# Can only registered owner insure car?



## Sophia57 (6 Jun 2009)

Hi
I'm going through a tough judicial separation and this week he finally moved out of my house. He asked for the car, which is registered in my name (he is a named driver on the insurance) for a few days so he could look for a place and I agreed, glad to see him leave after months of living in my locked bedroom.

The car insurance is due for renewal on Wednesday next week. I have sent in the signed papers to the brokers with the cheque and on the advice of my solicitor requested that he be taken off the insurance.

I got a call from him yesterday saying he was going to insure the car in his name and keep it - can he do this when I am the registered owner on the vehicle registration cert? He says he has been told he can as it is a 'family' car.

I'm lost without the car - can anyone offer any advice please?
Thanks
S


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## Jimbobp (6 Jun 2009)

Technically once the car is registered in your name, you are the only person entitled to insure it. It does get a bit more complicated when you are married and insurance companies usually don't cause a fuss when a vehicle is registered in one spouses name and insured in anothers. In your circumstances however, you are in the process of becoming an individual again. If you are not giving your ex the car as part of the settlement then I would ask for  it back, if he refuses then I would report it stolen. IMO the law is on your side.


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## Sophia57 (6 Jun 2009)

Thanks Jim
The car is registered in my maiden name and insured in it also - always has been.
He is only a named driver on the insurance, though having looked at it it does specify that he is the spouse.
I sent off the renewal papers by registered post today including a note asking them specifically as the owner of the car, giving the Vehicle Registration Cert No., not to insure him on it again.
I have used these brokers for years and would be very surprised if they went against my written request and insured the car on the double - in my name and seperately in his!
I don't know if he can be reported as having stolen the car if he doesnt return it - I'll have to wait till Monday and ask my solicitor, I suppose. I'm also afraid he may damage or abandon it out of spite if he can't use it.


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## Smashbox (6 Jun 2009)

Not so. My housemate is insured on my old car, still in my name.


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## mathepac (6 Jun 2009)

Sophia57 said:


> ...
> I sent off the renewal papers by registered post today including a note asking them specifically as the owner of the car, giving the Vehicle Registration Cert No., not to insure him on it again...


If you are cancelling him off the insurance, you must tell him he's no longer insured.


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## Sophia57 (6 Jun 2009)

I have told him and my solictor has told his solictor, who's officially informed him, so he knows that from Wednesday he wont be on my policy, unless the brokers allow him to add himself on and pay the difference - this is what I'm wondering about.

Smashbox - your old housemate took out the policy himself? Did he need your permission?
Thanks everyone


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## Jimbobp (6 Jun 2009)

Smashbox said:


> Not so. My housemate is insured on my old car, still in my name.



Your housemate may have gotten away with that at the time of inception, but if he/she has an accident and the vehicle is in someone else's name, they could be in real trouble. The company will argue that they didn't have an insurable right on what is technically your car.


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## Sophia57 (6 Jun 2009)

But it was the company that insured them in the first place, so why wouldn't they have an insurable right after an accident, since it was acceptable tp the company to insure them at the time of inception?

That doesn't make sense to me - and I'm still stuck wondering if I'm ever going to get my car back before this separation goes to court which my solicitor tells me will be April next year at the earliest.

I really cant afford to buy and insure etc even a banger to get around in! As it is I have to remortgage (house is mine too) to make a huge settlement on him after only 5 years of marriage (I know - my mistake so I pay  )


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## peteb (6 Jun 2009)

Sophia57 said:


> But it was the company that insured them in the first place, so why wouldn't they have an insurable right after an accident, since it was acceptable tp the company to insure them at the time of inception?


 
You'd probably find that they werent aware at inception.  Proposal forms ask whether you are the registered owner of the car.  If the person filling it in answered yes, then they would just insure it.  But its a material fact if they incorrectly answered.  And a claim would be declined and the policy cancelled from inception!


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## samanthajane (6 Jun 2009)

When i brought my car because it was 120hp ( what ever that means) i was unable to get insurance out under my own name untill i turned 25. Not 1 insurance company would even quote me.

The only option i had was to insure the car in my mum's name and i went on as a named driver. ( makes no sense to me that they would allow me to be a named driver but not have my own insurance) 

Since the car is registered in my name i was told that i would have to get my mum named as the registered owner, but they still went ahead and insured. I was told if either of us were to claim on the insurance then they MIGHT refuse to pay out if the car was still registered in my name. There was never any follow up on this. This was 3 years ago! 

To this day the car is still registered in my name, and i'm still only a named driver. Mainly because after so many years of only being a named driver when i went to renew the policy 7 months after i turned 25 the policy was 3 times the orginal amount, i was told this was because i had not had insurance in my own name for the past 2 years. 

Each renewal I check the price for myself as main driver and i can never afford it so we just renew my mum as main driver and me as a named driver. 

I asked last renewal about if we needed to claim and the car still being registered in my name and was told that a 3rd party claim would be issued but again if a claim was made for my own car it MIGHT not be paid out. 

Also about him getting insurance out as well as you having an insurance policy, you cant have 2 people insured on the car as main drivers. I was going to get a policy out on a banger ( a friends car ) just for a year to have at least 1 years no claim bonus and was told that you cannot do this. Even an open policy doesn't allow this, there is always 1 main driver and then anyone over 25 with a full licence that has your permission can drive the car. 

Since you are renewing and there is not going to be a gap in your policy i dont see how he could get an insurance policy on the car, even if it is a "family" car. If he did it would be void. If you having been paying the insurance, tax, petrol or even repayments of the car yourself, i.e not from a joint account, can it still be classed as a shared car since you have been paying for everything? If this is the case. 

I would send a registered letter or a letter from your solicitor, so you have solid proof that you have informed him that even if he does take out a policy he wont be covered, and that you will not be adding him as a named driver. 

For an example if you still have repayments on the car, and the finance is in your name and he has taken the car you, you are still responsible for making those repayments regardless who has the car, since the payments are in your name. Thats the law. Reporting it as stolen and for it to be classed as stolen because the car doesnt belong to him, i think would mostly come down to who took out the finance and making the repayments or who purchased the car. If the car was purchased together then you might have problems it being classed as stolen and the guards will say it is a civil matter and say there is nothing that they can do.


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## Sophia57 (6 Jun 2009)

So all my husband has to do is lie on the forms and he can insure the car??
They don't ask for proof of ownership or check if there's already an existing policy on the car?
Heavens, he certainly won't care if its in an accident and the policy is cancelled...he just wants the car, for as long as he can have it.

Wonder can I report it stolen...anyone know any Gardai??

Oh well, looks like I'm stuck carless for the forseeable.


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## samanthajane (6 Jun 2009)

No not stuck carless there are a few options. 

If it was me i would let him go ahead and get the insurance policy. Then when the disk comes through and is on display in the car you ring them up and inform them that he lied on the forms and he is not the registered owner and there is already a policy on the car. 

Then when he is driving uninsured you give the guards a little call and report him for it. 

He really should care if there is an accident as he will be responsible for it. If worst comes to the worst and there is you still have your policy to claim on. Not the best outcome i know. 

Do you have a spare key for the car?  you could then get the locks changed ( although i imagine this could be very expensive). Or could it be cheaper to get the ________ ( i dont know what it's called) but the thingy that unlocks the car when you press the button. 

A very extreme way to go is to just go and just take the car. Whats he going to do report it stolen??? If you cant do that then neither can he. Nothing stopping him coming witht he key and taking it back, but you could sell the car and get another one, he wont have the key for that car. 

Now the above does depend on how much time and effort you want to put into this and how much he's peeved you off. You might not think it's worth the effort. Me, i would do what ever it takes just to stop him from having the car.


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## Sophia57 (6 Jun 2009)

Wish I could do all the above, Samanthajane!!!
Trouble is, I dont know where he is! So I cant go and get the car back. I know he drives it to work but I cant get it out of their car park without him being alerted.
So also I won't know when the disk comes through if he insures it, so I wont be able to report it!
He's peeved me off bigtime all right, months of horrible verbal and emotional abuse, and taking the car is another way of getting at me, as he knows I have elderly, frail parents living over an hour away that I need to visit, plus there's no bus to get me to work, so I'm spending a fortune on taxis, just cant get about in general.
I'll ring my broker and my solicitor on Monday, see what they advise. I can do nothing till then.


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## samanthajane (6 Jun 2009)

Get someone he doesn't know to follow him back from work one day. Then your'll know exacetly where he's living. If not work then i'd imagine you know his routine i.e every friday he goes for a few games of snooker, or golf on a saturday morning. 

Have a think about it. There is always a way of finding someone!


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## Smashbox (6 Jun 2009)

Didn't need my permission, although he did have it. When insuring the car, the insurance asked who owned it and what relationship they had with me, as well as my contact details, although I never recieved a call.


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