Key Post: car insurance - cheaper if female is a named driver?

M

Marion

Guest
This was originally posted by CJH


Myself and girlfriend are buying new car in next week or so. I have 5 years no claons bonus in my own name, she has similar but only as a named driver. We are both early 30's. We will both be using the car equally. Given these circumstances is it likely ot be cheaper to have me as the main driver and her as a 'named' driver or will it be cheaper with her as the main and me as named
 
Re: car insurance - cheaper for male/female as named driver

Probably the second option. Her as main you as named.
If you have a claim however it will affect her ability to get insurance, i.e. the claim will be against the main policy holder.
This is a point missed by the parents of some boy racers until there's a claim.

Incidently it's also be cheaper for a man to have a female named driver than to have no named driver at all. I don't know why, but it is.

Go figure.

-Rd
 
Re: car insurance - cheaper for male/female as named driver

"Incidently it's also be cheaper for a man to have a female named driver than to have no named driver at all. I don't know why, but it is."

Yup I can vouch for this. It worked out €150 cheaper for me to have my fiancee as named driver than to have no named driver, even though she is only on a provisional license. Don't know how it makes sense but I'll take it anyway! Their logic was that as she is in a lower risk group, it removes some of the risk from my policy by having her named on it!
 
> Re: car insurance - cheaper for male/female as named dr

Would agree with the two previous posts, but you could try getting quotes on-line for both scenarios from sites like:

and
[broken link removed]
to make sure. The whole process is pretty quick and painless. Also, a comprehensive list of insurers is provided in this thread:
 
Re: > Re: car insurance - cheaper for male/female as name

Incidently it's also be cheaper for a man to have a female named driver than to have no named driver at all. I don't know why, but it is.

Maybe it's because they reckon someone is keeping an eye on your driving! :rollin
 
Re: > Re: car insurance - cheaper for male/female as name

Just a general point (and not in direct response to cjh's original point);

Nominating the main driver of an insurance policy is not a matter of convenience. The main driver is the person who drives the car most of the time.

All those mummies who are supposedly the main drivers of the cars actually driven by the boy racer sons may be in for a nasty shock if a large claim arises. Insurance companies are very clever at finding ways NOT to pay out claims, so if they can produce evidence that the main driver is NOT actually the main driver, they will do so. This could leave mummy facing a large legal claim from the insurance company.
 
Evidence?

Any evidence of this? Have never heard of it happening myself.
 
Re: Evidence?

Any evidence of this? Have never heard of it happening myself.

Check the terms & conditions of the policy. In most cases RainyDay is correct as far as I know and anybody trying to pull the wool over the insurer's eyes is taking a big risk of the policy being rendered null and void.
 
quote

In reply to Rainyday .... there was a Supreme Court decision 3 years ago which has now set a precedent — no matter what you tell the company when taking out insurance (such as saying you're 50 when you're only 22), you are covered for 3rd party F&T.
 
Re: quote

AFAIK, the insurance company will still payout the claim, but are also entitled to take an action against the fibbing driver to get the costs of the claim refunded.

But if you have any more details of that Supreme Court case (names, references), I'd love to hear more.
 
Re: Adding named driver

It's not a gender issue (adding your fiancee/gf as named driver reducing the policy) - if I add my husband as a named driver on my policy, I get a reduction, and the same for him.

As an aside - we each own a car, full licences, each named on the other's policy, but regularly swop cars - if I've the kids with me, I take the bigger car, if not, I take the smaller car ('my' car). Are there legal implications to this? Am I driving his car as a named driver, or under the open driving aspect of my insurance? In the event of me having an accident in his car, would the insurance company refuse to pay out on the basis that my car isn't sitting at home in the driveway?
 
Named driver

A named driver is insured to drive a car. Why would an insurance company refuse to pay out? Have they included a warranty or representation that they will drive the car only X% of the time. It more likely comes down to car ownership as to who is the insured party and who is the named driver.

Rainyday you seem to have gone from being absolutely certain on this to being a little less than certain. Not picking a fight with you on this but sometimes I think people are too quick to fly in with absolute answers when they are not really sure and that is misleading to people who rightly or wrongly take these answers as gospel.

My advice is to call your insurance company, on a no names basis and ask them the question and make a note of the response you are given.
 
Re: Named driver

When you fill out your insurance proposal form, you are asked 'Who is the main driver?'. If you lie, your insurance contract is invalid. AFAIK, in such circumstances, the insurance company will generally pay out 3rd party claims, but will also pursue the policy holder for the costs of such claims.

Check out [broken link removed] which upholds the right of the insurance company to decline claims where the policy holder has lied. And [broken link removed] shows a further example of a declined claim, though for a different technical reason.
 
Named Driver

Second case seems to suggest that my point above is correct - person who owns the car should insure it as main driver.

Insurance contracts are contracts of utmost good faith meaning that you must disclose all material facts even if not specifically asked. This is one reason why I didn't understand the debate over insurance companies getting access to the register of penalty points. If you have penalty points and don't declare them then you have not fulfilled responsibility of utmost good faith.
 
Re: Named Driver

Second case seems to suggest that my point above is correct - person who owns the car should insure it as main driver.
No it doesn't - person who owns the car should insure it as the owner - person who is the main driver should be named as the main driver.
 
..

I was told by Hibernian that if I was to be the main driver on the insurance I had to have the car in my name and be the registered owner also...

INcidentally I found the online hibernian quotes by far the easiet to get to in terms of a quote.

www.hiberniandirect.ie I think
 
Re: ..

Just to add my 2 cents worth.

cjh, You would insure the car in your name as you have a 5 year no claims bonus, your girlfriend is only a named driver on a policy and is not entitled to a no claims bonus only a letter of driving experience.

The question on a proposal form is "are you the main driver of the car? if not state the name of the main driver"
If you are not the main driver you have to disclose who is and your premium is calculated on the main drivers details.
So if mammy or daddy insure a car with young boy racer who is the main driver and this is not disclosed on the proposal form the policy will be declared null & void as it is a false disclosure.

Hope this helps

Johno
 
Re: car insurance - cheaper for male/female as named driver

So if mammy or daddy insure a car with young boy racer who is the main driver and this is not disclosed on the proposal form the policy will be declared null & void as it is a false disclosure.

but how is anybody going to know who the main driver is? i.e Mammy insures the car as main driver and boy racer is named driver but uses it all the time and has an accident how are insurance company going to prove that he is the main driver. very hard to prove IMO

or am I missing something something really obvious
 
Re: car insurance - cheaper for male/female as named driver

but how is anybody going to know who the main driver is? i.e Mammy insures the car as main driver and boy racer is named driver but uses it all the time and has an accident how are insurance company going to prove that he is the main driver. very hard to prove IMO
Don't underestimate the lengths to which insurance companies will stretch to avoid a claim. First of all, they will look to see if Mammy is dumb enough to be the main driver of what is really her own car. Then they will look for the CCTV car park tapes from boy racers' college/employer. Then they will plant a private detective outside the house for a few weeks to film what really happens with the car.

But that is really all beside the point - Are you saying it is morally acceptable to you to defraud your insurance company by telling lies on the proposal form?
 
Re: car insurance - cheaper for male/female as named driver

Absolutely ;) this is the only way some people can afford to have a car on the road :\
 
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