# Taxing a Car without insurance



## PuppetMaster (7 May 2009)

Hi all...

My friend recently bought a car, but has not yet learned to drive.

For financial reasons, she can't afford to tax AND insure it right now.

However, she would like to tax it so that I can drive it occasionally and maybe drive her to private property where I can teach her the basics.

It seems that she has to fill in insurance details on the Motor Tax Renewal Form RF100A. 

Is it ok for her to enter my insurance details for my own car on this form?

I have fully comprehensive insurance which covers me to drive another persons car with their permission, so I presume I would be insured (third-party) if I had an accident while driving her car.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks in advance.


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## Smashbox (7 May 2009)

I don't think it works like that. The car needs to be insured before its taxed. You have not insured her car, you've insured your own.

Tell her to call the tax office to be sure, my local one is always very helpful when I have a query.


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## RonanC (7 May 2009)

Your insurance will not cover you on your friends car. Your friends car must be insured by them before your insurance is valid. 

They cannot tax the car without insurance. 

If you decide to drive the car without your friend insuring it, you will not be covered under any circumstances.


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## PuppetMaster (7 May 2009)

Thanks for the prompt reply smashbox. 

That sucks though. She's out of work at the moment, which is why she can't afford insurance. However, she does want to use this time to learn how to drive. If I could drive her to a private property location, then she could learn/practice there.

She doesn't want to learn to drive in my car as it is a bit too high-powered for her to start learning in.

If anything, this rule would encourage someone not to bother taxing the car (if one was so inclined). Since if she is driving on private property with the property owner's permission, then I don't believe she needs insurance (or tax for that matter). However, she does need to be able to get to and from that location.


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## BRICKTOP (7 May 2009)

How can somebody afford to buy a car but not insure it? Crazy.


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## PuppetMaster (7 May 2009)

Oh! Ok. Thanks Ronan. I was not aware of that. I thought that since my insurance states that I can drive another car with the owners permission, then it would be ok. I guess if I go back and examine my insurance certificate again, I will see the clause you refer to. 

I guess I could insure it under my own name. That should be fairly cheap. But she would not be insured on it then. Catch 22. I suppose the car will have to remain parked up until she can afford both tax AND insurance!!


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## PuppetMaster (7 May 2009)

> bricktop



Do you know how much insurance costs for someone who only just got their provisional licence?

Do you know how cheaply you can buy a 15 year old car?

In this case, the car cost a lot less than 1 years insurance!!

And the car was partly a gift from her parents.


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## Smashbox (7 May 2009)

You could insure the car in your name and have her as a named driver, would bring the price down. Someone else in the family could also do this.

Its a shame alright, but I guess we all have to start somewhere. A few lessons would also be her best bet. Did me the world of good! Although personally I found being out myself (accompanied) was the best thing.


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## Padraigb (7 May 2009)

If the car is not going to be used on public roads, there is no need to tax it for that period. So the only issue is to get insurance cover to move it to wherever she wants to keep it. If she bought from a dealer, the dealer might agree to drive it there on his trade cover. Otherwise, your insurance company can give you a temporary transfer of your cover to her car so that you can move it for her.

Strictly speaking, you should not move the car on public roads without taxing it, but for a once-off relocation my conscience could take it, and it would be remarkably bad luck to be caught and prosecuted.


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## PuppetMaster (7 May 2009)

Thanks to everyone for the replies and suggestions!


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## jhegarty (7 May 2009)

What type of property is the private property ?


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## pooly17 (7 May 2009)

Puppetmaster, just to let you know that you cannot insure your friends car in your name. You cannot insure something that you don't own. You have to be the legal owner. If not, the Insurance Company will not pay out if a claim should occur.


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## seantheman (7 May 2009)

pooly17 said:


> Puppetmaster, just to let you know that you cannot insure your friends car in your name. You cannot insure something that you don't own. You have to be the legal owner. If not, the Insurance Company will not pay out if a claim should occur.


 this is not strictly true. i am the registered owner and keeper of two cars, my wife drives one as the main driver, this has been disclosed to the ins. co. and they have no problem with it. i drive the other


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## nolo77 (7 May 2009)

QUOTE i am the registered owner and keeper of two cars, my wife drives one as the main driver, this has been disclosed to the ins. co. and they have no problem with it. i drive the other QUOTE


Yes, that works. I have a similiar setup whereby I am the registered owner of two cars and my son drives the second one. It works only when both cars are in your own name. The OP would have to complete a transfer of ownership form transferring the friends car into their name to enable them to insure it with the friend as a named driver. That's my understanding of the law anyway.​


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## baldyman27 (7 May 2009)

Jeep + car transport trailer = problem solved.


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## joeysully (12 May 2009)

iv read a lot of these threads in the past and the amount of misinformation is surprising 
As far as i know there is no link for the tax office to check a insurance policy number against the car being taxed. I have heard of people entering the incorrect insurance policy number into the tax renewal form and nothing was ever said about it. 

Insurance companies have different policy's regarding driving other cars so the best advice is to ring your insurance company and ask them - nobody here will be able to tell you if you can or cannot drive the car that is uninsured.

With my insurance company i can drive any car wither it be taxed, insured or NCT'ed so long as it is in a roadworthy condition and its *NOT *registered in my name - this is what my insurance company told me.


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## oopsbuddy (12 May 2009)

joeysully said:


> iv read a lot of these threads in the past and the amount of misinformation is surprising
> As far as i know there is no link for the tax office to check a insurance policy number against the car being taxed. I have heard of people entering the incorrect insurance policy number into the tax renewal form and nothing was ever said about it.
> 
> Insurance companies have different policy's regarding driving other cars so the best advice is to ring your insurance company and ask them - nobody here will be able to tell you if you can or cannot drive the car that is uninsured.
> ...



You're absolutely right JoeySully, in that there is often a lot of 'mostly right' information, all of which is well-intended, but just to add a rider to the commonsense you posted above, make sure you get that statement from your insurance company IN WRITING. You'd be surprised how little use that verbal confirmation is (assuming it was verbal and you haven't got it in writing!) when you need it later!


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## zealot (13 May 2009)

joeysully said:


> With my insurance company i can drive any car wither it be taxed, insured or NCT'ed so long as it is in a roadworthy condition and its *NOT *registered in my name - this is what my insurance company told me.


 
+1 for that. I had to open a new policy with Quinn on Saturday and thats exactly what they told me. Fully comphrensive on my own car and covered 3rd party on any other car as long as its road worthy and not owned by me.


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