Test drive...insurance

SixTwoSix

SixTwoSix

SixTwoSix

Soldato
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As i've posted in a few threads, just passed my test and am looking to buy a car. Obviously I will want to test drive whatever I look at. How does this work from an insurance point of view. I have no car yet, ergo, no insurance.

As I understand a lot of second hand dealers will have insurance that covers test drives but with a heavy excess.

What about private sellers. When looking at a car will I essentially have to call up an insurer and get myself covered for 30 minutes while I test drive the car. Will I need to do this each time I take a look at a different car? I have about 4 cars lined up from private sellers to look at over the weekend. Do i need to get short term insurance each time I take a test drive?
 
Traders will probably have insurance that covers you, but for a private seller yes you're supposed to arrange insurance. It might be easiest to take a parent or friend along with you whose insurance covers them to drive other vehicles, so they can drive it and see how it is?
 
Yes for private sellers you will have to get a days cover from dayinsure or tempcover or somesuch. However if the cars you are looking at are imported or modified then you may have problems.
 
ganesh said:
Yes for private sellers you will have to get a days cover from dayinsure or tempcover or somesuch. However if the cars you are looking at are imported or modified then you may have problems.
Click to expand...

Not to mention if he is young the companies might not cover either.
 
ganesh said:
Yes for private sellers you will have to get a days cover from dayinsure or tempcover or somesuch. However if the cars you are looking at are imported or modified then you may have problems.
Click to expand...

Can I get a blanket insurance for the day, or will it need to be specific to each car?

I'm going to be looking at bog standard punto's, fiesta's, 206/306..these kinds of cars.
 
Visit dayinsure and tempcover websites. It'll be per car and something like £20-£50 per policy...I found out at 21 they wouldn't do temp cover on a group 16 car, 15 and below only...so I had to take out a normal policy and cancel it after driving the car...worked out as £50 for the day.
 
I've just test driven a group 18 car, no questions asked from the dealer, just took a photo copy of my license. I guess it depends on age and how long you've been driving. As far as getting a car privatly I couldn't get any cover a few years back for the clio. Had to get my dad to test it and drive it home.
 
Last year when I was 19 I test drove the following without any issues; Golf Gti, Focus ST, Civic Type R, Mini Cooper S plus other fast cars. I phoned up before hand, pre booked appointments with dealers, turned up in my 07 plate car, looks presentable and wasn't just "LOL GIMME DA KEYZ". Never once was my DL checked.
 
I test drove the cars I fancied at dealerships which obviously cover you under their own insurance. Which made it easier when it came to choosing one privately - the eventual seller was more than happy to let me check the car out thoroughly and give it a supervised drive uninsured. "Oh the humanity!" Like people don't do it all the time.

Not saying you should do this, obviously. I just found getting insurance at that age an absolute palaver for a simple 10-15 minute test drive.
 
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