Using your 3rd party insurance on other cars.. LCV WARNING

[rayofleamington]

I make sure my main car insurance covers me to drive other people's cars. Most of the people I know who are into cars do the same.

This week for the first time I've needed to claim as I clipped the front corner of an Avensis whilst fetching my friends vehicle back from the MOT station.
It's only 300 metres away, so I didn't figure it was risky. Sadly the forecourt was over crowded and I had to reverse out into a very busy road. Whilst watching the traffic I clipped the car although I thought I had cleared it

The repair price was quoted at £370 (grr to modern plastic bumpers)
My insurance company didn't quible about me using my 3rd party cover until I told them 'what' I was driving...
They refuse to cover any type of van or pick up! I told them that as far as I'm concerned it is a car, and they don't have any definition in their paperwork saying what is or isn't "a car".

So the warning is to anyone who owns or borrows a Minor LCV (or any other LCV) that car insurance that allows you to drive other cars does not allow the insured person to drive ALL Morris Minors - just the ones that they feel are classed as "cars".
The fact that it may be 90% identical to a car, driven on a car license and taxed as a car, is not good enough for the average insurance company.

[Orkney]

What a bunch of Weasles
You should write to them asking them to clarify the refusal to cover any type of van or pick up.
If its not stated as such then they would be skating on thin legal ice and its more likely just a ploy to not have to pay out.

Do know from someone who works at one that some insurance companies have a set criteria for paying claims - e.g. could be that you have to contact them xyz number of times by phone or letter before they will put the claim forward for processing.
Think the theory goes particulary with relatively low claims that a % of people simply say 'really cant be doing with this hassle for a few hundred quid' - dont bother persuing and therefore the Weasles save money.

[badfelafel]

Check the wording of your policy - does it specify "car"

[paulhumphries]

Check the wording of your policy - does it specify "car"

If you look further you will see that normally it says you are covered to drive other peoples cars in an emergency.
How they define an emergency I don't know but remember approx 12 months ago that the the law changed so the car you are driving also needs to have insurance cover as well otherwise it triggers the no plate recognition cameras.
There was a lot of disccussion on various forums at the time.

Paul Humphries

[Kevin]

So the warning is to anyone who owns or borrows a Minor LCV (or any other LCV) that car insurance that allows you to drive other cars does not allow the insured person to drive ALL Morris Minors - just the ones that they feel are classed as "cars".

Well I didnt realise that, does the reverse apply as well I wonder.
If you only had a classic car policy would the same apply.

[rayofleamington]

Check the wording of your policy - does it specify "car"

it does, but as I work in the car industry, you quickly realise that a van is just a car without a rear seat. Cars come in many different shapes and sizes including Roadsters, convertibles, MPV, SUV, 4x4, van etc...

Sadly the insurance company rules are set by bean counters and not by engineers.

I'm glad that I know how mean the insurance people can be - this is not the first time I've broken these unwritten rules, but it will be the last - I would never knowingly drive without insurance!

[Furrtiv]

Would fully comprehensive cover allow me to drive any other car then? My insurance document says so, but doesn't state any restrictions. The only reason I ask is that I haven't cancelled the insurance on 'Ector yet as I haven't officially handed him over, and there will be a small gap between getting the new car and getting it insured (can do this online quite quickly).