Learner driver / friend borrowing car

[abitwoo]

Hello!

Im wondering if someone can help me figure this out / already knows the answer. I have googled it but I’m still not completely clear.

I own a car which I have leant to friend over xmas as it’s not needed. Friend is teaching daughter to drive in said car. Ive got fully comp insurance.

I woke up in a panic that if something happened on the roads, or to the car, I would be liable so I need to make sure Ive got bases covered in terms of insurance etc.

My question is do I need to be covered for a learner driving it or is it down to the supervising adults insurance?

Thanks so much!

Surely it depends on the other persons insurance?

Have you added both friend and her daughter to your insurance?

The learner needs their own specific learner driver policy.

If you’re practising in someone else’s car, you need to either:

• make sure you’re covered by the car owner’s insurance policy as a learner driver
• take out your own insurance policy that covers you driving in the car as a learner driver

It’s on the government website: https://www.gov.uk/driving-lessons-learning-to-drive/practising-with-family-or-friends#:~:text=You%20can%20practise%20driving%20with,you%20in%20a%20manual%20car

I have assumed it’s all on friends insurance however now Im panicking that I need to action something also.

No no one has been added to my insurance, I think friend just needs to be insured to drive someone elses car?

My understanding is that your insurance covers you to drive your car. If you’ve not added your friend and her daughter then they are in effect driving uninsured. Unless your friend has a policy which covers her for driving other vehicles, even then it might only be on a third party basis it depends on her policy.

But it’s not your friend driving, it’s their child. Either the learner needs to be on your insurance or they need their own insurance.

Their insurance likely doesn't give full cover for driving your car so it could just be 3rd party cover for the original person that borrowed your car. Not all fully comp policies cover for driving another car either.

I'd double check levels of cover and wouldn't let the learner use it unless they have proper cover in place

You're assuming an awful lot. They might only get 3rd party cover or not be covered at all to drive someone else's car. And the learner needs insurance too

Why not phone your insurance company for guidance, and if they say learner is not covered on your policy ask friend to contact theirs and get an email confirming cover? Or if not covered, they can add learner on to their policy while on the phone!

If you haven't added your friend and their child to your policy, they'll only be covered to drive your car if they have taken out their own insurance.
I would bet money that they haven't - you can't assume, you need to check with them!!!
Your car could be written off and there would be no insurance to pay for it...
Can your friend afford to replace your car with her own money?

Your friend can only possibly have 3rd party cover on your car if she is driving on her insurance and her daughter won’t be covered at all , you need to ensure that proper insurance is in place .

Based on the info you have given, the learner is absolutely not insured, So if learner is caught driving your car, they could end up with penalty points, even a ban. At extreme level, police could seize your car.

If your car is involved in an accident, neither your car, nor the other party are covered.

While your friend is driving your car, unless you are insured for any driver, your friend is either driving uninsured, or on their own insurance. Either way, damage to your car is not covered by insurance.

Based on your information, this is a bad idea.

Surely you don’t just lend your car out without checking they are insured 🙈

Hopefully your friend has bought specific learner insurance for her DD.

Learners can take out insurance policies in order to drive someone else's car. I don't actually think they are that badly priced, because learners are supervised. The prices are worse when they actually pass.

Anyway, there's no way to know whether your friend's daughter is insured other than asking her. You could just send a text saying can you make sure you have the appropriate insurance. You don't actually need to add her to your policy, although you could.

How expensive is the car? You are "only" risking the car/it's value. Your friend/daughter are the ones risking being fined for driving without insurance - but that wouldn't be easily detected - because an ANPR scan of the number plate would come back showing the car is insured.

If you're insured to drive someone else's car, it's only third party, not fully comprehensive, even if your policy is fully comprehensive.

The learner needs to be insured as a learner on someone's policy, either a driving instructor, or a named driver.

If your friend has an accident in your car, they are only insured for personal injury and damage to a third party's vehicle if it's your friend's fault. If it were their fault, your car's damage is not covered.

More importantly if your friend's child has an accident in your car on her policy, it is very likely they will ivy be insured for third party personal injury, the legal minimum. This means if a third party is injured or killed your friend's policy will pay out. But if your friend, or your friend's daughter is injured or killed then that is not insured, and nor is damage to the third party's car or your car.

This is why only named drivers, mechanics and the emergency services are allowed to drive my car.

You could be left without a car and without insurance to pay for its replacement or its lease cost. Your friend could be left personally liable for all other damage.

2 things:

Does your friend already own a car? If not, have they taken out insurance to drive your car? As you don't say that you called your insurance and added her as a named driver.

The learner driver needs learner driver insurance, or to be specifically added to your insurance.

My DS learnt to drive in my brother's car with my brother supervising. My brother had a fully comprehensive insurance policy for his car and my DS was insured by a company called Veygo for an hour or two at a time to cover the times he was driving my brother's car with my brother supervising. There are also other companies which offer insurance to learner drivers for short periods of time and it was a relatively cheap way to insure him whilst learning.

You need to call your friend and find out what insurance she's got for your car. Like, now.

Your policy being fully comp is irrelevant, it's the drivers you need to know about. It is possible for you to have a policy for any driver / any driver over 25 / etc. But it's vanishingly unlikely that a learner driver would be covered under that.

Your friend may also be assuming that they have cover to drive another car becaue they have fully comp insurance. This used to be a widespread thing, although only covered 3rd party. (i.e. Only anyone they hit, not your car) however it's really very unusual now, and sometimes when it is part of the policy it's 'in an emergency'. An emergency being something where there is literally no other option - like the driver going into labour in the middle of the motorway and you drive to the next exit slip. Not 'my car broke down so I borrowed a mate's to get to work'

Your friend may have a policy she and DD are insured on, with your car as a vehicle on that policy. Or she may have one for herself, and DD may have one for her. Or they might have assumed you've put them both on your policy as you know they're both driving. (that's what I would have done if it was my car and them pay the extra). If they do have policies you need to know whether they're fully comp or not.

That will usually only cover third party so if your friend had the accident the other driver / car would be sorted out but your car wouldn't - it would be down to you and it would also hit your no claims

Thanks for the advice all, have called and left message for friend to confirm asap. Will call my insurance asap too.

I think my biggest concern is that because my friend has insurance that covers them to drive my car, and covers their daughter to drive their car, that they have incorrectly assumed like I did that this means daughter is covered to drive mine.

As a side note, I am actually ‘giving’ them the car (a small old run-around, but great for first car) in the New Year as a thank you for huge life changing support from friend so the value of car/ potential damage is irrelevant to me.

However I obviously want to make sure it’s all by the book until that happens!

A learner driver definitely won’t be covered to drive multiple vehicles. They would need a policy for the actual car they are driving. Learner driver insurance is actually pretty cheap so hopefully they have it.

Your friend may also be assuming that they have cover to drive another car becaue they have fully comp insurance. This used to be a widespread thing, although only covered 3rd party. (i.e. Only anyone they hit, not your car) however it's really very unusual now

It’s still extremely common in my experience. You can also get policies which extend the DOC cover to fully comp for a small additional premium although they are unusual.

It's highly likely they will not be insured.

Your friend can potentially drive your car under her policy. But that's just the policy holder. The daughter won't be covered. And neither will damage to the car, only another car or house or whatever they hit.

PS Many policies exclude under 25s and learner drivers. Your friend and her daughter should take out their own policy. That way you don't lose your no claims bonus if they have a crash.

I'd never lend my car to anyone. Too risky. And inconvenient if it's written off as you only get a free replacement for a week to shop for a new car. And not much money to buy it with.

I'd rather give someone money to hire a dual control car than have them drive mine.