Insurance

[davixtagal]

If I am insured to drive any car with the owners consent, can i drive a car which is not insured. EG. A car which is being sold is no longer insured as the insurance has been swapped, so can i still legally drive it as im insured for driving the cars?

[king_rocco]

No. There will be a clause to say you can drive any car 3rd party which has a valid policy of its own.

[Grunty]

If your insurance says you are covered to drive any car with the owners consent, then you are.  The drawback is that you will only have the minimum legal cover, not comprehensive.  The car's own insurance is not relevant as you will be using yours.  This is only for a short time, and if you buy the car, you must tell your insurance company.

[Grunty]

As we have two different answers, perhaps I should expand a little on mine.  In cases against the Road Traffic Acts, the police and courts do not even look at the policy.  The certificate of insurance is evidence of the vehicles you can drive.  If it says you can drive the vehicle in question, then you can do so.  The only difference is that you will have minimum legal cover, but the car's own insurance might well have given you comprehensive cover.  The clause mentioned in the other person's answer may well decide whether or not you are comprehensively covered, but does not affect the fact that you have the insurance that you legally must have to drive the car. 

[king_rocco]

Hmmm. i guess there is no straight answer without seeing the policy in question. however I would ask both respondees to check there policy as I'm sure in GENERAL most policies (all I have had) will only cover you for a vehicle which has its own policy. Otherwise you could run a whole fleet of cars legally on one insurance policy!

[Dave.B]

King_Rocco, it's not the car that is insured, it's the driver (or policyholder - the policyholder is never the car). As Grunty says, you can be insured comprehensively on one car, and third party only on any other car. As a result, you will be legally covered to drive any car, with the owner's permission.

However, if that car is a Ferrari or similar, you had better be prepared to pacify said owner if you prang it, because you are going to be paying for it.

So in answer to the original poster - no car is insured, only the people who drive them. So if your policy says you can drive it, then do. Just be aware that if you have any kind of accident, it will be you, not the insurance company that bears the cost of replacing the car. They will,pick up the tab for the third party's car (and the inevitable whiplash claim).