# Insurance when changing cars



## NeilG40 (Jan 1, 2009)

I'm getting a new car in September (it'll be my first brand new car) and will be selling my existing car privately and was wondering what would happen with the insurance if I was without a car for a week or two.


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## Cleanguy (Dec 8, 2011)

Nothing.
You cancel the policy once the buyer of you currant car drives it away & a new policy set up to start on the day you pick up the new car.


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## Kash-Jnr (Mar 24, 2013)

Yep just cancel the policy and get proof of your NCB ready to hand for the new vehicle.


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

Or transfer the existing policy to the next car if it's halfway through a year 

I have sold a vehicle and not cancelled the policy for over a month before, it's no issue at all if the new owner insures it and your ppolicy is still running


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## Estoril-5 (Mar 8, 2007)

Clancy said:


> Or transfer the existing policy to the next car if it's halfway through a year
> 
> I have sold a vehicle and not cancelled the policy for over a month before, it's no issue at all if the new owner insures it and your ppolicy is still running


I believe you're very much mistaken, you need to inform the insurers as soon as it out of your ownership.

If it's in a crash they can still use your third party liability which will be passed onto you for breach of contract.


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

To cover yourself properly tell your insurance company what you're doing, they should let you put the policy into limbo for the couple weeks you don't need cover.



Estoril-5 said:


> I believe you're very much mistaken, you need to inform the insurers as soon as it out of your ownership.
> 
> If it's in a crash they can still use your third party liability which will be passed onto you for breach of contract.


Do you have proof of this actually ever happening? I'm pretty sure all policies will have words to the effect of 'insurance only valid when you are the owner'. In any case an insurance policy is in place to cover the insured person against claims against them. If a 3rd party has an accident I'm _pretty sure_ it would be a total non-starter.


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## Ben108 (Jul 26, 2014)

Yep most insurance companies now days will put the policy into a "hold" status for a few weeks to allow you to sort out vehicles etc.

I didn't know this until my car was written off, rang them to cancel and they explained


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## lobotomy (Jun 23, 2006)

Bero said:


> To cover yourself properly tell your insurance company what you're doing, they should let you put the policy into limbo for the couple weeks you don't need cover.
> 
> Do you have proof of this actually ever happening? I'm pretty sure all policies will have words to the effect of 'insurance only valid when you are the owner'. In any case an insurance policy is in place to cover the insured person against claims against them. If a 3rd party has an accident I'm _pretty sure_ it would be a total non-starter.


http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scots-biker-insurance-hell-after-4141840


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## m4rkymark (Aug 17, 2014)

I had a query about this when I sold my old car. they would only put the policy on hold for 30 days - If it was going to be longer than this they would cancel the policy and ask me to take out a new one.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Estoril-5 is absolutely correct, Insurers can be held liable for third party costs for vehicles on the MID so if you sell or scrap a car then it is imperative that you let your Insurers know so their association with that car on the MID can be removed.

Also be aware that very few Insurers will "suspend" a policy in between transfers these days. Computer systems are linked with the MID and this limits this option with many Insurers. It is normally tha case that if you sell a car and don't have an immediate replacement then you will need to cancel your policy. This will also mean you will be subject to the Insurer's short period cancellation scale and any cancellation fees. If you are building your NCB, you will also have to start buidling the current year's NCB again.

The best bet would be to get the new car delivered before the private sale of the old one (if finacially viable) as it is much easier to have temporary "cover pending sale" cover on your old car.


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## NeilG40 (Jan 1, 2009)

The car's a 2000 Passat so it's not worth that much anyway and I've enough NCB that loosing 1 year shoudn't make any difference.

To be honest I just want shut off and don't really care what I get for it, though cancellation fees or temporary cover costs isn't something I'm keen on, when I get my new car the insurance would be due for renewal anyway in a few weeks.


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

lobotomy said:


> http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scots-biker-insurance-hell-after-4141840





> a BEWILDERED biker *could* be forced to pay tens of *thousands of pounds after a man died on the motorcycle he had sold him days before.
> 
> A legal loophole means Paul Duffy *could* be liable for all *insurance costs for the accident which claimed the life of banned driver James Bryson , despite having no link to it at all.


But WAS he held liable?


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