My son is pestering me to add him to my car insurance (which is up for renewal shortly). He lives overseas and is only in the UK two or three times a year.
Is the best way to go through a broker who could deal with this special case? I can’t see that the usual online forms would allow me to explain he’d only be driving the car very occasionally.
Any thoughts or similar experiences?
(Just had the renewal notice from my current provider - Zenith - £121 last year - £268 this year with no change in circumstances)
It’s a long time since we did this (add an adult offspring to our car insurance) but there are two ways to go I think. You could just add him as a named driver without any further detail. Or you could add him by phone for a short period each time he visits. It’s probably easier to explain on the phone than to write it on an application form.
You could use a broker, but I think it will be more expensive as the UK car insurance market is totally geared to people doing stuff online direct with the insurer’s retail arm now.
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We used to add our son to my wife’s insurance occasionally when they desperately needed a second car for a few days.
Our insurance provider at the time was Direct Line and they would allow up to 40 days a year for very little premium. I seem to remember it being something like £10 or £12 for a week.
This was just last year, so I can’t imagine it would be radically different now.
We did it all on the phone through Customer Services.
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You can get ‘Add On’ insurance.
Marmalade are one, which I have used, to add my Leaner Driver Son, for 1 or 2 months.
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Ask if you can have him either as a named driver, or see if any driver is available.
The warning bell that is going off in my head is that he may have an international license only- I would try a broker
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My mother-in-laws insurance broker/company just recently refused to add my gf because she lives overseas and has a Dutch drivers license. Despite her being a British national. So if you manage we would be very interested in which company you used and/or how you managed to do it.
I find it quite ridiculous that it’s even needed to add people explicitly TBH. Here there’s no such thing, I can just lend people my car.
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It’s all about whether the insurer insures that car whoever drives it, or the insurer insures the driver, driving that car. It’s just a different philosophy to address the market.
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As long as he has a UK licence just add him as a named driver. Simples.
Thanks, folks, some ideas to go at. He does have a UK licence so that shouldn’t be an issue. I’ll start by trying to add him as an additional driver. Hopefully it won’t be too painful as he’s over 25 now. I can’t remember whether you have to declare his address as an additional driver- soon find out I guess.
The Marmalade option will be interesting to check too. Can they insure a car that’s already insured elsewhere?
Whenever I’ve checked DirectLine as an insurer in the past they’ve not been competitive but it’ll be worth trying again.
You don’t.
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My wife has been a named driver on my insurance policy for the past 30 years. (Premiums are usually reduced if spouse are included on a policy).
In the past 30 years, my wife has never driven my car. 
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I think the premiums reflect the lower risk that as you have a wife, you might drive more carefully.
Rather than that as she might drive some of the time, the risk of a claim is reduced.
So whether she drives or not, you are statistically a lower risk as you have a wife.
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Yes. Its an Add On - to your existing Plicy.
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My daughter is still British and has a valid U.K. driving licence. She lives in Canada, with her Canadian husband and her two Canadian daughters. When they all came over here last year for a month, we hired a car for her. It was a lot less hassle and (for us) a lot more convenient. Insurance companies were reluctant to provide cover for non-residents, regardless of nationality, U.K. licence etc etc.
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That’s all fine, until the uninsured driver is involved in an accident.
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No, it doesn’t work that way. In that system it’s the car that is insured and the insurance applies whoever drives it. So anyone driving the car is insured. You can’t in that system of insurance ever have an uninsured driver.
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Well, that’s my new fact learned for the day, and I haven’t even had breakfast!
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I suspect it would be anybody with a driving licence of which you presumably have to check first as part of the Ts and Cs.
I suspect the OP will have to do lots of phoning insurance companies. Generally they don’t like anything which is out of the ordinary - even if it adds little additional risk. I passed my UK driving test at 17 and drove without a claim until I went to live in Switzerland at the age of 46. Upon my return after 12 years of claim free driving in Switzerland nobody wanted to insure me - apparently I had no track record!!!
I ended up with NFU - not the cheapest but a good company who appear to have sensible underwriters. Good luck!
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Probably a bit more complicated than that because the car must still be insured if someone who has no licence takes the car and drives it without permission.
Or a driver who did have a licence but it had expired. How is the vehicle owner supposed to know?
Etc.