Car insurance is a legal requirement for every driver in the UK, which means you’re required to have a policy in place before you set off, or you could face a hefty fine and penalty points on your licence. Having the right insurance in place is important, and sometimes you might need to have more than one person insured on the same car. There’s no maximum number of people who can have a policy associated with a car, therefore you can have two people or more insured on the same vehicle. This means borrowing someone else’s car, or lending someone yours, is totally legitimate – with the correct cover.
We’ve taken a deep dive into why you might end up with two policies on one vehicle, and the reasons that a second person might take a policy out on someone else’s car. Whether you want to borrow a friend’s car for a road trip, or you’re a learner taking out a policy to practise in your parents’ car, you can easily insure two people on the same car by investing in a short-term insurance policy…
Can You Have Two Insurance Policies on One Car?
Yes, as an individual you could have two insurance policies on one car, but do you need to?
Having two separate annual policies on one car for the same person can be costly and is often unnecessary. If you need two policies because you occasionally need to insure your car for business uses, it’s generally a better option to use temporary business car insurance for those periods.
Accidentally ending up with two policies on one car is actually quite common – usually when you’ve taken out a new policy before your old one has lapsed. Whilst this isn’t a cause for concern from a legal perspective, it does mean you’ll be paying twice – which is best avoided!
If you have found yourself with two policies on one vehicle and need to make a claim, you must be careful to only submit the claim on one of your policies. Your insurers will know how many policies you have on the car, and will know if you try to submit multiple claims – leaving you with a lengthy claims process that can even be considered fraudulent – which can potentially result in more expensive insurance premiums in the future.
Can Two People Have Separate Insurance Policies on One Car?
Yes, it’s fine for two (or more) people to have insurance policies on one car. In fact, it’s becoming increasingly common as the number of one car households increases.
Individuals could each hold an annual policy on a car they share, rather than having one as an added named driver, so they can both build their own no claims discount.
It’s perfectly fine to let someone else take out a temporary policy on your car if you’re lending it to them, too. Most annual policies don’t include ‘Drive Other Cars’ (DOC) cover anymore, so if you’re lending your car to someone, having them take out a temporary car insurance policy will ensure they’re properly insured, and your no claims bonus will be protected should they need to make a claim.
Whenever there’s more than one policy on a car you’ll still need to ensure only one claim is submitted – even if the policies are for different people.
Why You Might Have Two People Insuring the Same Car
There are a number of reasons why you might have more than one person insured on a car. We’ve listed some of the most common ones, and the best insurance types you might choose for them…
- Learner Driver Needing a Practice Car: If you have a learner driver in the family who needs to use your car for practice, they’ll need to be insured on the car as a learner. Whilst you could add them as a named driver, one of the best ways to insure a learner is to take out a second temporary learner insurance policy instead.
- You’re Lending Someone Your Car: If you occasionally lend your car out, or your household shares one car, you’ll need more than one policy on the car. If someone sporadically borrows the car, or doesn’t use it as much as others involved in the car share, having them take out a temporary policy is a wise move, because having them as a named driver on your annual policy will be unnecessary and costly. With temporary cover they can get insured for a day when they are next using the car.
- You Share a Work Van: Multiple people might be insured on the same van if it’s shared for work. If one person owns the van and lends it out to team members on occasional jobs, they can get a temporary carriage of own goods policy to protect them whilst they are on the road. This will protect the owner’s no claims discount and save money on annual insurance costs.
Whenever you’re sharing a car, letting someone borrow your car, or using your vehicle for business purposes, you’ll likely need a second policy on the car – to ensure the correct insurance is always in place.
What to be Aware of If Your Car Has Multiple Insurance Policies On It
If your car has multiple insurance policies on it, the main thing you need to be cautious of is how you make a claim should an accident occur.
If you as an individual have more than one policy on a car, you should only make a claim through one of your insurers. If you try to claim on multiple policies you’ll be faced with extended delays on a pay-out, or potentially no pay-out at all, if you’re thought to be attempting insurance fraud.
If there are multiple people insured on the car, the person driving will have to make the claim on their policy. Others with policies on the car couldn’t also make claims in the hope of more payouts, as again this would be classed as insurance fraud. For instance, if your car is being used by a learner to practise in and they get into an accident, only the learner will be able to make a claim on their learner policy.
Outside of issues with insurance claims, you’ll want to keep an eye on the number of insurance policies there are taken out on your car, to make sure your vehicle isn’t ‘over-insured’. If your car is heavily over-insured, you could cause the value of your vehicle to increase and see the cost to insure it soar, too.
In summary – yes, you can have multiple insurance policies on one car. One person might hold more than one policy so that they’re covered for different uses of the car, or multiple people sharing the same vehicle might have their own policy to mitigate any effects on no claims bonuses.Our range of temporary insurance options provide the perfect solution when you’re looking for an alternative to an expensive annual policy, or when someone else needs to be insured on your car. Explore our temporary car insurance, temporary van insurance, and temporary learner insurance options to find the perfect solution for you, to get covered in less than 90 seconds.
Yes, it’s legal to have more than one insurance policy on one vehicle – whether that’s one person with multiple policies, or multiple people with their own insurance policy on one car.
No, only one claim can be made for an incident, even if there are multiple policies on the car. It’s fraudulent to try to make claims on multiple policies for the same incident.