Insurance can be confusing at the best of times. Let alone when you think you’re insured on a vehicle but find out that you are not? How can this be??

There is a big misconception among drivers that having Comprehensive cover on your insurance policy means that you also have the same extended cover when driving other vehicles. This is wrong – and unfortunately, leaves many drivers unknowingly exposed and uninsured.

Some people believe that having Comprehensive cover also means that any driver can drive your car. This is also incorrect. Only drivers named under the insurance policy are covered to drive. Any driver policies are very rare these days.

DOC – Driving Other Cars Extension

The ‘Driving Other Cars’ extension included in your standard insurance policy is granted on some policies, but be aware, this is not always the case. You need to wait for your Certificate of Insurance & Policy Schedule for confirmation of whether this extension has been included or not. The key stipulations that are often misunderstood when the DOC extension is included, is the fact that;

• this extension only covers the policy holder only

so the extension does not work for named drivers under the policy, even when the named drivers are ‘Insured & Spouse’ – it would only be the named policy holder that the ‘Driving Other Cars’ cover would extend to

• cover is limited to ‘Third Party Only’ cover

regardless of what type of cover you had on your own policy – so, if you borrow a friend’s car and establish that you do have DOC cover, the cover you have whilst driving a friend’s car is purely Third Party Only – this means no cover for any accidental damage to your friend’s car. You will be legally covered and, if you have an accident, the damage to the Third Party is also covered.

• the ‘borrowed’ vehicle must already be insured to be legally on the road

the ‘other’ part of ‘Driving Other Cars’ does also require that the ‘other’ car must be insured itself to be legally on the road – as all vehicles have to have active insurance in place and DOC alone does not cover that.

So, you can see why people may be unknowingly driving around uninsured!

What To Consider If You Need To Borrow Someone Else’s Car?

Let’s work our way through the options available should you need to borrow a friend’s car temporarily:

1. If you have confirmed that your own car insurance policy includes the ‘DOC extension’ and you are the policy holder, ie, it’s in your name, then, yes, you are legally insured to drive another car  with the owners permission. The insurance cover whilst driving that car is ‘Third Party Only’ – so no cover for the actual car you are borrow. This leads nicely to the alternative option?
2. The alternative, which is a much more secure option, which regards protecting the borrowed car, is the option of purchasing some separate Temporary Car Insurance for the period that you want to borrow the car for. The good thing about this option is that the cover for the borrowed car is comprehensive – which means should an accident happen, you won’t be handing back a damaged car to the person you borrowed it off.

Confusion and Misunderstanding

A recent article in The Mirror newspaper talks about this very scenario of how people think they are covered to ‘Drive Other Cars’ if they already have Comprehensive cover. However, as we have explained above, the article goes on to clarify that this is not always the case. The Mirror states: “Almost no insurers offer “open” cover for Driving Other Cars (DOC), which would allow all licence holders to drive cars not listed on their policy.”

You have to check every detail of your policy wording documentation. Some people may also find their policy contains many restrictions, including age restrictions. Check over your policy wording documentation carefully and if you are still unsure, ring your insurer to clarify all the details with them.

Is there a Solution?

Safely Insured offer a comparison service that allows you to find the most suitable short term product for your needs.

• Comprehensive cover from 1-28 days
• Get a short term policy for yourself to drive another specific vehicle
• ‘Share the driving’ – add another driver to the policy
• Going abroad? It would be wise to increase your ‘standard’ level of cover to Comprehensive
• Learner Driver? You can get temporary cover for learners to be added to the policy

Temporary Car Insurance Comparison

Our service is both simple and easy to use alongside being efficiently quick. Some of the other benefits include:

• Answer 5 simple questions in order to obtain a quote
• Applicable for all ages between 19-75
• Short-term, learner driver cover available for people over 17
• Online, Instant Cover

To try the service for yourself, visit our Temporary Car Insurance quote page.

So don’t delay and make sure you have the right level of insurance cover in place today! You can visit the Safely Insured website or the Temporary Car Insurance quote page for more information.