. Does she currently have a valid licence ?

@PyongyangKipperbang are you asking if it is unreasonable to commit blatant insurance fraud?

@LadyDanburysHat

It IS fronting because she has no intention to let the elderly mum drive - she is only doing it for cost purposes.

She may well have to drive you one day, say, if you were in an accident at your home when she was visiting and she had to drive you to hospital, so never say never!

If she's legally allowed to drive then it's fine to add her as a named driver but has others have said - may not make it cheaper due to her age.

A lot of people on this thread don't seem to know the difference between adding a named driver and the illegal insurance practice of fronting, where the person who isn't primarily driving the car is listed as the MAIN driver. OP never gave any indication they were planning on doing this.

So as I thought, not a problem then. Thanks for the replies.

Yes DVLA knew about the epilepsy, hence the comment about her not being allowed to drive (she has since been informed that she can now drive as no seizures for nearly two years). Yes it is declared on insurance. It isnt "fronting" as she is being named as a driver on MY insurance on MY car with me as they main driver. So no, I am not committing fraud.

I suspect my colleague is confusing adding her as a named driver with having her as the main driver, there is a lot of that about if this thread is anything to go by!