Elderley Main Driver / Owner Gives Up Driving Lisence

[HenryFord]

Hello, My elderly father is probably about to give up his driving license. He owns the family car and is the main driver on the insurance policy. My mother is currently a named driver the insurance for this car. Once my father no longer has a license does the car ownership have to be transferred into my mums name or can she insure it even though she doesn't own it....or can it remain owned and insured by my dad (ie a non-driver), but with my mum as a named driver?

Any help or advice much appreciated

[Barmaid]

No, it can still be insured for mum to drive despite the fact that she does not own it. It does not need to be transferred.

[ToraToraTora]

no need spouses are fine

[bobbinwales]

//My elderly father is probably about to give up his driving license//

Is there any reason for giving up the licence? It might be better to keep it ..

Barmaid- have read some insurance companys check licence details, Could the father still insure a car if hes no licence?

[bhg481]

I would have thought the simple way would be for dad to keep his licence but just not use it. That way there can still be 2 named drivers on the car which, reputedly, makes it cheaper; just say that mum is the main driver. You can only do that if he does not have a medical problem which needs to be declared to DVLA.

[Barmaid]

The OP simply needs to tell the insurance company. Even if they check, that is no problem. There is no problem with OP's wife being the main driver on a car that he no longer drives.

[KARL]

This draws attention to a particularly nonsensical part of the system. The DVLA (i.e. the government) insist that the registration of a car has nothing to do with its ownership - go to their site and they are at pains to explain that the person named on the registration document should be the user and not the owner - for example if a company owns a vehicle which a specific worker mainly uses then the vehicle should be registered in his/her name and not the company's (the owner's). The document refers to the "keeper" and then, in an absurd move, goes on to say something like "If you sell the vehicle..." (I haven't a very new version) and thereby disappears up its own rear end. Nowhere else that I know of is anything like this attempted - the vehicle is invariably registered in the owner's name and he/she is responsible in every way (taxation, use, etc.) unless in its use someone else is (proven to be) in charge of it (accident, violation, etc.). Strictly speaking your father can own the vehicle and it can be registered in someone else's name or not - the system is not meant to be interested in ownership except it says it is, registration is not officially linked to ownership but the registration authority contradicts itself. Nobody seems to be able to avoid this absurdity. But, in any case, to own a car you do not need to have a driver's licence while to insure a car in your name you almost certainly need to because in the UK the driver is insured, not the car as such. Elsewhere the car is insured, generally for any licensed driver.

[theshedman]

Have you also thought about the no claims bonus your father gets. Some companies will let you have this tranferred to your mother's name which will keep the cost about the same. Others wont which would mean her paying as if she had none. Worth looking into before changing it over.

[davebro]

Dad or Mum can own the car but as main (only) driver she has to hold the insurance IMV. It might be simpler just to transfer ownership (keeper) & insurance over to Mum but you would need to check re NCD as mentioned above. Your father's NCD can't be applied if he is no longer the driver but the insurer may make some allowance for your mother.

[bhg481]

If you do transfer ownership look out for losing a month's Road Fund Licence; it expires when the car is sold and the new owner needs to tax it immediately from the start of the current month.

[davebro]

PS. I find it odd that other countries insure the car for any licensed driver. Surely it is the driver (young/old, previous driving record, convictions, etc.) that constitutes the main risk!

[theshedman]

As I hardly ever drive these days we had the insurance switched over so that my wife was main driver. Our insurance company switched all my full no claims over into wife's name and on renewal insuance was actually cheaper, not much but cheaper than it was the year before.

[bhg481]

davebro - it used to be possible in the UK to insure a car for any driver. It stopped when people started cheating by allowing a really bad driver to drive the car when someone with a good driving record insures it.

[barry1010]

The 'any other driver' was always insured third party, so a car owner would have to be very sure of the 'other drivers' capabilities.

Henry, just have Mother as main driver and Father as named driver unless he has to give up his licence.

[bhg481]

barry //The 'any other driver' was always insured third party, so a car owner would have to be very sure of the 'other drivers' capabilities.//

No, it wasn't. Both my car and my wife's were insured for any driver; when my daughter reached 17 I checked and she was covered to drive both of them fully comp, even as a learner. That was in the 1980s.

[barry1010]

I used to have insurance that included 'any other driver' and I was also covered DOC - drive other cars. That was common in comprehensive insurance years ago.

[New Judge]

I don’t know where you are getting your information from, Karl. I suspect it might be from somewhere like this:

https://www.dvla-contact-number.co.uk/the-differences-between-the-registered-keeper-and-owner-of-a-vehicle/

That is NOT an official DVLA web page. DVLA information is part of “.gov.uk” .

The DVLA is not interested in ownership. It keeps no register of owners, only of “Registered Keepers” (RKs). The Registration Document (V5C) only makes mention of ownership in the negative (i.e it is not proof of ownership).There is no legal requirement for the owner of a car to be its RK. Similarly there is no requirement for the RK to have day to day possession and control of the car nor to use it. The RK can, in fact, be virtually anybody the owner chooses. Almost all company vehicles are registered with either the company or more often these days a leasing company or a finance company. This completely at odds with the advice given on the fake DVLA site which says:

"For example, this is the case with a company car. The car is owned by the company, but the registration documents (the V5) should show the registered keeper to be the person who uses it on a daily basis, such as an employee."

The ongoing responsibilities that rest with the RK are for taxing the vehicle, insuring it (so as to comply with the “continuous insurance” legislation, see below) and for responding to any enquiries from the police if the vehicle is alleged to have been involved in a traffic offence and was not stopped at the time. When such enquiries are made it is not unusual for there to be four requests made for information before the driver is reached, e.g. Finance Company – Leasing Company – Employer – Employee (Driver). The only large scale exceptions to this general convention are cars provided under the “Motability” Scheme. These are registered under the user’s name.

//…the system is not meant to be interested in ownership except it says it is, registration is not officially linked to ownership but the registration authority contradicts itself.//

Where is this stated? Where is this contradiction evident?

//…in the UK the driver is insured, not the car as such.//

That is not correct. Under the “continuous insurance” legislation all vehicles that are not declared off the road (by means of a SORN) must have in place an insurance policy which provides the cover required under the Road Traffic Act. The policy must mention the vehicle specifically (by its registration mark). This is required regardless of who drives it or even whether it is driven at all. The question of who is allowed to drive it is a separate issue between the proposer and the insurer. Few policies allow “any driver” these days because, as barry says, drivers with bad driving records were using cars insured by someone with a good record. As well as that too many eighteen year olds were driving high powered cars which were insured by their fathers with an “any driver” policy.

As far as this question goes it would probably be simpler in the long run for Henry's father to transfer the registration of the car to his wife. He can avoid losing a months tax as a result of that transfer by declaring the car SORN towards the end on the month that the tax expires and then transferring the ownership early in the next month. This will need him to have somewhere to keep it off the road for a couple of days.