# Selling an uninsured vehicle



## jon-v8 (Jan 26, 2006)

Thought I'd find out where I stand with this...

I'm selling my father in laws car on my mother in laws behalf (he recently passed away).
His insurance ran out earlier this week and the car is for sale, where do I stand with regards to test drives etc, as despite me holding insurance on my own vehicles and having DOV (drive other vehicles) extension on my policy, the car would still get flagged up with no insurance.

What's the best way around this? Is it just a case of taking out another policy and later cancelling when the car has sold?

TIA


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## Kimo (Jun 7, 2013)

Just say no test drives unless insurance papers are shown that say it's ok to drive

By the time you pay admin fees there's no point reinsuring


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

You can cancel insurance within 14 days for a full refund with my insurer. I think it might be a standard thing? 


Even if your father in law did insure the car, it doesn't allow other people to drive it. The other person's policy might cover them third party.


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## Nanoman (Jan 17, 2009)

jon-v8 said:


> despite me holding insurance on my own vehicles and having DOV (drive other vehicles) extension on my policy, the car would still get flagged up with no insurance.


It won't just get flagged up as no insurance as in all probability your DOV cover only applies to a vehicle with is insured by someone else. Technically and legally you're not insured despite having DOV. I'm not aware of any policy that gives you DOV on otherwise uninsured vehicles.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Is it taxed? If so, you need to either SORN it or reinsure it. https://www.mib.org.uk/reducing-uninsured-driving/continuous-insurance-enforcement/

Be wary of 14 day cooling off too, a time on risk charge plus an admin fee is likely to apply. Check the insurers TOBA first.


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## m4rkymark (Aug 17, 2014)

Nanoman said:


> It won't just get flagged up as no insurance as in all probability your DOV cover only applies to a vehicle with is insured by someone else. Technically and legally you're not insured despite having DOV. I'm not aware of any policy that gives you DOV on otherwise uninsured vehicles.


This is correct - you nor anyone else can drive the car using Dov if the car isn't insured by someone. The only thing you can do is sorn it or insure it. If you don't insure it you must sorn it under continuous insurance rules which came in last year? At least I think it was last year, may have been the year before.


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## jon-v8 (Jan 26, 2006)

Thanks for your help guys!

With regards to the DOV, my policy states I have to have permission from the owner to drive their vehicle, and that the vehicle is currently insured, but as the policy has expired I wouldn't be covered anyway.

As for the expired policy, it's not worth the cost of admin and time on risk fee as Shiny has mentioned, and more than likely end up costing half a years cover!

Thankfully the car is now sold, a friend of mine has purchased the car and took it away on trade plates, so no issues there and saved me a headache.

Thanks again!


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## tigerspill (Nov 28, 2015)

jon-v8 said:


> Thanks for your help guys!
> 
> With regards to the DOV, my policy states I have to have permission from the owner to drive their vehicle, and that the vehicle is currently insured, but as the policy has expired I wouldn't be covered anyway.
> 
> ...


DOV is only applicable IF there is a valid insurance policy on the other vehicle.


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## Nanoman (Jan 17, 2009)

tigerspill said:


> DOV is only applicable IF there is a valid insurance policy on the other vehicle.


There's an echo in here. :thumb:


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Actually, that's not strictly true with all insurers, it depends on your policy wordings. 

There are other issues though, especially with CIE.


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## Delboy_Trotter (Jun 7, 2007)

Can you not add the car to your own policy for a few weeks?

Last time i sold a car that had been sat for a few weeks i added it to my own policy for 2 weeks (on a temp basis) was only around £50 so worth looking into


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

Nanoman said:


> It won't just get flagged up as no insurance as in all probability your *DOV cover only applies to a vehicle with is insured by someone else.* Technically and legally you're not insured despite having DOV. I'm not aware of any policy that gives you DOV on otherwise uninsured vehicles.





tigerspill said:


> *DOV is only applicable IF there is a valid insurance policy on the other vehicle.*





jon-v8 said:


> Thought I'd find out where I stand with this...
> 
> I'm selling my father in laws car on my mother in laws behalf (he recently passed away).
> His insurance ran out earlier this week and the car is for sale, where do I stand with regards to test drives etc, as despite me holding insurance on my own vehicles and having DOV (drive other vehicles) extension on my policy,* the car would still get flagged up with no insurance.*
> ...





m4rkymark said:


> This is correct - *you nor anyone else can drive the car using Dov if the car isn't insured by someone. * The only thing you can do is sorn it or insure it. If you don't insure it you must sorn it under continuous insurance rules which came in last year? At least I think it was last year, may have been the year before.


This is a commonly believed but not necessarily true myth. Read your DOV section and see if it requires the vehicle to be insured by somebody else for DOV to be in force.

OP - It may flag up, but just ensure whoever is driving the car has their insurance policy in the car, it's pretty unlikely they would be stopped....but it would make things a lot easier if they are!

Obviously MOT and VED needs to be current.


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## Nanoman (Jan 17, 2009)

Bero said:


> This is a commonly believed but not necessarily true myth. Read your DOV section and see if it requires the vehicle to be insured by somebody else for DOV to be in force.
> 
> OP - It may flag up, but just ensure whoever is driving the car has their insurance policy in the car, it's pretty unlikely they would be stopped....but it would make things a lot easier if they are!
> 
> Obviously MOT and VED needs to be current.


I'm sad enough to read my policy docs in detail so I know that hence..



Nanoman said:


> It won't just get flagged up as no insurance as in all probability your DOV cover only applies to a vehicle with is insured by someone else. Technically and legally you're not insured despite having DOV. I'm not aware of any policy that gives you DOV on otherwise uninsured vehicles.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

As Nanoman states, the conditions applying to DOC (not DOV  ) will actually be in your policy booklet/wordings. It doesn't normally state the conditions on the DOC section on you certificate, the certificate only confirms if you have the cover. 

I don't know of any insurers that state "vehicle" anymore, they all state cars. Long gone have the days when you could drive a van or motorcycle under the extension. Another misconception though, the amount of people that think they can drive their mates van under DOC still astounds me.


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## Nanoman (Jan 17, 2009)

Shiny said:


> As Nanoman states, the conditions applying to DOC (not DOV  ) will actually be in your policy booklet/wordings. It doesn't normally state the conditions on the DOC section on you certificate, the certificate only confirms if you have the cover.
> 
> I don't know of any insurers that state "vehicle" anymore, they all state cars. Long gone have the days when you could drive a van or motorcycle under the extension. Another misconception though, the amount of people that think they can drive their mates van under DOC still astounds me.


I'm not sure I'd have thought about my DOC not covering vans to be honest. Thanks for pointing that one out!

I know it doesn't cover bikes because I have a separate policy for my bike with DOB cover! or is that DOM?


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

It generally the case, although Aviva for example, state that for the purpose of DOC, the definition of cars include vans up to 3.5t gvw. Most just only cover cars. 

Aviva also don't have a requirement for insurance to be in force in the car, but that is a messy subject now that CIE is in place.


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